CEOP Manager at CAPSC Meeting

I had the opportunity to attend my first CAPSC meeting last night at AE Scott School. The primary reason I went was to listen to guest speaker Phil Carlton who is in charge of the CEOP department at the CBE. As you know we are presently engaged in the process of 'surplussing' a school in our community and that department is in charge of the process and forwards the final recommendation to the board for a vote. There is much more information on that here, this entry is to share my impressions of the meeting.

Mr. Carlton outlined his department's goals and challenges. They are responsible for predicting the numbers of students that will be in all the CBE's schools in the near and far (three years) future. They use various tools and accept input from many stakeholders to put together the numbers that the CBE needs to make decisions on budget and student allocation. They also make recommendations for school openings and closures, and are responsible for the allocation areas (walk zones). A large task. Last year, they were 99.9% accurate in their overall number of students in the system - a well-deserved bragging point.

As he worked through the outline of his departments mandate and procedure, it became obvious to me that he is not just a number cruncher, not just a minion of the mechanical process. He is excited about his job and it shows, but he also has a firm grasp on the fact that his groups closure decisions affect families, children become displaced, parents are stressed, and buildings lose their meaning in communities. He appears to know that schools take on an importance beyond the three R's. I definitely got the impression that this department takes a very careful look at the ripple of effect their decisions cause. I hope I'm right.

The process lends itself, in a carefully balanced way, toward including the community just enough so that if CEOP missed something they can correct themselves but not so much that there is opportunity for prolonged, emotional, and usually futile 'save-our-school' campaigns. The IAP2 framework allows a consultation position (among others) for public participation and that is their general format. The process is usually mercifully quick.

One of the intriguing questions that became obvious last night was how did we get in a position to close so many schools? The answer: Too many new spaces (2200), not enough new kids (554). There has been a slow but steady decline in enrollment over the years at CBE schools within the older neighbourhoods. There has been ever-growing expansion in Calgary housing, with a commensurate lack of new school construction. Many students (like our McKenzie Towne kids) are/were bussed to receiver schools. With many new schools becoming available in the outer suburbs, receiver schools are losing their populations. Now, the low enrollment numbers can't be ignored.

In Haultain's case, four years ago we knew our numbers were getting so low that we would be attracting the attention of (the newly created) CEOP. So it was with open arms that we welcomed the idea of becoming a receiver school. Disaster was averted, our numbers were up... for the time. Now their school is ready, our numbers plummet and we are back under the vigilant gaze of the CEOP group. Ironically, the present decision that is now affecting four communities and the ultimate recommendation to close Queensland Downs School was probably postponed for four years due to the fact that the McKenzie Towne students were bussed into our school.

Much more was talked about last night but I'm sure this long post has pushed your patience already...

Actually - one more thing, the results of the CEOP 'World Cafe' meeting are posted - these are the complete comments that were recorded at each table during the meeting on October 5th. The next meeting is an open house held at Wilma Hansen, open to all parents - please plan to come: Monday October 26 @ 7:30.