Happy New Year! This is the fourth update dealing with the PUPIL ACCOMMODATION REVIEW COMMITTEE that has been initiated for the four elementary schools in the Guildwood Community. At the October 20, 2016 public meeting, I made a commitment to keep the community updated with any new information through these updates. If you have not received the previous three and would like them, please send an email to me at jerry.chadwick@tdsb.on.ca. You will receive the previous updates and be included in all future mailings. You are also welcome to view all updates on my trustee webpage where they are posted under Guildwood Community PARC Updates. 

On February 2, the working committee will meet for the first time and begin the formal process of the PARC. Thank you to all of the students, parents and community reps who have volunteered to be part of the process. I am including the names of the members of the committee and the dates and locations of all of the meetings scheduled. You will note in the meeting schedule, that although the PARC process requires only 2 public meetings, we have scheduled a tentative 3rd meeting to ensure that all who wish to be speak and ask questions are heard. If not needed, this meeting will be cancelled.

I continue to hear that the process is a waste of time and that all decisions have been made. I want to ensure you that all community/public input will be listened to and considered before any final decisions are made. I have also heard a comment about something that happened, at one of the schools as part of the PARC Process, "I heard this has happened already, what if the parents find out?" My response was that this will be shared with the public at one of the meetings. We are not trying to hide anything and want everybody to have all of the information. I am committed to make this a totally transparent process and I have communicated that commitment to parents, staff and community members. If a decision is to be made, it will be an informed decision and it cannot be unless you have all of the facts.

Meeting #3 - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 @ Sir Wilfrid Laurier CI, Auditorium, 145 Guildwood Parkway, Toronto, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

If additional TDSB staff are needed to answer questions or provide information, they will be brought in. 

At the October 20 public meeting at Sir Wilfrid Laurier, CI, we talked about the Jack Miner site not being suitable for a large addition or a new build due to its proximity to the Bluffs. I have had questions about this from community members and requests for more information. I took this issue to staff and here is the response given:

The Jack Miner site is impacted by a setback from the edge of the Bluffs to the south face of the existing school. The Toronto Regional Conservation Authority have set this 'no-build' setback as a measure to minimize impacts on the Bluffs as well as ensuring no structure is impacted by an possible erosion of the bluff edge. This setback limit runs parallel to the edge of the Bluffs and thus runs in a north-east direction from the existing school building. As such the only buildable area on the Jack Miner site is the northern part of the existing parking lot. This area yields a very small footprint and as such it would not be able to accommodate any addition of relevant size.