Brief Summary We, the community of St. Edmund Elementary, proudly consider our school to be a success story of the Lester B. Pearson School Board. Since the 2005-2006 Major School Change and with the implementation of Français Plus in 2011, enrolment has steadily increased from 304 to 430 students. Parent surveys strongly indicate that our school was chosen not solely for its exceptional educational program, but also based upon its reputation as a safe, caring environment with nurturing staff and an emphasis on fitness, arts and technology. However, with the growth we have experienced, parents also have concerns about the management of enrolment and about the challenges arising from the explosion of our student population. We believe that if more LBPSB schools focussed on an extended French program with a whole-child development philosophy, the overall attraction rate of families away from French and private schools would be higher. In addition, families would be more likely to stay in their zones, thus reducing the potential overcrowding of certain LBPSB schools. We respectfully submit this summary of our recommendations: 1. Institute a grandfather clause allowing all existing families to finish their education in their current program and school 2. Ensure schools such as St. Edmund have sufficient dedicated spaces, designated for enhanced Arts, Technology, and Fitness programs, to continue to compete with private-sector schools 3. Implement the Français Plus program as the standard for immersion education within the LBPSB to reduce costs and fragmentation associated with maintaining multiple French immersion programs 4. Enhance the bilingual schools with a magnet program (ex. multi-sport, art, music) to attract more students 5. Offer fee-based extra-curricular activities, at some school board locations, in order to generate revenues and attract non-board families The following brief provides more detail on these recommendations, as well as some supporting data. This brief has been endorsed by the St. Edmund Governing Board. October 28, 2015 2
1. Introduction A St. Edmund Major School Change committee was formed by parents with the objective of representing the parent population s views on potential major changes. To this end, the committee sent out two online surveys. The first, sent out in June 2015, was designed to determine how much the school s current French program (Français Plus) contributed to its popularity and to gather general input on parents concerns. We received 245 responses to this survey. The second survey, sent in September 2015, gathered feedback on specific ideas to be presented in this brief and received 215 responses. Parent feedback has been insightful and varied. This brief contains the most popular themes, but cannot represent all of the diverse suggestions from our parent population. However, one theme has been brought up repeatedly amongst responses and discussions surrounding Major School Change: It is imperative that the student be put first and that existing families be allowed to complete their schooling in the same environment in which they started. It is therefore St. Edmund s recommendation that any changes allow existing families to remain at the school until graduation. 2. A Model for Success Our parent surveys indicate that overall, parents are very satisfied with St. Edmund. When we asked parents to share their thoughts, ideas and/or concerns about the LBPSB Major School Change, 24% of parents (the second largest group) emphasized that the school is great as it is. Comments included: What St. Edmund's is doing should be a model for other schools in the LBPSB. Every one of the teachers and staff members takes an invested interest in the education of my children. The surveys indicate that St. Edmund attracts families due to two main reasons: 63% of parents surveyed indicated that the French program was the most important factor in choosing the school, whereas the school s reputation was the second most important factor for 42% of the respondents. Numerous elements contributed to the favourable reputation, including a strong administration, quality teaching, high parental involvement, active promotion of the arts, and the fostering of community values both within and outside of the school. It is interesting to note that while parents came out overwhelmingly in favour of the high level of French instruction, the largest reason that parents gave for transferring their child to St. Edmund after Kindergarten was dissatisfaction with the French school system. Parents often mentioned feeling more aligned with St. Edmund s teaching philosophy. St. Edmund is recognized as a warm, caring place, which is an important factor when parents are deciding whether to send their child to a LBPSB school instead of a French or private school. Figure 1 - Responses from the June survey regarding the reasons that families transferred their children to St. Edmund after kindergarten. Answers were not prompted and were grouped into themes for this presentation. St. Edmund s offers a model of a successful school that we feel other LBPSB schools with diminishing enrolment could emulate. October 28, 2015 3
3. Allocation of physical resources With the growth St. Edmund has experienced since the last Major School Change, the school is now at 108% of its published capacity. The high enrolment has not gone unnoticed by parents. In the June survey, parents were asked an open-ended question: Please share your thoughts, ideas and/or concerns about the LBPSB Major School Change. The biggest area of concern was our increased school population. In particular, loss of a dedicated computer room, the conversion of the art room into a kindergarten class and the reduction of physical education facilities were mentioned. Parents have indicated that in order to compete with French and private schools, public schools must maintain dedicated facilities to enhance their programs. Parent concerns and feedback (no prompted answers) 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% 26% 24% concerns St Edmund is about space a great school 18% general funding concerns 14% make sure that existing kids stay at the school (especially out of zone) 12% other 10% shouldn t cut libriarian 9% no suggestions or complaints 5% problem with uneven zoning 4% increase quality of French Figure 2 - classification of 78 comments received from the June survey. Percentages do not add up to 100 since some comments contained more than one topic It is therefore our recommendation that any Major School Change be designed to address the over-capacity problems at St. Edmund. Having dedicated-purpose rooms to enrich their child s learning experience was seen by parents as being a major differentiator which put St. Edmund on par with private elementary schools. 4. Enrolment Advantages to Français Plus 4.1. Popularity of a high percentage of French instruction Since Français Plus was introduced during the last Major School Change process, St. Edmund has seen a 29% increase in enrolment. Most parents (63%) chose the school because of the level of French instruction, and when asked what programs at the school the parents appreciated the most, the largest group (55%) indicated the Français Plus, with the music and art programs being the second and third most popular choices (52% and 26% respectively). Of the parents who transferred after Kindergarten, the second most popular reason for transferring was the high amount of French instruction at the school. In addition, when we asked parents to suggest improvements to programs in an open-ended question, suggestions for further increasing the quality or amount of French instruction at the school were common. In the follow-up survey, 74% of parents indicated they would support or strongly support increasing the percentage of French at the grade 5 and 6 levels. 4.2. Zone Distribution The current student distribution indicates that geography is not the defining reason for a parent s choice of schools: 61% of parents responding to the September survey indicated that there is a Lester B Pearson School closer to their home than St. October 28, 2015 4
Edmund. Whereas St. Edmund is at 108% capacity, the average capacity level of nearby elementary schools 1 south of highway 40 is 75% with the least full school at 51%. Were the student population to be distributed evenly across these schools, which are only a maximum of 5km apart, the average capacity within our region would be 80%. In addition, St. Edmund has a high percentage of out-of-zone students compared to nearby schools. For instance, zones 48 and 38, which are not zoned for St. Edmund, are closer to the school than zone 49, which is in the St. Edmund zone. Zone 49 supplies 74 students, who would be better served geographically by Dorset. School % Not Zoned for School St. Edmund 18.4% Christmas Park 14.2% Beacon Hill 10.7% Sherwood Forest 10.1% St. Paul 3.3% Clearpoint 9.2% Figure 3 Percentage of Students in local schools who live outside the schools designated admission zones. It therefore appears that solutions for balancing the student distribution and returning St. Edmund s capacity to a more optimal level must include changes to programs offered within other local schools. In addition to valuing the high percentage of French education, our survey indicated another factor that could help the school board increase enrolment. Parents were asked in an open-ended question what they would like to see improved at the school. The most popular suggestion related to increasing physical education or extracurricular sports. This has been a topic of some discussion in recent years at St. Edmund, following the high interest of a multi-sport, private high school program. Since Français Plus already acts as a magnet program attracting students from both private and French schools, we feel that a magnet multisport, music or art program would benefit bilingual schools that are currently facing declining enrolment. Figure 3 In the June survey, respondents were asked an open-ended question about the programs they would like to see improved. Responses have been grouped into common themes. Given the popularity of French instruction among our parent-base and the fragmentation of student population between the multiple programs offered, we recommend that the school board eliminates the immersion program and focuses on two main programs: a high-percentage French program (Français Plus) and a bilingual program with a multi-sport, art or music component. 1 For the purpose of this brief, the schools considered nearby to St. Edmunds were Beacon Hill, Christmas Park, Sherwood Forest, St. Paul, and Clearpoint. October 28, 2015 5
5. Junior-Senior Solution is Not Favoured As a result of discussion and speculation heard within our community, we asked the parent population directly if they supported combining St. Edmund with a nearby school to create a junior-senior campus model. Our data indicates that only 20% of parents support this idea while 30% remain neutral. For the remaining 50% who oppose this solution, there are two significant disadvantages to the arrangement: - two locations for drop-off and pick-up were seen to unduly challenge the already hectic schedule of parents whose children are split between campuses - the lack of opportunity for senior-junior mentoring and junior-senior learning opportunities If a split-campus solution were to be imposed on St. Edmund despite parental preference to the contrary, it is critical that the student population be limited to the school s published capacity to ensure facilities such as a dedicated art or computer room be returned to the school. Our expectation is also that there would be formal, regular and frequent opportunities or programs in place to foster, facilitate, and encourage younger and older students to interact. The St. Edmund community appreciates the dynamics and convenience of a K-6 school and is opposed to St. Edmund becoming part of a Junior-Senior model. 6. Revenue-Generating Opportunity for LBPSB An interesting result of our parent consultations was the high interest (77%) in after-school, fee-based activities using the school facilities. Types of activities that received positive mentions included tutoring, foreign languages, music, art, computer, and sports. We understand the complexities of offering this type of service in regards to sharing of space with daycare and administration required, but feel that it is a potential revenue-generating area, which should be explored more fully. It was also felt to be an advantage that would allow our schools to compete more effectively with other elementary schools in the French or private sectors. Parents at St Edmund who support or strongly support the idea Expand Francais Plus to other schools 84.0% School board should offer fee-based extracuricular activities 77.0% Increase French instruction in the Francais Plus program at G5 and 6 levels 73.7% Offer a multi sport program at a nearby elementary school (ex Defi Sport) 62.7% Reducing programs (ex Immersion) at other schools to even out attendance levels 61.3% Create Junior-Senior Split at St Edmund 20.2% Close schools to increase overall attendance 13.8% Adapt Français Plus in another way 10.0% Figure 5 Results from the September survey. Parents were asked to indicate whether they supported the above proposals. Based on indicators of interest expressed by parents within the St. Edmund community, we see value in the LBPSB exploring the possibility of each Bilingual school having a magnet program as well as the offering of after-school, fee-based activities in all or some LBPSB elementary schools. 7. Conclusion Given that the Français Plus program and the school philosophy at St. Edmund have been very successful, we believe that the school can serve as a model for other LBPSB schools. In particular, focussing the school board s resources on only the Français October 28, 2015 6
Plus and Bilingual programs would save costs and respond to parents desire for more French instruction. Offering a multi-sport, art or music component to the bilingual program should also help to reverse declining enrolment. Reserving dedicated spaces in schools to enhance particular programs such as art, music and computers is seen as an important way to compete with elementary schools from the private sector. In addition, the LBPSB should consider offering extra-curricular activities to generate additional revenue and to attract families who are not eligible to attend the schools. Finally, it will be crucial to ensure that any changes to the current schooling system are introduced in a manner of utmost consideration to the children s education. In particular, children and their families should be allowed to complete their elementary education in their current program and school. October 28, 2015 7