March 24th, 2015

On Monday, March 23, 2015 the Waterloo Region District School Board held a Committee of the Whole Meeting. The agenda and reports for this meeting can be found online .

No delegations appeared at this meeting.

Policy and Governance (30 minutes)

Final Approval of Board Policy 4014 – Extreme Temperatures
Trustees deferred this policy back to staff to clarify wording around keeping schools open when it comes to extreme temperatures.

Final Approval of Board Policy 6008 – Student Discipline
Trustees approved the policy.

Final Approval of Board Policy 4002- Community Use of Schools
Trustees approved the policy.

Review of Board Policy 1013 – First Nation, Metis and Voluntary Self-Identification
This policy was deferred to the April 13 Committee of the Whole Meeting.

Review of Board Policy 2010 – Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting
This policy was deferred to the April 13 Committee of the Whole Meeting.

Review of Board Policy 2011 – Sun, Safety and Shading
Trustees approved the revisions to the policy.

Review of Board Policy 5010 – Employment and Placement of Relatives
This policy was deferred to the April 13 Committee of the Whole Meeting.

Reports

Major Capital Projects Quarterly Update Report (For Information)
This report provides information on major capital projects in the board, including five new schools and one addition. More information on these projects can be found in the report.

Amendment to Approved West Galt Pupil Accommodation Review Motion (For Approval)
The Board approved the following motion on January 28, 2013:

That the Waterloo Region District School Board approve the grandfathering options as set out in the text and on Appendix II and III of this report titled “Re-examination of the West Galt Elementary Schools Pupil Accommodation Review Administrative Recommendations,” dated January 14, 2013, subject to eligibility determined by the student’s school and address on June 27, 2013;

and That transportation be extended to those affected grandfathered students (regular track and Partial French Immersion) for a maximum of two years, ending July 1, 2015, subject to eligibility under Board Policy 4009 – Student Transportation and determined by the student’s address on June 27, 2013.

The intention of the grandfathering provisions as recommended and approved was to minimize disruption to students and families as a result of the changes occurring in the West Galt community of the Board. When the grandfathering provisions were proposed, some students were inadvertently excluded from the motion. This was a small oversight that has been brought to the attention of staff as the first group of students will be affected in the 2015/16 school year.

The West Galt Elementary Schools Pupil Accommodation Review resulted in boundary changes between Blair Road, Highland and Tait Street and St. Andrew’s Public Schools and the addition of Grade 6 to Highland Public School in September 2018. In the 2015/16 school year, Highland Public School will be the only school in West Galt to offer Grades 4 and 5 Partial French Immersion and St. Andrew’s Public School will be the only school offering Grade 6 Partial French Immersion. This means that students who had registered in the Partial French Immersion program at Highland Public School prior to the boundary changes that started in September 2013, have no other options for where they may enroll in Partial French Immersion.

Trustees approved the following recommendation:

That the Waterloo Region District School Board extend transportation to grandfathered Partial French Immersion students, as set out in the text and on Appendix III of the report titled “Re-examination of the West Galt Elementary Schools Pupil Accommodation Review Administrative Recommendations,” dated January 14, 2013, for a maximum of three years, ending July 1, 2018, subject to eligibility under Board Policy 4009 – Student Transportation and determined by the student’s home address on June 27, 2013.

Chicopee Hills Public School Planning Approvals Update (For Approval)
On December 8, 2014 the Planning and Strategic Initiatives Committee of the City of Kitchener held a public meeting to receive a City Staff report on an application to re-zone the lands owned by the Board and proposed for the new Chicopee Hills Public School.

City Staff advised the Committee that pending the receipt of some additional information, and sign-offs by other external approval bodies, a final report with recommendations would be prepared for their consideration. The information report was received and considered by the Committee of Council which requested a final report with recommendations from City Planning Staff no later than March 9, 2015.

City Staff presented their final report with recommendations at the March 9th meeting of the Planning and Strategic Initiatives Committee. The staff report recommended approval of the zone change application with a number of conditions to be satisfied through the subsequent site plan approval process. At a Special City Council meeting held immediately after the Committee meeting, City Council gave final approval for the zone change with the conditions recommended in the City Staff report. Though a lengthy and complicated process, the coordinated efforts of City and Board staff, and our consultants resulted in the City of Kitchener agreeing to the inclusion of an elementary school on the Fairway and Lackner site.

Approval by City Council of the Zone Change application clears the way for the construction of the planned Chicopee Hills Public School. There are a number of conditions that will be linked to site plan approval that will impact the construction schedule for the new school.

Following the approval of the Zone Change for the property by City Council there is a 20 day appeal period which will expire on March 29. At that point the zone change is official and the City can then begin to process a Site Plan application for the school.

Although a pre-submission site plan meeting has been held with City staff, a second pre-submission meeting will be requested in April such that all of the conditions of site plan approval included in the zone change approval can be properly itemized and confirmed. Following that meeting, it is expected that the site plan application package can be finalized and submitted to the City in May.

The review and approval period for site plans typically ranges from 4 to 6 months. However, there is the opportunity to receive Site Plan Approval-in-Principle which may allow the start of some site alteration activities like the stripping of topsoil and clearing of some vegetation. In this case, we are required to undertake the amphibian and reptile survey in the Spring of 2015 as a condition of site plan approval-in- principle. This has a direct impact on the start of any site alteration activities before June of 2015.

The revised schedule clearly demonstrates that an opening date of September 2016 is no longer possible. An opening date of September 2017 can be met given all of the remaining conditions of site plan approval and the construction timeline. More information on the proposed timeline can be found in the report.

Trustees approved the following recommendation:

That the Waterloo Region District School Board reschedule the opening date for the new Chicopee Hills Public School to September 2017.

Secondary Boundary Update 2015 (For Information)
In May 2010, a report titled “Secondary School Boundary Review” was prepared by a consultant to provide an independent and objective review of the Waterloo Region District School Board’s (Board) existing secondary school boundaries.

The 2010 boundary review had three main objectives relating to the effectiveness of current boundaries, the identification of existing and future accommodation issues and the recommendation of changes in order to address the first two objectives.

Subsequently, the Board made a number of accommodation decisions based on the recommendations of the 2010 report – i) boundary reconfiguration was made between Sir John A MacDonald Secondary School and Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate & Vocational School; ii) reconfiguration of the Huron Heights Secondary School boundary with Preston High School to return students to their home attendance boundary (Huron Heights Secondary); iii) Construction of an addition at Bluevale Collegiate Institute; and iv) the introduction of the International Baccalaureate program at Glenview Park Secondary School.

In 2014, a second report was commissioned to update the demographic and enrolment information contained in the 2010 report, and provide an updated analysis of the Board’s boundary and accommodation needs using geographic information systems modelling.

The updated report (Appendix A) provides an evaluation of Board enrolment projections for secondary schools, analysis of current and “natural boundaries” for secondary schools, a review of accommodation and boundary needs at each of our existing secondary schools, as well as short, medium and long term recommendations.

The report highlights the need to focus secondary accommodation planning ten or more years into the future (2025+) in evaluating capacity and secondary attendance boundaries requirements. The recent “trough” or decline in secondary enrolment is distracting, when trends and more detailed census analysis point to increases in secondary enrolment over the next ten years, leaving the Board with a net requirement for additional secondary school capacity.

While some secondary schools may be slightly smaller than the target size outlined in Board Policy 4013 – Secondary Schools, and geographically situated such that natural boundaries are difficult to maintain throughout the district, all of the currently available pupil spaces will be required over the next ten years and beyond, and alternative programming options are suggested as the means to make more effective use of existing schools and any additional capacity added to the system.

More information can be found in the report.

OPSBA Guidelines for Submission of Proposed Trustee Resolutions (For Information)

Trustees received information from OPSBA regarding the guidelines for any OPSBA Constitution policy resolution and proposed amendment submissions for consideration by the general membership at the 2015 OPSBA Annual General Meeting.

The meeting adjourned at approximately 9:10pm