COMMENTS ON THE PROPOSED CLOSURE OF PARKDALE SCHOOL
TO: The Eastern School District Trustees
We are Ron and Sharon Savidant. Our son, Carson, is currently in Grade 3 at Parkdale Elementary School. We live on the Portage Road in Brackley Beach, an area that has been zoned for Parkdale Elementary for more than 30 years. We both work in Charlottetown at full-time permanent jobs – thus requiring before and after school care. Our son attends Kids Connection, a before and after school program that services Parkdale and Sherwood Elementary schools.
We are writing at this time to voice our comments and concerns about the Eastern School District School Organization Plan, dated January 7, 2009.
On page 84 of the E.S.D.S.O.P., it states:
“Parkdale students will be exposed to broader program offerings at Prince Street. There will be enhanced offerings in the areas of physical education, music, core French and library. There will also be significantly greater support in guidance and resource programs. Teaching staff will benefit considerably, as they will experience the professional growth that results from being part of a professional learning community. Opportunities to share knowledge, ideas, and resources with colleagues, will over time translate into better education experiences for all students.”
If this were to be the case, we would not be so concerned about Parkdale’s closure. BUT, this is NOT the case. Have any of you trustees been to either Parkdale or Prince Street Schools? Perhaps all of you should drop in to each school and see firsthand if these above-noted statements are accurate BEFORE you decide to close Parkdale School.
The physical education program at Parkdale School is not lacking because it is considered a “small school”. The wonderful gym was completed in the Spring of 2002 – only seven years ago – at a cost of approximately 1.3 million dollars. The gym at Prince Street School is in no way comparable to that of Parkdale. The Parkdale students have the opportunity to take part in the following sports: ball hockey, basketball, snow shoeing, gymnastics, soccer, touch football, track and field, volleyball, cross country running and badminton. Some of these opportunities do not exist at Prince Street as the “gym” and green space are not big enough to support these activities. Parkdale School is able to offer all these activities to the students because of the beautiful gym and the 3 ACRES of green space surrounding the school. Parkdale School was also awarded the 2004-2005 Platinum Award, which is a school recognition award for a “quality physical education program”. At a time when physical education is the subject of many initiatives concerning healthy children, it does not make sense to put children in a less than adequate gym facility when a new, excellent gym is already in place.
On page 84 of the E.S.D.S.O.P., it also states that:
“Prince Street now has access to a sports field shared with Birchwood Intermediate.”
This sports field will not be accessible for recesses and lunch breaks, as it is too far away. The gym at Parkdale School and the 3 ACRE green space surrounding the school is accessible any time the students require it.
We see no enhanced offering in the area of physical education if our son is moved to Prince Street.
The music program at Parkdale involves the entire school. There is a 1-2 choir, a 3-6 choir, a Christmas play, a Spring play, and a Hip-Hop Dance group.
All children in the school take part in the Christmas Play. It is something our son and all the other children look forward to. You can feel the excitement in the school before the play starts and after the play, you can see, in the faces of all the children, the pride, confidence and a sense of a job well done. They all feel they have contributed in some way to the production. Because Parkdale is a “small school”, the relationship between teacher and student is such that the staff are able to ensure that ALL the children in the school believe in themselves and feel the importance of their own individual contributions to the Christmas play and also to ALL the daily activities throughout the school year.
We see no enhanced offering in the area of music if our son is moved to Prince Street.
Our son has not experienced the core French program at Parkdale School, but we are told by other Parkdale parents that Parkdale’s core French program exceeds that offered at other larger schools.
The library at Parkdale is not limited because Parkdale is a “small school”. Our son has been taking books out from the library since Grade 1, and he has not had to take the same book twice.
There are 23 new DELL computers in the computer lab at Parkdale School, which were acquired in the last few months. We do not have our own computer in our home. We have watched our son on computers in friend’s homes and his “know how” in operating a computer, after only three years instruction, leads us to believe there are no limitations at Parkdale School in this area either.
We see no enhanced offering in the area of core French, library or computers if our son is moved to Prince Street.
As to the statement that “there will also be significantly greater support in guidance and resource programs”, Parkdale is not limited in this area either. We believe that if any child at Parkdale needed the help of a guidance counsellor or other resources, it would be readily available. The E.S.D.S.O.P. was to be made public on January 7, 2009. On January 5, 2009, the Guardian reported that Parkdale School may be on the list of possible closures. On January 5, 2009, the Principal of Parkdale School and the guidance counsellor attended each classroom to calm any fears or anxieties the children may have had, after hearing about the possible closure.
We see no enhanced offering in the area of guidance and resource programs if our son is moved to Prince Street.
There are also many other extra-curricular and co-curricular programs offered at Parkdale including: Roots of Empathy, Babysitting Course, D.A.R.E, Provincial Sports Teams, Art Smarts Program Grant, Heritage Fair, Science Fair and trips to the Confederation Center.
As to the statements that: “Teaching staff will benefit considerably, as they will experience the professional growth that results from being part of a professional learning community. Opportunities to share knowledge, ideas, and resources with colleagues, will over time translate into better educational experiences for all students.” We wish to point out that Parkdale became an elementary school in the late 1970’s. Since that time, the staff turnover has been relatively low, as a lot of teachers choose to spend their career at Parkdale School. At our very first “meet the teacher night”, we were told the Grades 1, 2, and 3 teachers worked together and the Grades 4, 5, and 6 teachers worked together. This approach seems to be working at Parkdale as our son is getting an education experience that we believe is second to none. One would think if the staff felt limited in any way by teaching at this “small school”, there would be a higher turnover of teachers. Our son needed extra help in math in Grade 2 and from January to April of that year, was provided with daily one-to-one sessions with an Educational Assistant to help him improve, which it did. The teachers at Parkdale School are already part of a “professional learning community”. With e-mail, the number of P.D. Days, and Teacher Conferences, any teacher can collaborate with their colleagues quite easily. They do not need to be in the same building to do so.
We do not feel our son would get a better educational experience if he is moved to Prince Street.
Parkdale’s location is easily accessible and has a safe, separate parking lot area for the buses to drop off and pick up the students. Prince Street School does not have this feature. There is also safe parking on Confederation Street in front of the school for parents who are dropping off and picking up students as Confederation Street is much wider and less busy than the two narrow, busy streets that serve Prince Street for the dropping off and picking up of students by buses and parents.
The staff parking lot at Prince Street is very small. If the merger goes ahead they will have to add to their parking lot to accommodate additional staff. Where will they get the space? From the already limited green space? Thus taking more green space from the children? Parkdale School has a large staff parking lot and more green space surrounding the school than Prince Street has. Did you know that Parkdale School owns the ball field to the side of the school? The City of Charlottetown maintains the ball field in return for free use of the field.
The lack of green space at Prince Street School is also a concern if a fire was ever to break out in the school. Where would the 300± (possibly more after kindergarten is implemented) children go to be a safe distance from the school? Prince Street is surrounded by busy streets. If a fire occurs at Parkdale School, the students are moved to the safety of the large ball field and then to Park Royal United Church gym, if required.
The E.S.D.S.O.P. suggests there has been little residential growth in the Parkdale community and predicts there will be no significant growth in permanent housing development for the area. The E.S.D.S.O.P. did not report the following:
- There is currently a 20 unit complex being constructed on Kensington Road – which area is zoned for Parkdale.
- The vacant land on St. Pius X Avenue, behind the Murchison Centre, is zoned for multifamily dwellings – which area is zoned for Parkdale.
- Once the issues have been settled with the Idlewheels Trailer Park residents – that area may also show residential growth – which area is zoned for Parkdale.
- There is a contemplated residential development for a multi-family unit (i.e. apartment building) on Gower Street, which street is zoned for Parkdale School.
The biggest question we have with the E.S.D.S.O.P. is why would the Eastern School District close Parkdale School before rezoning and the implementation of kindergarten in all the schools? Why would the District not do as the Western School District is doing and assess the impact of rezoning and kindergarten before any school closures?
With rezoning, the catchment area of Parkdale School could be expanded. Parkdale School could take all or half (half go to Prince Street or West Kent) of the St. Jean students. Hillsborough Development and Dresden Court children could be zoned for Parkdale School. Many parents say Sherwood Elementary is overcrowded – some of their students could be rezoned for Parkdale School.
A lot of money, time and support has been given to Parkdale School by the community, staff, students and parents to ensure it is not limited because it is a “small school”. All these efforts have succeeded. Why not expand on this by building on to Parkdale School to add extra classrooms, if required. The green space is there for expansion. To close Parkdale School before any consideration has been given to the “numbers” after rezoning and implementation of kindergarten is not in the best interests of the students or the community.
If the merger with Prince Street happens for September 2009, and then rezoning occurs, there would be a chance our son, and many other students, would be zoned for another school for September, 2010. That is not fair to our son or any other student to which it may happen. These are the “early years” – the grades during which our children are to be receiving the basic groundwork for their future school years. How can a child be expected to absorb all that is being taught if he/she has to deal with all the challenges of changing schools two years in a row – at such young ages?
Pursuant to the “Orientation Manual for School Trustees of PEI”:
- at page 24: “Trustees must deal with each issue according to their own beliefs, taking into consideration the law, the students and the constituency.”
- at page 24: “Often Trustees work on behalf of the community and must consider the unique needs of that community when deciding what position to take on an issue.”
- at page 31: “School Board Trustees provide leadership in the following areas:
Promoting Improvement:
- Putting the needs of students first.”
Parkdale is a small school with no limitations. Please put the needs of the students first and vote to have Parkdale removed from the list of schools to be closed.
I have also attached a report done in British Columbia concerning school size, which I found to be quite interesting and informative. I hope you all will take the time to read it.
Ron and Sharon Savidant
4059 Portage Road, Brackley Beach, PEI
No comments:
Post a Comment