Dear Trustees, OTHS Portapak - $1.6 million Difference - approx. $1 million If that $1 million hadn't been spent on temporary accommodation in East Oakville, could it have been spent on permanent accommodation elsewhere in the system? Superintendent Sadler's suggestion at the November 7 COW that upgrading the Gladys Speers reno to include gym and specialty rooms would cost an additional $1 million, was rather revealing. It implies that any K-8 conversion of Gladys Speers would have been "unaffordable". The $2.5 million price tag for the Glen Abbey conversion would seem to confirm this. One also gets the impression that there are some expenditures the Board feels it must afford whether the funds are apparent or not. I don't doubt that Superintendent Sadler has done the math. I'd guess he knows how much the 1-8 French immersion conversion scenario ("C") for Gladys Speers would cost, too (hopefully something less than $3.1 million). Superintendent Sadler can also predict how many years would pass from the day a dual-track K-8 school (Scenario "A") opened in Southwest Oakville to the day the English program became unsustainable. Based on that bit of cogitation, the number of portables and the number of years they'd be required to accommodate the "unsustainable" population is pretty easy to calculate. I'd suggest it's about three portables for six years. Fewer than required for the Shell "blip" at Eastview. Keep in mind too, please, that a K-6, dual-track school will suffer the same fate, just as Sunningdale did. Have you considered this in your reno plans? Regardless, it will be difficult for the West Oakville community to be happy about giving up three hundred intermediate spaces for two hundred primary spaces. If after Pine Grove is closed, other local agencies and the ORC decline to take the property, mightn't proceeds from its disposal be returned to the local community? Thanks and best regards, Don |