As you probably know, there is a process that will be underway very shortly involving consultation/planning for space constraints due to increasing enrolment and in the introduction of full day kindergarten in September 2014 in this area of the city, specifically Ward 8.
Members of the Allenby community have already formed a committee to discuss the issues. A call-out from the APA was sent out to all Allenby parents to join the committee last year when we first learned that this process would be taking place and we have solid representation on this committee. There is now a detailed Q&A by Howard Goodman about the process that has been posted on the Allenby website.
A part of this process, there will be a representative committee of delegates from each school involved (Allenby, Armour Heights, John Wanless, John Ross, North Prep) that will attend a series of meetings to discuss the feasibility of different scenarios and the impact on any or all of the schools. These delegates need to be able to think of the ward as a whole, and to take on a transparent communication role. It is not a decision making group, but an informed, consultative group.
Each committee will be composed of:
- Principal
- 2 parent reps (one School Council Chair or designate and one other with experience on the executive)
- 1 Day Care rep (either Manager of Chair of the Board)
- 1 teacher
The members of this group will be approved by Superintendent Jeff Hainbuch, who is chair of the process. The meetings will be facilitated by a 3rd party.
There will be a combination of smaller group meetings with the delegates from each school community, and larger meetings open to the public. There will be 2 of the smaller meetings in February prior to the first public meeting which will be on March 21st. The location of that meeting is still to be determined.
Following that, other meetings will be scheduled with a view to having decisions made by the TDSB by the end of this school year.