If you support the application for a Neighbourhood Learning Centre to be apart of the new Oak Bay High, then please write a letter/email of support to our MLA, Ida Chong to let her know just how much the community is behind this application.

To help you, we’ve written the following template letter. Please copy and paste it into an email, and customize it how you wish.

To: ida.chong.mla@leg.bc.ca

CC: lcurtis@oakbay.ca, rwindjack@ceiarchitecture.com, michelle@michellekirby.ca, premier@gov.bc.ca,

Dear Minister Chong,

Oak Bay has an incredible opportunity to see additional funding added to the overall redevelopment package of our new high school next year. Neighbourhood Learning Centre funds can add up to 15% to the budget of the project, which could mean up to $5 Million towards building the new Oak Bay High, while fulfilling the need for some capital projects in our community.

I think we need these funds to go towards:

1. A 450 seat theatre, to replace the one that will be torn down with the old school,
2. Age appropriate, earthquake safe daycare, before and after school care spaces, and a new teen centre,
3. A community kitchen to provide an affordable space for families and community to gather and share a potluck, or have canning parties, learn about food security issues, and take cooking classes,
4. Community access to multipurpose rooms for affordable meeting spaces.

Please support this exciting opportunity for Oak Bay High School and our community.

Sincerely,

–
Name
Address

The original Oak Bay High School in 1915.

Well, with a University, a College, and a plethora of grade schools within our borders, we’d certainly like to think we’re a neighbourhood of learning!

The Oak Bay High School redevelopment design is underway, and so too is the application for additional community space adjoining and within the new school. What will that space entail? We don’t know, but the design team would sure like to hear what you think.

Without your input and strong community support, we may miss out on the chance at additional funding from the Ministry of Education. The Neighbourhood Learning Centre idea is that a community has access to a school after school hours, so the space gets used as much as possible, and the community has access to space for recreation, leisure, learning, and community building activities.

In Oak Bay’s case, the new school funding formula doesn’t include a theatre, so we’ll lose our 450 seat theatre when the old school is demolished. Obviously, we’d all like to see the students and community get back what they have now in the school. Ensuring that a theatre and dance studio are included in the new building has so far been the highest priority established by the community consultation process. It’s the priorities for the rest of the additional space that we need to determine as a community.

Will it be space for a community kitchen, child care, a teen centre, a larger library branch to serve both the needs of the high school and the community (our branch has been identified as due for replacement within ten years)? There are many options available, and we need to make some very big decisions for the future of the community.

Our library branch will need replacement in 10 years.

Please take the time over the next week to visit one of the Open Houses, to learn about the project, and share your vision for Oak Bay’s future.

Saturday, October 2, 2010 10am–Noon Windsor Park Pavilion
Sunday, October 3, 2010 1–3pm Monterey Recreation Centre
Tuesday, October 5, 2010 7–9pm Oak Bay Recreation Centre
Thursday, October 7, 2010 7-9pm Oak Bay Recreation Centre

More information on Neighbourhood Learning Centres can be found at: www.neighbourhoodlearningcentres.gov.bc.ca

We have two new Directors, Corey Burger and Gail Price-Douglas. We are thrilled to have both of these committed, active community members join the Association Executive. President Tom Croft, Treasurer Claire Eraut, and Director Kathleen Matthews were re-elected to their positions. Thanks to each of them for continuing their commitment to the CAOB. All Executive Directors elected at this AGM will stand for a two-year term.

We had a report from Maeve Lydon, Director of Community Vibrancy, on the Green Mapping Project. She hopes our Oak Bay Green Map will be printed by the summer.

Sonja Ruthe, Director of Social Safety reported on her work with Emergency Preparedness Oak Bay, building resiliency and lowering vulnerability of our Seniors, and the successful education work they have done this year.

Michelle Kirby, Director of Special Events gave a quick review of the successful events held this year. She will be focusing on encouraging residents to organize block parties this summer, to get to know their neighbours, and build community street by street.

Fundraising Director, Lynne Milnes has a particularly challenging job in these difficult economic times, but has still found some money for the Green Mapping Project.

We learned some fantastic news from Pam Copley, Acting Mayor of Oak Bay, that we are going to receive some funding assistance! We had submitted a grant application to Oak Bay Council in December. Today we learned that we will be receiving $1,500 as seed money to help us build as an organization. This will allow us to reach continue to reach out to the community, while helping to cover the costs of hall rentals, printing costs, or fees for the registration of the website.

Oak Bay Councillors Nils Jensen and Tara Ney were also in attendance, and shared some good news about increased funding for improved cycling infrastructure, as well as the Oak Bay High School Redevelopment Project/Neighbourhood Learning Centre Proposal.

We had a presentation about our communications strategy for the ongoing community consultation on the redevelopment of Oak Bay High School, and the Neighbourhood Learning Centre process, by CAOB member Margaret Case. She has made this process much more manageable, by breaking down the process into smaller tasks, so no one volunteer feels overwhelmed by the weight of the project.

All in all, a fantastic turnout, and a great afternoon! Thanks to Jill and Tom Croft, and Donna and Claire Eraut, and Kathryn MacLean for all their hard work organizing the Annual General Meeting.

Thanks again to our generous sponsors, Willows Park Grocery, and Fairways Market!

We’ll be electing three new Director’s to our Executive, making some amendments to our constitution regarding membership, and discussing our role in the Oak Bay High School Redevelopment Project.

1-2 PM
Scout Hall (beside Fireman’s Park)

View Larger Map

Everyone welcome! Hope to see you there!

The panelists included: Nils Jensen, Oak Bay Councillor; Michael McEvoy, School District Trustee; Lorna Curtis, Director of Oak Bay Recreation; Dave Thomson, Oak Bay High Principal; Garrett Brisdon Vice-Principal; Jody Watson, CRD; Ian Graeme, Bowker Creek Initiative; Rod Windjack, Project Architect; Jim Soles, School District Building Project Manager; and Sally Murphy, Oak Bay High School Choir Teacher.

We had a special presentation by Architect John Graham, an Oak Bay High School Alumnus. He presented a perspective on the site plan that really opened up our minds to the exciting opportunities in front of us, while making us aware that we could easily miss those opportunities, if but for the lack of funding.

But the beautiful thing is that it appears that this project is in the right place and the right time. A new Ministry of Education initiative called the Neighbourhoods of Learning is underway, and can provide additional funding of up to 15% of the total project cost for community services. In our case, with an estimate of $52 million, we could ask for up to $8 million to build our community performing arts theatre, child care spaces, a teen centre, a community kitchen, community access to the school in the off-hours, and much more!

Here’s the overview of what the Revelstoke community decided on for their new school, and what their process was leading up to those important decisions.

All that’s required for the Neighbourhood Learning Centre model to be applied to the new Oak Bay High School is community participation, input, and desire for these facilities to exist within and alongside our new school building.

So, Oak Bay? Are you in?

The Community Association of Oak Bay hosted the meeting last Tuesday to fulfill our general mandate of Communicate, Collaborate, Connect, and I think we accomplished that, but we’ve still got plenty of work ahead.

We are meeting with Councillors Jensen and Cassidy to figure out how to get started on our Neighbourhood Learning Centre vision, so that it can be submitted with the plans for the new school. We will certainly keep you up to date on any developments on this project here on the caob.ca.

If you would like to participate in the Community’s bid for a Neighbourhood Learning Centre, then please contact us at oakbayconnector@gmail.com or through the comments on this post.

Please join us, to learn about the project, and share your thoughts on the development priorities. What you want to see happen not only for the new school, but for the surrounding public spaces? From a performing arts theatre to lit-up turf fields, child care and a new Library branch. There are a lot of exciting ideas on the table, and they won’t happen unless you get involved!

Invite your friends and neighbours in Oak Bay, because this is too important an opportunity for our community to miss!

Creating the Future of Oak Bay Poster

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

7:00 PM

Oak Bay High School Cafeteria

(Central Entrance in the Heritage Building)

We’ve invited a group of well informed people to sit on our panel, to answer your questions and share their insights into the project as it stands right now.

They include:

Nils Jensen, Oak Bay Councillor

Michael McEvoy, School District Trustee

Lorna Curtis, Director of Oak Bay Recreation

Dave Thomson, Oak Bay High Principal and Garrett Brisdon Vice-Principal,

Jody Watson and Ian Graeme, CRD Bowker Creek Initiative Representatives

Rod Windjack, Project Architect

And Jim Soles, School District Building Project Manager

Hosted by the Community Association of Oak Bay

The agenda covered many aspects of active transportation in Oak Bay. We learned about the CRD Pedestrian and Cycling Master Plan, Complete Streets and Other Inspirational Ideas, the Oak Bay Master Cycling Plan, Safer Routes for Willows and Monterey Schools, Imaginative Ideas from Other Cities, Imaginative Ideas for Oak Bay, and the New Oak Bay High School as a Community Space.

The audience came with lots of input and ideas to share. These are some of the creative ideas shared after the morning presentations:

We spent the afternoon hearing about the Oak Bay High School rebuild project, and the opportunities this will bring to improve pedestrian, cycling, and public spaces in and around the school.

Some ideas that came from the New Oak Bay High School group discussion session are:

As you can see, we had some really inspirational discussion that requires some work to get us moving in Oak Bay! Keep watching here to see how you can contribute, or get involved in the Action Plan. If you have ideas to share, please feel free to comment, or start a discussion on our Forum.

We had some good media coverage by the Times Colonist, as you can see here.