DECISIONS: Trustees voted to name the “new” Dundas High School – a renovated Highland Secondary – the Dundas Valley Secondary School. They also hear an information report on the Board’s infrastructure deficit. Part of the plan proposed by staff includes closing higher maintenance schools during upcoming school closure reviews. There was no decision on the report, a decision on the infrastructure deficit will come at a later date.
Trustees will decide the name of “new” Dundas High School, approve routine policies, and complete the finance portion of their October 28 Board meeting during their first regular committee meeting on Monday night. Live coverage will begin at 6 p.m.
They will be going into closed session shortly after 6 p.m., watch @JoeyColemanLIVE on Twitter for notice when they resume and the latest updates during the meeting, including the naming decision for the Dundas High School.
Ad-free LIVESTREAM (requires login with Facebook or Livestream account)
[module align=”left” type=”aside” width=”two third”]AGENDA (Download) 1. Call to Order 2. Approval of the Agenda 3. Declarations of Conflict of Interest 4. Private Session (to consider matters on the private agenda) 5. Meeting Resumes in Public Session Action Items: 6. Naming of the combined Dundas Secondary School 7. Policy Committee Report – October 24, 2013 A) Volunteer Policy Scoping Report B) Visual Identity Policy • Visual Identity Corporate Manual • Visual Identity School Manual C) Recruitment and Selection Policy Scoping Report D) Accommodation of Staff Policy E) Staff Progressive Discipline Policy F) Boundary Review Scoping Report • Boundary Review Directive G) Property Disposition Policy H) Four Year Policy Plan 8. Finance Committee Report – October 24, 2013 Monitoring Items: 9. Transportation Consortium Progress Report 10. Ongoing Capital Projects Report (ARC) 11. 10 Year Capital/Deferred Maintenance Costs 12. Adjournment
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Items of Interest
“New” Dundas High School Name | Updates on New School Construction & Renovations | Update on New King George/Scott Park/Parkview High School | $548-million Infrastructure Deficit
“New” Dundas High School Name
Dundas is going from two high schools to one. The Board is closing Parkside and renovating Highland Secondary School. As part of the change, the Board is renaming Highland to a new name.
843 submissions were received, 829 of them online.
A committee of 18 people consisting of Board officials, Trustees, parents, students, teachers, non-teaching staff, community, and the Curator of the Dundas Historical Society narrowed down the suggestions to three names:
- Dundas Secondary School
- Dundas Valley Secondary School
- Dundas District Secondary School
The committee decided the new name should:
- Reflect the local community;
- be a local community name in preference to the name of a prominent person;
- include “secondary” in the name; and
- include “Dundas” in the name.
Paul M. Brown Secondary School
The most popular choice online, with a quarter of the suggestions, was to name the Dundas high school after the late Paul Brown, a teacher in the School Board who died last December at age 50.
Paul Brown’s obituary states he taught at Westmount, Barton, Churchill, Scott Park, Delta, and was teaching at MacNab when he died.
The campaign to have the Dundas school named after him included strong social media with over one thousand people joining a Facebook page to the cause. This combined with a memorial page of over 1,700 people.
Other suggestions
No online naming contest is complete without a Stephen Colbert suggestion, there was one.
Also on the list of suggestions: Steve Paikin, Hogwarts, Chris Hadfield, Clara Hughes, Captain Thomas Coote, Jack Layton, John Graves, Russ Powers, and Terry Fox.
Update on New Schools (ARCs)
New King George/Scott Park/Parkview High School
HWDSB staff say they hired the project managers and a heritage consultant for the new lower-city high school. MHPM Project Managers Inc will oversee the project.
The heritage consultant is to complete a “full assessment of King George and determine what elements or features of the school should be retained.”
City Council directed City staff to look at designating King George as a heritage building. If designated, it could hamper the School Board’s plans for the new high school on the site.
The expropriation of the former Scott Park high school continues. The Board wishes it to become a parking lot. (Read more: Scott Park and Parking – HWDSB can’t have surface parking, but can have a parking structure)
New South Mountain High School
MHPM Project Managers will look after the new south Mountain high school which the Board plans to build on land south of Rymal and Upper Sherman.
The Board is negotiating with the landowner to purchase the property.
The opening date is September 2016.
“New” Dundas Secondary School Renovation
The “new” Dundas high school renovation, which includes a new gymnasium and science labs is scheduled to enter construction in Spring 2014 with a completion date of September 2015.
George R. Allan Addition / Renovation
The expansion of George R. Allan is underway and scheduled for completion in September 2014. The work includes office and staff room renovations, 4 full day kindergarten (FDK) rooms, washrooms, gymnasium addition, 3 new classrooms, workroom renovations, lift and parking lot expansion.
Dalewood Renovation
Dalewood is getting renovated as it takes students from the closing Prince Phillip Elementary school next fall. Work is to being in Spring 2014 and be completed by September, includes new boiler and controls, new roof, electrical, fire and alarm and security panel upgrades, accessibility upgrades (lift, washroom etc.) plumbing, windows, exterior wall repairs.
HWDSB Deferred Infrastructure Costs
$548-million
That is the public school board’s current capital maintenance deficit.
Board staff are recommending strategies – that includes additional school closures – to bring this staggering figure down to a still staggering $359-million.
The Board is being given an overview report at this meeting with further details of the plan to be brought forth in the future.
Reports and Other Business
The reminder of the agenda is routine business with the trustees reapproving existing policies, and completing their finance committee report from last week’s Board meeting.
There is an update on transportation that shows progress in cost savings by increasing the number of school buses that serve multiple schools to 78.15% from under 50% in 2009-10.