Earl Grey School has been portrayed as a building that is well under capacity. An astronomical figure of 600 students has been put forth as to what the school can hold. This, is in no way, accurate, stemming from a time long before class size caps, when dedicated rooms for a library or computer labs were not needed.
The fact is, Earl Grey is utilizing the space it has quite well. There is only one classroom that is not occupied, and that is still used when necessary.
There breakdown of how the school is filled is as follows:
8 full time elementary rooms (up til grade 3 legislated low enrolment of under 20 kids)
4 necessary Jr High classrooms
5 misc. rooms (music, art, band, French and resource)
2 computer Labs
1 Learning Assistance Center room ($25,000 spent on upgrades, legislated low enrolment)
1 Aboriginal parents/patrol room
1 volunteer coordinator room
1 Jr. High lunch room
1 empty room used approx. 15% of the time for various uses
4 Earl Grey Children's Center rooms
1 Montessori school
So, no, Earl Grey is far from under utilized. For the Earl Grey community, it is a comfortable fit. But will it be for LaVerendrye and it's 360 students? Will LaVerendrye be that much better off? How long will it be before LaVerendrye will need more space especially if enrolment in the school continues to climb? Wouldn't it be more effective to open a second French Milieu school? If the demand for this type of school is there, why wouldn't the Winnipeg School Division open up another school that would allow for long term growth?
It makes no sense to tear apart Earl Grey School if within, say 5 years, LaVerendrye will be needing more space. Stop the swap and give both schools a chance to grow. It's the right thing to do.
8 full time elementary rooms (up til grade 3 legislated low enrolment of under 20 kids)
4 necessary Jr High classrooms
5 misc. rooms (music, art, band, French and resource)
2 computer Labs
1 Learning Assistance Center room ($25,000 spent on upgrades, legislated low enrolment)
1 Aboriginal parents/patrol room
1 volunteer coordinator room
1 Jr. High lunch room
1 empty room used approx. 15% of the time for various uses
4 Earl Grey Children's Center rooms
1 Montessori school
So, no, Earl Grey is far from under utilized. For the Earl Grey community, it is a comfortable fit. But will it be for LaVerendrye and it's 360 students? Will LaVerendrye be that much better off? How long will it be before LaVerendrye will need more space especially if enrolment in the school continues to climb? Wouldn't it be more effective to open a second French Milieu school? If the demand for this type of school is there, why wouldn't the Winnipeg School Division open up another school that would allow for long term growth?
It makes no sense to tear apart Earl Grey School if within, say 5 years, LaVerendrye will be needing more space. Stop the swap and give both schools a chance to grow. It's the right thing to do.
Thank you for the breakdown of how the rooms at Earl Grey are currently being utilized. It certainly demonstrates that they are being utilizied. However, as a parent of three young kids in Laverendrye, it sounds like a dream come true to have 12 specialized rooms and 5 rooms for childcare and montessori. We currently have 1 library, 1 computer room, and 1 childcare room for 360 children. They are both beautiful schools and I hope we can work out a solution that looks after all of our children with good access to resources and a close-knit community.
ReplyDeleteLooking at these numbers it proves that the Earl Grey community wouldn't fit in the Laverendrye building. On the CBC radio interview done it was said there are 14 classrooms. If those numbers are correct they would not have room for;
ReplyDelete8 full time elementary rooms (up til grade 3 legislated low enrolment of under 20 kids)
5 misc. rooms (music, art, band, French and resource)
2 computer Labs
1 Learning Assistance Center room ($25,000 spent on upgrades, legislated low enrolment)
1 Aboriginal parents/patrol room
1 volunteer coordinator room
4 Earl Grey Children's Center rooms
1 Montessori school
Even if Earl Grey could give up a few rooms they would still need more space than would be given. There would also definitely not be room for a Early Education Centre.
It truly shows the flaws in the option of a swap!
I would ask you to consider that it is not a dream to have what we have. It is how a normal properly functioning school operates. LaV did too at one time before the WSD chose to ignore your outcry and the popularity of your wonderful program and let you get to this point. You deserve and will get back to that too. I recognize we likely have different ideas about HOW that should be accomplished but I too wish for a good solution for all.
ReplyDeleteI don't know any other elementary school that has 2 computer labs, five miscellaneous rooms (they might have a music room), an aboriginal parents room or a volunteer coordinator room, plus an "empty space" that is only used 15% of the time. It's beyond a dream, its an utterly under utilization of a school and shame on the Winnipeg School Division for allowing this to be wasted for so long.
ReplyDeleteI think Earl Grey, should take their own advice, kick out all out of catchment kids which is half their population (since they think that is a good idea for LaV - even though there are only 35 of them). Then with only 100 -120 students, they would fit in LaVerendyre with all the empty under utilized space they want. Heck, the daycare can even transfer if they wish, but everyone knows they are welcome to stay exactly where they are, and NO nobody is planning on kicking them out.
If you look at some of the other posts throughout our blog you will see the many other reasons why displacing students from Earl Grey is highly problematic for the school population. It is about far more than just space. This is NOT an apples for apples swap of any sort. This swap would end in the dismantling of Earl Grey School. Space is just a small part of the greater issue for us. So, I advise you to look through the other posts in this blog to see the issues we face.
DeleteAnd, there are other ways to utilize any space within the school deemed as extra space without completely dismantling what we have now and displacing the entire school population. The only option some would like to push forth is a complete, full swap by September. The fact is, there are other ways to handle this that do not destroy what we have right now.
Delete