Petition - presented June 10 - Gordon Campbell - copy to Colin Hansen

A petition was developed because we were strongly encouraged by several of the Trustees to work with the other schools to lobby the province.

The issues we have chosen are the need for:

1. seismic upgrades of schools,
2. the need to build schools at UBC
3. and the need to keep QEA open.

Submissions to the VSB

• Valuable info has been presented to the Vancouver School Board at all the Public Consultation Meetings
• A separate web page - Submissions.
• If you have any other information or copies of correspondence to the VSB that you would like to share during this Public Consultation, please send them via email to Martha Kertesz: Content Manager

Actions: Flyers

There have been several Flyers produced in response to this Proposal.

Kyle's contact info is:

email: Kyle QEA Flyer Coordinator

Tel: 604-264-1161

Actions: Letters

Vancouver School Board - Board of Trustees

clarence.hansen@vsb.bc.ca, ken.denike@vsb.bc.ca, carol.gibson@vsb.bc.ca, eleanor.gregory@vsb.bc.ca, shirley.wong@vsb.bc.ca, allen.blakey@vsb.bc.ca, sharon.gregson@vsb.bc.ca, allan.wong@vsb.bc.ca

Minister of Education

Shirley.Bond.MLA@leg.bc.ca, Honourable Shirley Bond 250-387-1977
dm.education@gov.bc.ca, Deputy Minister

Provincial Politicians

MLA, Vancouver-Quilchena Colin.Hansen.MLA@leg.bc.ca
MLA, Vancouver-Point Grey Gordon.Campbell.MLA@leg.bc.ca

UBC

stephen.owen@ubc.ca VP, External and Legal Community Relations
reny.kahlon@ubc.ca , Board of Govenors contact

Media

sunletters@png.canwest.com, provletters@png.canwest.com
www.vancouver.com/vancouvercourier/letters.html

Organizing Committee Update

June 10, 2008:

1.) A reminder that the rescheduled June VSB meeting is Wednesday, June 11 at the VSB Offices on Broadway at 7pm. Although the public cannot speak or ask questions at this meeting, your attendance can still make an impact. Please attend and wear your QEA T-shirt with pride!

2.) Thanks to all of you for your hard work on our school's petition. We have collected close to 1,100 signatures and tomorrow a few parents will be delivering the petition to Gordon Campbell's office (unfortunately the Premier will not be there). A copy will be delivered to Colin Hansen's office as well.

3.) Finally, one of our parents, Julee Kaye, has created two feedback forms in response to the extremely biased feedback form the VSB presented during the public consultation process. Julee’s questionnaires give everyone a chance to comment on the issues we are facing in our discussions with the School Board. Please have a look at Julee’s surveys and send completed forms to her: juleee@shaw.ca

The board of trustees recently voted to keep Garibaldi Annex open for another two years, with an attendance of ~40 students. THERE IS HOPE FOR US!!

Tanya

April 5:

1. THINKCITY:THINKSCHOOLS CONFERENCE THIS SUNDAY FROM 9:30 - 4:30 at the ROUNDHOUSE COMMUNITY CENTRE.
   Child care is available upon pre-registration
   
2. Petition - we now have over 900 signatures
   Let’s keep gathering signatures until the day of our rally (see below).
    
   Each signature is worth more than a single count when politicians see them, there is a ratio they use to gauge whether there is interest or not, it may be 1:10, ie. 1 000 signatures may = 10 000 people concerned about this issue.
   
3. SAVE QEA RALLY!!
   We are planning a rally for later on in the spring (perhaps MAY).  Exact details of where, when and what format it will take are still to be determined.  One option might be to present our petition to Gordon Campbell at our rally; however, this may not be possible and we are open to other suggestions.
   
4. Come to your PAC meeting Wed., April 9 7:00pm QEA Library

March 7, 2008

Hi Everyone, This will be a very brief update with a more detailed one to follow, I am just home from the meeting tonight. The VSB has now published another document called "Summary of Consultation Feedback and Phase-1 Recommendations"

There is now another opportunity for delegations to present information to the Board of Trustees, next week TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11 / 12.

In order to do this - YOU MUST REGISTER BY 10:00AM, FRIDAY MARCH 7!

Yes, you did read that correctly, a day and a half from now.

The full revised timeline is available in the above document on page 31 or on our new web page - EFR Process

Next, PLEASE, keep going with those petition forms. We were encouraged by several people at the meeting tonight to 'continue doing what we're doing', QE Main school is working with us to get as many signatures as possible.

Keep up the great work! Catriona and Tanya 

Feb. 15th Organizing Committee Update

Hello Queen Elizabeth Annex supporters

• The QEA parent/teacher team has been working hard on its proposal which will be submitted to the VSB on Monday, February 18th. It will discuss how we must SAVE Queen Elizabeth Annex from closure and sale, as well as IMMEDIATELY build the UHill schools and seismically upgrade the UBC/Dunbar area schools! View the School Reports web page

• QEA presentations to the VSB Trustees went extremely well on February 11th and 12th. Our speakers presented impressive demographic and economic data demonstrating why QEA should remain open, including why annexes are NOT more expensive than typical primary schools. (These presentations are available on the Submissions web page.) Parents and teachers discussed the many benefits of annexes, including how they foster the VSB's mission to offer safe, supportive neighbourhood schools, and how they provide the best environment for the youngest learners. Speakers also criticized the EFR proposal for its failure to address the need for more French Immersion spaces in the Dunbar area, its unacceptable juggling of students during seismic upgrades, and its unprecedented proposal to close a fully-enrolled school. Presenters criticized the VSB's lack of criteria for closing a school, and offered examples of school closure policies in other districts.

• QEA presenters also offered alternative financing options which would allow the immediate construction of the UHill schools. These included pursuing UBC’s offer to provide interest-free financing to renovate the NRC building or lobbying the provincial government for the capital.

• QEA speakers called for the need to "de-link" the building/converting of the University Hill schools from closing and selling QEA. QEA supporters also criticized the provincial government's three-year delay in funding the seismic upgrades at Jules Quesnels, Queen Elizabeth Main, and Queen Mary. Funding has been delayed due to the government’s unfair policy requiring 95% capacity district-wide, even though the UBC-Dunbar study area is already over 100% capacity! Finally, QEA parents supported having QE Main and JQ return to their original locations after completion of the seismic upgrades for the reasons eloquently stated by the QE Main parents, teachers and students.

• QE Main School speakers talked passionately about the programs that are unique to their school (open learning area, life skills, special needs, sports and fine arts programs). They strongly opposed switching locations with JQ where those programs would not be possible. They also opposed the closure and sale of QEA.

• The UHill and University Neighbourhoods Association (UNA) parents described the deplorable, overcrowded conditions at their schools, resulting in the busing of many of their elementary age children to other schools. They understandably demanded that their schools be built immediately. Some of their presenters supported the EFR proposal in its entirety, but others were receptive to the idea of working together to find other solutions.

• A number of the VSB Trustees concluded the meeting by noting that they appreciated the time, effort and respectfulness of all of the presentations. They encouraged the EFR study area schools to work together and stressed the need to involve the provincial government in finding a solution.

Thank you.

Tanya and Catriona

Feb. 7th Update from the Organizing Committee

First of all, thank you to everyone who attended last night’s meeting. Again, many excellent points were raised and we are making ground. Two trustees who were not at the last meeting attended last night’s, Carol Gibson and Eleanor Gregory. Stephen Owen attended again and repeated his hope to work with the Province and the VSB to find an alternative solution. It was impressive to have so many passionate speakers from all generations and around the community. Some parents from UHill spoke about their frustrations and their desperate need for new schools at UBC. Speakers from our school and community assured them that we all want new schools at UBC, but NOT at the expense of Queen Elizabeth Annex. Some other issues raised last night include:

And many more…..

• See CAMPAIGNS web page- Submissions section