Kamloops-Thompson board of education trustee Meghan Wade is refuting claims about what she told a Beattie School of the Arts parent about the plan to integrate the elementary and secondary classes.
Wade, the trustee assigned to Beattie, labelled as incorrect comments by parent Bonnie McBride that she had been told by Wade a report on bringing together the elementary and secondary grades would only be discussed — not voted on — at this week’s board meeting.
On May 12, Wade said, she advised McBride, a member of the school’s parent advisory council, that the report would be coming to the board at its May 25 meeting and would be available to the public when the agenda was posted online at the end of last week.
At the time, Wade said, she was only aware there was a report and did not know it contained financial information that had to go to an in-camera session first and would not be attached to the public agenda until after the closed meeting.
That in-camera meeting was held before the 7 p.m. public board meeting, at which time the report was made available to the public.
“Parents had been asking for some time when the report was coming, so I told her when I knew it was coming to the board,” Wade said. “I just knew there was a report. I didn’t know there were financial issues in it so, when I found out, I told her that it was going in-camera, that it wouldn’t be available before that — and I offered for her to call me if she had any questions,” Wade said of her dealings with McBride.
“I made that offer twice and she didn’t contact me.”
It is board policy to deal with financial matters in-camera first so trustees are aware of the details before they can be asked questions by members of the public or the media.
Wade said another Beattie parent did contact her, asking why the report wasn’t available with the agenda.
“I explained it to her and she understood,” Wade said.
On Monday night, the board approved a motion allocating $480,000 for work at Beattie’s secondary campus on Ninth Avenue in the former John Peterson secondary building.
“And that’s all we approved,” Wade said. “The rest of the report comes from the feedback we received at the meetings we held with the teachers, the parents and the students.”
Supt. Karl deBruijn agreed with Wade on the decision made Monday night, adding he was disappointed at the negative feedback received “because we thought we had nailed it” from the information gathered at earlier meetings.
“We thought this was what they wanted.”
The report notes there were three meetings held in the past eight months to inform parents and students about the consolidation and gather input on the program and facilities.
The report recommends work be done in the playground and field space, along with the provision of a pick-up and drop-off place for students being driven to school and in addressing the number of school buses that use Ninth Avenue for adjacent South Kamloops secondary.
South Kamloops students now use the gym at Beattie secondary, something that will end once the two levels are brought together at the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year.
While some South Kamloops parents have expressed concerns about this, deBruijn said renovating or replacing the gym at South Kamloops remains a board priority, as does building a new South Kamloops secondary.
That capital-works project was submitted to the provincial government last year, but not acted on. The Ministry of Education has since changed its procedures for handling capital projects and requires boards to resubmit, something deBruijn said will happen once the ministry tells the district what the new process involves.
He said the population at South Kamloops is projected to be less than 1,000 in the next school year, the result of an effort by the board to enforce the school’s catchment area and not take in students from throughout the city. At one point, many classes had to be held in the John Peterson building.
DeBruijn said the board remains open to constructive suggestions as it moves forward with the amalgamation, noting “we’ve got 15 months to do this so it’s not like there isn’t time to talk about it.”
The cost of the $480,000 reconfiguration plan will be funded from the school district’s local capital fund ($444,673), school contingency funds ($30,000) and the parent advisory council ($5,000).
District assistant superintendent John Churchley noted there are two items desired by parents in previous meetings that will not materialize: There will be no washrooms with smaller fixtures for elementary children due to costs and there will be no day care in a portable, as is now the case at the McGill Road campus, due to space restrictions.
The report did note a washroom on the ground floor of the school (where elementary students will attend class) will be designated for K to Grade 7 students.
Other highlights of the Beattie School of the Arts reconfiguration plan:
• The inner courtyard of the school will be converted to a space for primary students, with the murals at the McGill campus being moved to the revamped courtyard.
• Renovate two adjoining classrooms on the second floor to house a learning commons that will include the K to Grade 12 library collection.
• Specialty classrooms will be reconfigured: wood shop to become a dance studio; textiles lab to become a regular elementary classroom; two science labs to become regular classrooms; science lab prep area to become a room for use with district specialists; food labs to be opened for K to Grade 12 use.
• Maintain the lunch canteen to be used by all Beattie students.
• Allow Beattie students to take Grade 11 and Grade 12 courses at adjacent South Kamloops secondary and allow South Kam students to take arts courses at Beattie, as space allows.
• Provide outside access to Beattie weight room for South Kamloops students.
• Encourage secondary students to work with elementary students by coaching, acting as peer models and teacher assistants and taking a new course on supervision.
• Purchase a public-address system that allows announcements and bells to be heard in selected classrooms, since elementary and secondary students will be on different timetables.
• Lock all outside doors except for the main front entrance next to the school office.
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