Recommendation Regulation Housing Facilities Education 2021

On July 8, 2021, the ASD received the 2021 Housing Facilities Education Ordinance dated June 22 with the request to advise the college on its content. The regulation is a detailed, technical and matured text based on an example from the UNG described on 45 pages with 37 pages of explanatory notes. At the request of the ASD, the municipality indicated on July 13 where it has made changes and additions, including to the earlier ordinance. Based on an explanation by the municipality in and a discussion by the ASD on July 15, the ASD wrote this opinion.

Summary

The ordinance is a hermetic and detailed text, mainly determined by legal rules and practical experience. In a limited number of places the municipality can make its own political considerations. This mainly concerns the standards for the location and size of the required classrooms for physical education for elementary school. Since these classrooms are also used by sports associations, trade-offs must be made. From the point of view of road safety, a short travel distance between school and exercise room is preferable for moving the students of grades three through eight. From the sports associations' point of view, a concentration of exercise rooms somewhere in Nuenen is more pleasant. From the municipality's point of view, the smallest possible number of classrooms that meet all the legal rules for exercise education is preferable. It is up to the college to write a proposal and up to the council to make the choice. The ASD contributes some considerations to better inform this choice.

Considerations

Previous regulations used a combination of clock hours (the number of hours of use) and the maximum allowable distance between school and the physical education classroom: for many clock hours a shorter distance than for few clock hours. The proposed regulation abandons this dependence and only mentions the maximum distance. That distance then no longer changes when the number of pupils changes.

By increasing the maximum travel distance, the minimum number of physical education classrooms can be reduced.

Opinions

For an individual student, road safety is not determined by the number of clock hours of physical education. Dropping the number of clock hours, which is now proposed, increases the predictability of the number of physical education classrooms required. Recommendation: Do.

Increasing the maximum travel distance lowers traffic safety, but may reduce the number of classrooms needed.

Combining more than 1 classroom in 1 location may worsen student traffic safety (distance may increase) and increase the number of classrooms needed (if the distance becomes too great, a classroom will have to be provided closer anyway).

Currently there are operational classrooms for physical education. With the approval of the plans for the renovation of the Hongerman, 4 rooms are already available in the coming years. Therefore, the number of new classrooms to be renovated and/or replaced is very limited.

Advice: Given the limited number of choices (number and location of new classrooms for physical education) it is advisable to go through some future scenarios about the minimum number of classrooms and their location in Nuenen so that the rules of the ordinance can be met, the road safety of school children does not deteriorate unnecessarily, the sports clubs can be served and the investment and maintenance costs for the municipality remain acceptable. Traffic has only grown busier in recent years, posing the necessary risks to road safety. By choosing a greater distance standard, you increase the likelihood of more traffic movements: more children will have to travel a greater distance through heavy traffic. This need not be a problem, provided it can be done safely (via separate bike lanes). The risks should be explicitly assessed and weighed per school and location.

Under no circumstances should elementary school students pay the highest price.

Recommendations

When the weather is nice, outdoor activities are preferable for physical education. Even if a classroom is available, it should be encouraged in Nuenen that schools can use the outdoor facilities of the sports clubs. Possibly the neighborhood sports coach (appointed as a result of the Local Sports Agreement Nuenen for the purpose of club support) could play a role to inspire and stimulate schools to develop and implement suitable outdoor activities in an effective and responsible manner.

To meet the peak demand for sports, including as a result of weekend games, the use of physical education classrooms in neighboring municipalities could be encouraged for that purpose.

Social Domain Advisory Council Nuenen c.a.