Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Logan Lake Parents and Staff Community Consultation

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

October 25, 2024

Q: Would a move of students back to the elementary cause a decrease in programming opportunities offered at the secondary schools?

A: Extracurricular opportunities: It would likely not decrease opportunities for the students remaining at the Elem/Sec building except for the Grade 6/7s who participate in intramurals as the numbers may not support it. If Grades 5 and 6 move to the elementary building, intramurals are not offered at the elementary building currently.

Curricular opportunities: Grade 5, 6 and 7 classes each have one teacher plus their prep teacher, so it is like any other elementary school in the way programming runs in the secondary school. Over the next three years, if enrolment stays the same, these grades would continue in this structure and students would not lose out on curricular opportunities.
Q: Would a move of students back to the elementary cause a decrease in programming opportunities offered at the secondary schools?
A: Electives: There are no new courses offered at the secondary campus because Grade 5 and 6 students are located there this year. The only thing we have changed is that the prep teacher can change and offer Applied Design Skills Training (i.e., rather than a prep teacher doing PhysEd, a prep teacher could offer ADST course projects). This is because the prep teacher currently has those qualifications.
 Q: Would a move of students back to the elementary cause a decrease in programming opportunities offered at the secondary schools?

A: Enrolment changes: If Grade 5 and 6 students attend the elementary campus next year, there is the potential of offering combined classes if enrollment changes. For example, if a few students moved out of one grade and there was an increase of students in the other grade, it may be possible to create a combined class. This could happen at the secondary level as well.

If enrollment declined at the secondary level in Grades 7-12, then there is the potential of the courses offerings changing, but this would not be impacted by grades 5 and 6 staying or leaving.
 Q: Will the number of combined classes increase if we move Grades 5 and 6 back to the elementary school?

A: This will vary from year to year depending on the number of students who have diverse needs in each grade level and the number of students in each grade.

It will give us flexibility at the elementary to accommodate class size and composition by allowing us to create combined classes. However, it will really hamper our ability with only one elementary grade at the Elem/Sec building to accommodate changes in class size and composition.

If we have over 29 students and/or over the 3 low incidence students, we will require two classes as it would be difficult to accommodate a combined class.
Q: Would moving the elementary students back cause the secondary school to eventually close?

A: If enrolment declined in Grades 7-12, then it may happen that we need to be cautious as to the potential for closure.

We have worked hard over the past many years to assist students in programming to meet their passions and interests which has retained many from moving into schools in Kamloops and others have returned from Homeschooling to join our school.

Presently, Logan Lake Secondary School is increasing in enrollment:

If enrollment declined below a certain threshold (20 students) in total in Grades 7 and 8, we would look to combine those grades.
Q: Would there become inequity in space available for student learning?
A: We currently have 120 K-4 in the smallest building, and 170 students in the largest building. If we move the Grade 5 and 6 students to the K-4 building, the capacity utilization would be 58%, and this would be acceptable, but there would be less accessible space than we have now. We have a preschool in one classroom, a cafeteria in a common area, and they would still have access to a LART Room, Sensory Room, and AEW Room.
Q: What happens if we do the switch and the numbers change, will we lose the high school?

A: Enrolment numbers have stayed quite stable and the hope would be that we would not lose enrolment as people would be happy with the change after consultation.

If enrollment does go down, we may have to consider this possibility. However, closing schools in rural areas is a last resort, and we would not want to make the change if we thought it would prompt a school closure.
Q: I just wanted to say, I sent the first email to the school district trustee on Sept 23 and I did not receive a response until October 8. I'd like this date to be noted, please.

A: If you are using a general feedback email, we have moderators that check these emails frequently, and we do our best to get back to you as quickly as possible.

There was an attempt to reply to this specific email earlier but it was sent to a do not reply email. Sorry for the inconvenience.

You may choose to send your feedback and questions to Feedback – we are monitoring this email frequently and will respond as soon as we are able.
Q: I’ve been asked a lot about the survey by people who couldn’t attend tonight. How much will that be taken into account in this decision?
A: For anyone who was unable to attend the webinar, they will be able to watch a recording of the webinar and fill out the survey on the Logan Lake Secondary and Elementary websites. We are also going to report back the results, and if it's quite unclear where the results land, we would consider a second survey.
Q: My comment relates to having Grades 5/6 students remain at the secondary school – the idea of separating breaks and lunches can be challenging with respect to having enough supervision – how might this be addressed?
A: In order to address this, we would have to look at bringing in CEAs, parent volunteers, or paid supervisors to come in at lunchtime to supervise.
Q: When you put out the survey, is there an area where parents tend to be leaning towards?

A: We will wait until the survey has closed on October 26, 2024 to report on the results. There have been many responses so far but we wait for all responses to be collected before outlining the key themes.

Based on the focus group with 19 parents, there are diverse perspectives and at this time, we don’t see a leaning one way or the other.
Q: For the people that did not receive the survey, where can they get it from?
A: The survey will be available for parents to fill out until October 26, 2024 on the Logan Lake Secondary and Elementary website under What’s Happening / News>Community Consultation.
Q: How many participants are in this meeting? Do you have a minimum number of community participants for this proposal to be considered?

A: There were 15 participants who joined the webinar.

We do not have a minimum number of community participants for the proposal to be considered. We have offered a number of different ways to consult (webinar, focus groups, staff meetings, surveys, email submissions), and through these various options, we provide many ways to express your views. If we have very little involvement, we would not make a decision based on a small percentage of parents and staff.
Q: Will we keep the kids that are already currently in the high school, or will they be moved back to the elementary school? My kids are upset about the idea of transferring back.
A: This is an option we could consider based on feedback received. If this becomes a key theme based on the consultation results, then we would consider including it in another survey.
Q: If Grade 5/6 students return to the elementary school, what is the process regarding existing Grade 5/6 teachers?
A: In this circumstance, we would work closely with Human Resources and the KTTA to look at the Collective Agreement. We have the ability to change a work location like the one suggested without disrupting staffing.
Q: Are we allowed to ask what the opinions are of the staff on this matter?

A: We will be transparent in our consolidation of data when reporting consultation results back to the community.

We met with Logan lake staff on October 23, 2024 and their opinion and thoughts shared in that meeting will be consolidated with the survey data.
Q: Will this impact our teachers or staff in any way? What are the worst-case scenarios for this change? My worries is that it will affect what we already have in place, and I don't want it to be hard on our teachers or the students.
A: This could impact staff and teachers, however, only if we are reducing the number of teachers.  We have the ability to change work locations in situations like this.
Q: Will there be another meeting after this meeting? Or just families filling out the forms then reviewing and will let us know in December?

A: At this time there is not a second webinar scheduled. After reviewing the data, if we feel that there is a need to collect additional feedback we may consider another webinar.

We will be consolidating the feedback and sharing it with the school community in December.
Q: Would the idea of leaving the Grade 5/6 students at the school for this year and starting a transition next year impact the timeline of a decision for December?
A: If this emerges as a key theme in the survey data it will be shared with the Board as a finding of the consultation and could be considered in the next phases of consultation or additional surveys if needed.
Q: My children are not yet in the school system but this is a concern of mine leading up to entering school. Looking at the survey I don’t have an option to respond, as the first question asks what grade my children are in. How should I proceed with the survey? Is it only for parents with children currently within the school system?
A: There is an option to submit feedback via email which is included on the Community Consultation webpage.
Q: Will the survey be anonymous? If so, how will you monitor duplicate entries?

A: The survey is anonymous and the duplicate entries will be prevented by the privacy designate.

The purpose of the initial survey is to capture and consolidate key themes. We may consider additional surveys based on the data collected in the first survey.
Q: How should families who have left the community due to the secondary school starting at Grade 5 let you know? I've heard from more families since the last community consultation meeting, stating this is why they moved
A: We invite families who have left the community to submit their feedback to Principal Collins or the Feedback.
Q: Can you clarify if the Grade 5/6's move back, would we lose the preschool, lunch room, and another room?
A: We would have to look at the configuration of the building to ensure space if available. We would not want to lose the preschool but would have to look at different spaces to find ways to make room for the Grades 5/6 students.
Q: There seems to be some concern in the community about the safety of such young children being with older children. If Grade 5/6 doesn’t seem feasible to keep back, could we just keep back the Grade 5 class for next year?
A:  Yes, if we received enough responses and this emerges as a key theme then we would consider this option.
Q: As a parent of a child going into Grade 5 next year, would it be possible to look at just Grade 5's?
A: Yes, if we received enough responses and this emerges as a key theme then we would consider this option.
Q: Is there actually room available? What if moving forward, we have an increase in elementary grades?
A: There are currently two classrooms that could accommodate additional students. If enrollment numbers keep increasing then we would have to look at options in the building for creating additional space but at this time we could make it work.
Q: Are staff supposed to fill out the survey too?
A: Staff are encouraged to fill out the survey and share their feedback.
Q: What will be the impact on space if the Grades 5 and 6 move to Logan Lake elementary campus next year?

A: Based on Sept 2024 enrolments, there are currently 106 students at Logan Lake Elementary. There are 24 Grade 5 and 21 Grade 6 students at Logan Lake Secondary. Moving the Grade 5 and 6 to Logan Lake Elementary would increase the enrollment to 151 students. The capacity of LLE is 261, so the capacity utilization would be 58%.

Currently, the following classrooms are not being used as classrooms: Vacant K room, meeting room, LART, Spec Ed, Fine Arts, storage, two lunch rooms.

There is more than enough space to accommodate this change.

 

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