GSIS and Ma On Shan

[happyhour]

genome,

Sorry, I forgot to mention that under the "Selection Criteria" section, it is stated that "generally speaking, for applications involving an existing school, the locations of the applicant schools (i.e. whether they are currently operating in the same district as the location of the new school premises) will also be taken into account." So it appears that the Education Bureau had already considered and taken into account the fact that MOS is far away from the Peak when they offered the MOS site to us. (see url=http://www.edb.gov.hk/index.aspx?langno=1&nodeID=5086]EDB - Selection Criteria[/url])

Just quick question by moving the Primary out to MOS does that not take the school way out of any kind of catchment area that would be appropriate for the school if it were to follow government catchment guidelines? I am sure that those guidelines are there for a reason and would not be surprised if they had to do with travel times, learning benefits ie children not showing up at school worn out due to journey. Safety and a whole slew of other vaid valuable reasons.

If anyone knows would be curious of the answer.

 

[parent]

hi All,
Just received the school letter about the decanting and the funding again...I am just so confused why the school is willing to empty their reserve to decant/renovate and force our children to travel 80 mins per way to school..My kids are going to have 160 min in the bus everyday. Starting school at 7:45 and ending 2:45 means reaching home around 4:30..How do they get to do homework when we all know that the upper primary do have heavy workload? Afterall, only the middle building get to be renovated...

 

[genome]

I have just taken a look at the documentation that the school has sent out and the wonderfull colour brochure that accompanied it. I must admit that the brochure is wonderful with all the happy smiling faces and the beautiful picutres. It reminded me of all the wonderful adverts that enticed me to start smoking when I was young. I now know better.

I also do not really understand why a board that I would imagine to be competent keeps focusing on one thing the transport to the school. Don't they get it that this is only one of the multitude of reasons as to why MOS is not a good idea.

Re the journey time to MOS being 25 minutes in the offpeak would that be at 1am? Children do not go to school at offpeak hours.

It is nice to hear that the bus drivers have a lot of experience driving in the New Terrotories but wont they be coming from HK Island?

Also please note the small print if you live in repulse bay your pm journey time will be 80min which is more than the flying time between London and Amsterdam!

Re the financing who wants to use capital at the moment should we not be trying to preserve it like everyone else? Re the school saying that they are not thinking about raising debentures etc can I just point out that they are partially incorrect in this and would like to clarify their error and omission. It was clearly suggested by the board in the meeting in November that these were options that would be available to the school if they needed cash.

There is so much more that I could write but to be perfectly honest with you I am so incensed and angry at what the school has put out and their continuing suggestions that the parents against MOS are lunatics, liars and manipulators that it is just not worth my time. To top it all of they now want the vote to take place by ballot and not by hands and will not allow parents to verify the count. This goes against all forms of transparency and to be honest at this moment in time I trust North Korea with nuclear weapons more than I trust the board of GSIS.

Once I have calmed down will point out some of the other errors the board has in its documentation.

 

[courtbas]

so they have the decision on the school hours prior to the EGM?

 

[genome]

Happyhour I cannot fault your logic except for one thing it is based on the board being competent and from what I have seen and heard so far I am beginning to question this fact.

 

[genome]

Cafeteria
The cafeteria, with spectacular views over Aberdeen Country Park, will be the
heart of the refurbished Peak Campus. It will provide a large, attractive dining
space for the students as well as an inviting meeting and social space for the
school community.

How about we invite Gordon Ramsay to cook in the cafeteria it may go some way in recouping the costs we could turn it in to a restaurant in the evenings for the people that live in mansfield road.

 

[genome]

sorry uncalled for will come back once I have found the other inaccuracies.

 

[genome]

I have thought about this all night and decided that there is no point to go through the entire document that the school has sent out but instead to state it as it is.

The school has a problem with primary our youngest and most vulnerable pupils in that they do not know where to put them.

The solution:

Put them on buses and ship them out to the furtherst reaches of Hong Kong.

Tomorrow is the vote and hopefully the end to this sorry saga.

Thank you all for your contributions.

Genome.

 

[happyhour]

Genome,

I have something to say about the school?s demand for a poll. I understand that all matters at the EGM should be decided by a show of hands unless a poll is demanded. I am not the school, so I don?t really know the exact reason why they want a poll instead of a show of hands. But offhand I can think of 3 reasons. If we are going to vote by a show of hands, it means that the school must separate the members from the non-members when the parents go into the hall. It also means that the members will have to be separately seated from their spouses in order to avoid any confusion. If we are going to do it by poll, we won?t have this problem. Of course, each member can be given a flag or something to verify his or her identity when we do it by a show of hands. But the problem is that if the result is very close, then it will be a lot easier to do a recount if it?s done by poll. The third reason is to do with anonymity. The poll will save us from embarrassment, finger-pointing and peer pressure. I don?t think the Board is demanding a poll solely for the purpose of not letting the parents check the result. We must have some trust on the Board. You know the Board members don?t get paid. If you were one of them, would you be willing to take a risk and ruin your reputation completely by doing something dishonest? At the end of the day, if the parents decide to go against the Board?s advice and the quality of education really declines, our kids are the one who are going to suffer and not the Board members.

Another thing is that this sorry saga will not end tomorrow. If the requisitionists lose tomorrow, they will feel sorry because the school will move to MOS for 4 years. If the requisitionists win, then let?s pray to God that the Board and the management are really as incompetent as the requisitionists think. If it turns out that the Board and the management are correct in their assessment of the situation (ie. we really need more space and new facilities, there won?t be any suitable sites available in the foreseeable future and if don?t take action now, the quality of education will decline etc), then every single one of us will feel sorry as the problems surface and get worse.

 

[happyhour]

Let's look at the outcome and see how it would affect us and our children.

There are 2 scenarios:-
(1) If the requisitionists "lose" on Friday, it means that under the compromise proposal, those who are in Y3 at the start of the redevelopment will spend 4 years at MOS. Those in Y2 and Y4 will spend 3 years there. Y1 and Y5 will stay there for 2 years and so on. In return, we will have a new campus at the Peak which will benefit both the Primary and the Secondary.
(2) If the requisitionists "win" on Friday. Nobody needs to go to MOS. But nobody knows (a) where the "better" site is going to be and (b) when it will become available and (c) whether we will get it.

The Board is saying:-
(a) In order for GSIS to stay competitive, we need more space and new facilities.
(b) There aren't likely to be any suitable sites available in the foreseeable future.
(c) If we do not act soon, quality of education will decline.

Now comes the question - "Do you think the Board is correct in making the above assessments?"
(a) If you don't agree with the Board or you don't believe in its judgment, then you should support the requisitionists on Friday because the move to MOS is really not necessary or justifiable.
(b) If you agree with the Board or you haven't got a clue but you still believe in the Board's ability to make the right judgment, then you must ask yourself the question "how important it is to you to maintain the high quality of education that we are now having at GSIS?" Are you willing to take a risk that the quality of education will decline? We must note that if the Board turns out to be correct in its judgement and the redevelopment plan is thwarted as a result of our decision not to move to MOS, all our kids are going to suffer when they go on to the Secondary. If you think it is important to maintain high quality of education or you are not prepared to take a risk, then you should vote against the requisitionists on Friday.

Please bear in mind the following points:-
(1) The Education Bureau requires a decision on the Ma On Shan site in March 2009. If we can't get the matter sorted out before the deadline, it means in effect that the requisitionists will succeed by default.
(2) By ruling out MOS, we are also saying "no" to a number of other areas. Those areas that will only save us traveling times of 5 to 10 minutes or even 15 minutes either way should not be considered in the future.
(3) Whatever the outcome, our kids are going to bear the consequence. We can't have the best of both worlds. Moreover, don't kid ourselves into thinking that the problem will go away by itself or that we won't be affected as soon as our kids go to the Secondary. It won't be the case. It's not solely a question of MOS or not. It's really about the future of our school and that of our kids that are at stake. In all likelihood, there won't be a landslide victory either way. The result will probably be so close that every vote will count. So don?t let others decide what they think is best for your kid. Please turn up on Friday and cast the vote yourself.