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Queen Elizabeth Annex PAC Letter to the
Trustees (Jan 25, 2008):
Downloadable version of Queen
Elizabeth Annex PAC Letter to the Trustees (Jan 25, 2008)
Letter
January 25, 2008
Queen Elizabeth Annex
To the Trustees of the Vancouver School Board
Re: Proposed Closure and Sale of Queen Elizabeth Annex
Dear School Board Trustees:
We are writing this letter to express our deep concerns
and to make recommendations about both the process and substance
of the first phase of the Educational Facilities Review,
involving the “UBC to Dunbar Street Study Area.”
We believe the process is deeply flawed. It is important
that the VSB get this right, for what is done here will
be the model for the district as a whole. The timetable
for this proposal is rushed and gives insufficient time
for parents and other interested parties to be consulted
or develop alternative solutions. It is apparent that the
VSB has been aware for years that the NRC building was available
from UBC, and has known for months that QEA could be sold
to finance it, yet there has only been a short window provided
to consult with parents and the broader community. It is
unrealistic to expect parents to research the 43-page EFR
document, attend the eight public consultation meetings,
and digest the new information revealed nightly, all within
the nineteen day period between the public release of the
EFR Phase I document and the January 29th closure meeting.
The community cannot reasonably be expected to have formulated
alternative solutions by February 15th, two and one-half
weeks later.
Many of the “consultations” alluded to in the
EFR were so general as to be meaningless for the specific
purposes of this proposal, or else happened behind closed
doors out of the public eye. Specifically, the EFR describes
public information meetings in early 2007, as well as a
survey of educational priorities. Yet in none of these instances
were any of the specifics of the current proposal brought
to light. For example, the survey was conducted on-line,
district-wide, and asked only for vague evaluations of priorities
that have little bearing on the decisions that actually
need to be made in the current study area. Further, the
EFR Representation Committee that met in Fall 2007 was explicitly
prohibited from discussing any of the proposals that would
so dramatically affect families within the study area. Hence,
when the EFR proposals were unveiled on January 10, they
arrived as a complete shock to our community. Only now have
families begun to understand the full ramifications of this
process – that a flourishing school with a more than
40 year history in the neighborhood can be the subject of
closure meetings with less than three weeks’ notice.
We also strongly believe that the substance of the proposal
is unsound. The plan calls for closing an outstanding neighborhood
school with a model dual-track English / French Immersion
program, and a wait list for enrollment. Queen Elizabeth
Annex feeds into the Kitsilano High School French program,
which annually contends for producing the highest test scores
of any secondary school in the province. The Annex is clearly
a school that is doing something right. The closure and
sale of such a thriving school is a drastic step for any
school board to take, and as far as we are aware, has never
happened in Vancouver. Serious consideration should be given
to the precedent that would be set if the plan were followed.
The VSB staff have thus far only assessed this closure
as it relates to the immediate need to obtain financing
for a secondary school at UBC. In fact, it has been stated
in public meetings by staff that if the funds for the UBC
secondary school could be obtained elsewhere, then the closure
of Queen Elizabeth Annex would not be necessary. In that
case, an exhaustive effort should go into bringing all three
parties – VSB, UBC, and the Minister of Education –
to the table to find a solution. If our provincial policies
now require closing successful schools to finance capital
expenses in other catchments, then something is truly broken
in the system.
The analysis in the EFR proposal has also missed critical
aspects of policy evaluation. First, the document does not
give any consideration to the culture of learning in a successful
school. Abandonment of the current outstanding facilities,
accompanied with relocation through temporary spaces and
separation of classes into different locations, will destroy
the unique educational atmosphere that many generations
of teachers and students have worked so hard to achieve
at QEA. Anticipating this instability, students and teachers
will likely leave to seek out a more secure learning environment.
The EFR document appears to take the view that many of
the transitions required by students are necessitated by
seismic upgrades, which are valued by all, and hence the
incremental effect of the closure will be marginal. A closer
discussion with families would reveal that while seismic
upgrades are highly valued and appreciated, children and
staff need additional support during these times of dislocation.
Many of the logistic difficulties in the current plan could
be greatly alleviated by keeping QEA open and available
to provide neighborhood swing space, rather than requiring
students to use distant swing-space at UBC.
Additionally, we have a grave concern that the VSB is selling
an important public asset that can never be replaced, even
when long-term enrolment for our district increases dramatically
as expected after 2011 (see Figure 6 of the EFR report).
The report gives almost no consideration to time frames
after 2012, and planners have not yet considered the impact
of likely increases in densification due to rezoning in
the neighborhoods served by Queen Elizabeth Annex.
The EFR document also fails to satisfy our national commitment
to bilingualism. The report claims to “increase French
Immersion capacity,” but discussions with staff reveal
that the “increase” is a mere 6 spaces annually,
obtained by raising class sizes. This catchment currently
has three kindergarten intakes for French Immersion, one
at QEA and two at Jules Quesnel, providing sixty-six kindergarten
spaces per year. Very few students come from the UBC area
(43 across both schools, or about six per grade (EFR Figure
11)). The wait-list for French Immersion is consistently
more than 50 students per year. If the plan follows to move
one track out to UBC, only 44 kindergarten spaces would
be available at Jules Quesnel, and the waitlist for these
spaces would likely exceed 70. With such drastic limitations,
even siblings may have to lottery into Jules Quesnel in
certain years, and new families would have very long odds
of obtaining access. The proposal thus contradicts the Federal
commitment to bilingualism expressed in the 2003 Action
Plan for Official Languages, which released over $750 million
to double the number of young Canadians speaking the other
official language. The QEA dual-track program is an important
part of serving this federal commitment to bilingualism,
and serious consideration should be given to how closure
would negatively impact the implementation of federal languages
policy in our community.
Finally, eliminating this neighbourhood school will negatively
impact the environment, as more parents will be forced to
drive their children to school. This dimension of the proposal
has not yet received any analysis, and requires further
study.
The key question is whether the $25 million needed to build
the new school at UBC should come wholly at the expense
of one unique and extremely successful neighborhood school,
or whether other actors, such as the provincial government
and UBC, should be part of the solution.
We strongly believe that the importance of the issues at
stake calls for the highest standards of due process and
fair public consultation. Therefore, we request that the
VSB postpone its decision whether to close and sell QEA
for a minimum of six months to allow sufficient time for
meaningful consultation and to develop alternative solutions.
This letter brings you the collective concern of all the
parents at QEA, along with our trust that you will protect
the interests of our children.
Yours truly,
QEA PAC
Cc: Christine Rock, Vice Principle QEA
District PAC
Dunbar Neighbourhood Residents Association
Chris Kelly, Superintendent of Schools
Stephen Owen, Vice President External and Community Relations,
UBC
Colin Hansen, MLA
Gordon Campbell, MLA and Premier
Shirley Bond, Honourable Minister of Education
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