Dear Parents,
Many of you will be coming to tonight’s meeting to hear more information about the PART process and to provide input to the PART Committee. Prior to the meeting, it will be helpful for you to have my update below.
A sense of frustration has become palpable, as we are all wanting a solution, and it seems that we still do not have all the information we need to finalize many of the possible scenarios. Allenby’s situation is by far the most complex of all the schools involved in this PART.
I have consulted today with Superintendent Jeff Hainbuch’s office, TDSB staff and with Audrey Amo, PART facilitator, and have received some updates on a number of issues:
- Ministry policy regarding the implementation as it relates to Child Cares is attached in 2 documents. I will be speaking to this at the meeting tonight.
- We are awaiting clarification on the terms of the Child Care lease and the CCORC process and timelines. I am hoping to have that by tonight.
- We will receive the architect’s report about the possible build on April 10th
- The feasibility of the Music Room division is less complex, but is still to come.
It is important to understand that tonight is not really a formal voting process, but the beginning of a prioritizing exercise of the various options, getting a GENERAL feel of how current Allenby parents feels so the PART committee can narrow things down. The opportunity to really vote on possible options will be April 16th. at Lawrence Park Collegiate. This will be a fairly formal process to give the TDSB a strong sense of the preferences of the community. Minority reports are also accepted if anyone wants to submit one.
I also would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Allenby Space Committee has put in hours of work on examining complex data, processing unfamiliar information, and receiving input from community members. The PART delegates have put in many times more hours doing the same and consulting with TDSB Staff and attending many additional meetings.
As we have moved forward with this process and examined various scenarios, things have become contentions at times and there have been some unfortunate side conversations. We need to be transparent and respectful as we look at many different scenarios and it is obvious that as we go through them, there will be a range of opinions and feelings as to the palatability of any one of them. These need to be expressed as objectively and respectfully as possible, regardless of how frustrated we are with the process and the lack of resolution at this point. We will all need to live and work together when this is all over.
Looking forward to seeing you tonight.
Jennie Ucar