This bulletin is being provided to all residents that live in the immediate surroundings of Bayview Public School, that is, residents of Mooney’s Bay Place, Bayside Pvt, Waterview St, Springland Drive(between Mooney’s Bay and Flannery), Riverside Drive(Between Mooney’s Bay Place and Bayport Pvt) Beachview Pvt, Sandwalk Pvt, Viewpointe Pvt and River Garden Pvt. The purpose of this information bulletin is to provide all residents of the immediate Bayview area with the same information on the future of the building and property.

Dear Friends and Neighbours:

As you may be aware, on February 8, 2007, the Board of Trustees at the Ottawa Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) voted to close Bayview PS as of August 31, 2007. Students currently attending Bayview’s French Immersion program have been relocated to R Byrns Curry PS, 185 Owl Drive and will resume their studies on September 5. All teachers, support staff and educational resources will follow the students to their new school.

On March 22, 2007 I brought forward a motion to the School Board’s Business Services Committee that requested the following:
"That staff be directed to determine the feasibility(financial, practical and other) of using the Bayview Public School site as a "Community Use" facility and present a report to the May Business Services Committee". My intent was to have planning staff commission a study and report back within a couple months on the feasibility of using the building and land as a community use facility, before the Board of Trustees made any decisions in haste on what to do with the facility. Having lived in Riverside Park almost my entire life, I know that demand for community use facilities is high and whatever could be done, to retain the site and make it cost neutral, would be a win-win in my opinion for all involved. Unfortunately, the vast majority of my colleagues rejected my motion citing that it was the City of Ottawa’s responsibility to offer this type of facility and service not the School Board. While I understand their argument, I tried to broker a deal that would have had beneficial results for our community. On June 26, 2007, the Board of Trustees agreed to do two things with the Bayview building and property. They are as follows:

• That the Board declare the Bayview Public School property surplus to its needs, and
• That staff be authorized to proceed with disposal of the Bayview Public School property at fair market value in accordance with the requirements of Ontario Regulation 444-98.

What does this mean exactly?
The Board of Trustees has voted to dispose of the Bayview building and property. Under the provincial regulation, school board staff must first approach all local school boards, local colleges and universities, the City of Ottawa, Province of Ontario, and Government of Canada to give them first priority in the acquisition of the land. They have 90 days to communicate their intent to the School Board’s planning staff, which would be approximately the last week of September, 2007. I have had preliminary discussions with the local City Councillor and at her request have asked School Board planning staff to meet with the City’s planners to discuss the site. If after the 90 day period, there is no local interest in the building and land, planning staff will then approach Trustees for permission to sell the Bayview site on the open market. The Bayview land is 10 acres, roughly the shape of a rectangle.

I am developing an email list to keep you updated on future developments. Since I will be unable to hand deliver an information bulletin every other week in the Autumn, please send me an email expressing your interest in being added to the email list and I will ensure that you receive updates as information becomes available. Between now and the end of September, I anticipate that there will be little activity, as all local parties have until roughly September 27, 2007 to reply back to the School Board’s planning staff and no decisions will be made before then.

2007-08 Budget
Trustees have formally requested the provincial government send in a special assistance team to examine the financial statements and make recommendations for expenditure reductions in order to balance the budget, as required by law. Trustees are faced with a daunting $27.7m deficit and must balance a budget by June 20, unless alternate arrangements can be made. At the February 27 Board meeting, Trustees are expected to reduce the overall staffing level by up to 200 positions. Other expenditure reductions will be debated further on in the budget process. A wealth of information on the current and previous budget years, including the multiple presentations the OCDSB has made to Ministry officials can be viewed on the Board’s website at www.ocdsb.ca

School Bus Consortium
The two English school boards in Ottawa, the Ottawa Public and Ottawa Catholic, have agreed to enter into a school bus consortium that will eventually lead to greater efficiencies within the two large transportation departments. It is the intention that the consortium will allow the two boards to offer better service to their students at a lower cost. Why send multiple school buses down the same street, when one can do the job, serving both school boards.

Extensive Review of French Language Delivery
A thorough, multi-year review of how the School Board deliverers its French language instruction has been given the green light from Trustees. This massive undertaking will examine the three French Immersion entry points, Early, Middle and Late, Core French, and French language delivery at the secondary level, with the following objectives: to improve the effectiveness of delivery and instruction, to ensure equitable access to programs across the district, to ensure that programs have viable and sustainable enrolment levels and to ensure that programs are cost effective. The first round of recommendations is to be implemented for September 2009. A sample survey of all parents, teachers and administrators will be conducted and consultation with the general public is also expected.

School Consolidation Study
School Board planning staff, who officially commenced a consolidation study of the Hunt Club-Riverside Park community back in Sept 2006, released their recommendation on December 21 which would result in the closure of Bayview PS effective June 30, 2007. Staff also recommend that Bayview students be relocated to R Byrns Curry and that these students be redirected to both General Vanier and Fielding Drive. A complete set of reports, public comments and final recommendations are all available on-line by visiting www.ocdsb.ca and clicking Student Accommodation Studies. A public delegation night is scheduled for Jan 29 and Trustees will make the final decision on February 8.

Laurentian HS for Sale
On December 21, Trustees approved a marketing plan to sell the 16-acre site of the former Laurentian HS, which closed in June 2005. This follows a thorough study which determined that the School Board has no alternative uses for the site and after a mandatory 90-day period whereby the site was offered to other local School Boards, colleges, universities and City of Ottawa. It is expected that Trustees will review offers sometime in the spring, with the expectation that the site will be sold.

Budget Plan Released
On January 15, the Budget Committee received senior management’s budget plan for the 2007-08 budget. The plan presents a framework for budget decisions to address the anticipated $27.7 million revenue shortfall for the 2007-2008 expenditure budget. This report is coming very early in the traditional budget process timeline due to the urgency of the legal requirement of the Board passing a balanced budget by June 20, 2007. A plethora of budget information is located on the Board’s website at www.ocdsb.ca. I highly encourage you to read the recently released report. Trustees will be making the first round of budget decisions involving staffing levels on February 20.