Public consultation for the five schools being considered for closure is beginning on October 25, 2010. For a complete list of the dates and locations of the meetings, please see the public consultation meeting schedule.

These five schools will take part in the public consultation meetings

• Carleton Elementary;
• Champlain Heights Annex;
• Macdonald Elementary;
• McBride Annex; and
• Queen Alexandra Elementary.

Each school will have two public meetings. Parents and members of the community are encouraged to offer thoughts, ask questions and provide feedback with respect to the possibility of school closures.

Feedback can be emailed to: schoolclosure@vsb.bc.ca

The Board will listen to and take into careful consideration all of the input and written feedback received before making a decision in December 2010.For all meetings, attendees will be asked to register upon arrival and will be provided comment forms. All of the completed comment forms returned to the Vancouver School Board will be reviewed and tabulated as part of the final consultation report presented to the trustees.

When preparing your remarks to the Vancouver School Board and trustees, we ask you to consider two key questions:

1. What is your main concern about the potential school closure?
2. What would you like the trustees to know about the potential school closure?

Every reasonable effort will be made to accommodate as many speakers as possible, while respecting the time of all participants involved. The moderator will help facilitate the session to ensure everyone has the opportunity to speak and can extend the meeting time at his/her discretion.

Please find below details on the format of the meetings.

Public Information Meetings: October 25 - November 1, 2010

The first public meeting at each school will begin with an information session. Following the information session, the Vancouver School Board will provide some opening remarks and give a brief presentation summarizing the facts provided in the comprehensive administrative report that informed this decision. Finally, parents and community members will have the opportunity to address the Vancouver School Board.

Program:

6:45 pm    Doors open
7:00 pm    Information session with staffed story boards
7:30 pm    Vancouver School Board remarks and presentation
7:50 pm    Feedback opportunity
10:00 pm  Wrap up

Public Feedback Meetings: November 2 - 9, 2010

The second meeting at each school will provide additional opportunity for parents and community members to ask questions and provide feedback. The meetings will begin with a summary of the feedback heard from the first meeting. Then attendees will have an opportunity speak.

Program:
6:45 pm  Doors open
7:00 pm  Vancouver School Board presentation summarizing feedback to date
7:15 pm  Feedback opportunity
10:00 pm Wrap up