Creating a Win for Students Living in the Greater Hardisty Area

As you may be aware, the Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB), Planning Department, prepares a ten year facilities plan and updates it annually.  The plan was recently updated and will be considered for approval by the board of trustees in September 2007.  The draft plan indicates that the "Greater Hardisty Area" (including Capilano, Fulton Place, Gold Bar and Hardisty Schools) might be part of a sustainability review in September 2007.  Recommendations are then made by the board that could include a variety of options ranging from school closure, program changes or everything remaining exactly the same as it is now.  At this point in time, nothing has been decided and the plan has not yet been considered by the board for approval.

DO NOT PANIC!!

A small group of community members representing all of the above mentioned schools and neighborhoods have met with representatives from EPSB to find out how we can do things differently.   In the past communities have written letters, begged and pleaded, reached out to the media, and all to no avail.  Many of us have watched the news and seen the emotional toll that the review process can have on students, teachers and parents.  Many of those community members have come away from the process feeling frustrated and pressured by the tight deadlines imposed on them to solicit community feedback.

There must be a better way to approach this.

This is what we are trying to do.

Through a collaborative approach, our small group hopes to start building a partnership with the community, the school board and the City of Edmonton to do some long term planning about what will best serve this area's students for years to come.  We are not sure what type of influence or power our group will have but up until now, the planning department has been very open to creating a dialogue with our communities.  We will soon  look at expanding our forum to include other valuable partners like our school council chairs and key community members.

If you have any comments or concerns, please feel free to contact any member of our working group as we value your opinions and comments.  We will continue to provide updates via the community newsletters and websites.

Gary Allen, karmaallen@shaw.ca, Fulton Place

Mike Cousins, gwenmike@telus.net, Fulton Place

Terri Jones, scottterri@shaw.ca, Gold Bar

Stacey Herbrik, littleherbrik@shaw.ca, Gold Bar

Jeff Riddle, jriddle@nait.ca, Capilano

Bill Burtnik, burtnik@shaw.ca, Capilano