Maplewood on the Lakes

Last night I attended the School Board’s Imagine Our Schools “open mic” session for parents of the CP Allen and Halifax West families of schools at Park West in Clayton Park. This was the second in a series of meetings which will culminate in recommendations for changes to school infrastructure, boundaries, etc. over the long term for board schools. One of the big items of discussion was the level of communication about these sessions. They are designed to be “cumulative”, with each session building on what was discussed at the previous session. Some felt that people weren’t being made aware of this, so may have been waiting to attend a later session closer to their neighbourhood. The same meeting will be held tonight (7-9) at Five Bridges Junior High to discuss the Sir John A and JL Ilsley families of schools (as an aside, their decision to group by only two families of schools in this case seems arbitrary and a bit silly to me given the proximity between CPA, Halifax W est, and Sir John A, but I suppose any grouping would end up that way).
Is it possible we could send around the schedule via email or post something the website to try and get more people out to these meetings? The first meeting had nobody from HPCS and only 2 from MSMS attend, and last nigth there weren’t many more than that. Here are the future meetings (the full schedule can be found here – http://www.hrsb.ns.ca/content/id/995.html) – all of which are public except the Feb. 11 meeting which as far as I know is for SACs only:

Community Consultation No. 3
Purpose: Presentation of Background Report

South Central HRM – Charles P. Allen and Halifax West Families of Schools
Thursday, January 22, 2009 – Basinview Community School Cafeteria, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Community Consultation Focus (SAC) Group
Purpose: Preview of Options development

South West/South Central HRM – J.L. Ilsley, Sir John A. Macdonald, Charles P. Allen, and Halifax West Families of Schools
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 – Charles P. Allen High Cafeteria, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Community Consultation No. 4
Purpose: Preliminary Options presentation and discussion

South Central HRM – Charles P. Allen and Halifax West Families of Schools
Thursday, February 26, 2009 – Fairview Junior High School Cafeteria, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Community Consultation No. 5
Purpose: Revised Options presentation and discussion
South Central HRM – Charles P. Allen and Halifax West Families of Schools
Wednesday, April 8, 2009 – Madeline Symonds Middle School Cafeteria, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Community Consultation No. 6
Purpose: Final Recommendations presentation and discussion
South Central HRM – Charles P. Allen and Halifax West Families of Schools
Thursday, May 14, 2009 – St. Margaret’s Bay Elementary School Cafeteria, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.