MEDIA

Let's keep the media involved!!

Recent news articles listed below

News Releases

• view the Feb. 06 Media Release - by the Queen Elizabeth Annex Parent Communications group
• view the Jan 25th Media Release - by the Queen Elizabeth Annex Parent Communications group

Rally planned to stop the sale of B.C. schools

Vancouver Island parents are planning a rally at the legislature April 7 to oppose the sale of public school lands. "These lands were given in public trust for all generations of children and they are not ours to sell," they say in a release. - mentiones QEA

University Hill Parents push for new school

A University Hill secondary parent group passed a motion last week asking the Vancouver School Board to move ahead with phase one of its educational facility review so a long-awaited high school can be built at UBC.

Reader attacks "annex closoure" defender

Colin Morton's letter repeats the absurd proposition that improvement of school facilities at or near UBC cannot be accomplished without the sale of the QE annex site. Neither the VSB proposals (in a Jan. 10 report) nor representatives of UBC make such an extreme claim. Many others ideas and suggestions now have been discussed.

Re: "COPE plays politics with school closures," Letters, Feb. 8.

Parents gather to protest West Side school closure

QE annex on chopping block

Parents and Dunbar residents packed Queen Elizabeth gym Wednesday night, most of whom argued against the school board closing Queen Elizabeth annex.

Axing annex defies past wisdom

The recent letter from James and Portia Geczi ("Today it's Queen E. Annex, tomorrow maybe your favourite park," Jan. 23) makes an excellent point about the city-wide implications of the start of closures of school annexes by the NPA-dominated Vancouver school board.

......................"everyone in Vancouver needs to pay close attention to what becomes of QEA because it will set a precedent for future policy."

Stated another way, this question must be asked: Are all of Vancouver's 16 small, school annexes now on the VSB's chopping block?

St. Albert board to build school with developer

A school board in the Edmonton area negotiating with a developer, the city, and the province about how a school will be built and funded *before* the development is actually approved.

Wouldn't that be nice if we had a process like that?

Some other info on school impact fees in other jurisdictions -- in Washington State developers pay up to $7000 per house to help pay for school builidings, similar in California and Florida. In BC, the province wants to stop paying for schools, but hasn't provided a real solution for who should take its place.

Morning Show

Note - We are still trying to get this interview link. If you can help, please contact the Web Content Manager - Martha Kertesz

The Bill Good Show CKNW Interview - radio interview (7MB)

TV interview: Wed Jan 30th THE POSSIBLE CLOSURE OF A NEIGHBOURHOOD SCHOOL

Urgent demand for school spaces at UBC

UBC's VP outlines the need for schools at UBC - trying to point out "UBC has never suggested that the needs of its community for appropriate school facilities be at the expense of another part of the school district."

TV Interview (movie clip)

- Breakfast Television - City TV Monday Jan 28th

School scandal

A sorry tale of proposals to close a successful school and move children around for suspect financial motives

The Vancouver Sun
January 28, 2008

Letter to the Editor - Krista Friebel

Vancouver parents pay the price for UBC's development

Re: UBC urged to build K-12 schools; Parents fight plan to sell annex to pay for new school at UBC, Westcoast News, Jan. 25

Parents seek delay in decision about QE annex

"It's no surprise parents at Queen Elizabeth annex on Vancouver's westside are complaining about the time frame they've been given to defend their school. The board of education announced its plan Jan. 10, scheduled the first QEA public meeting for Jan. 29 and said it would make a decision March 10. "

and she also writes.......

"They also say it's important for the Vancouver board to do this review properly because it will serve as a model for the entire district since the westside is only Phase 1 of a facilities review."

 The Vancouver Sun
January 23, 2008

Janet Steffenhagen

UBC says it never intended to build K-12 schools

Parents are asking why the Vancouver board of education plans to sell Queen Elizabeth annex to help pay for a new high school on UBC grounds. Shouldn't the university cover construction costs since it's developing its land and creating a new community?

To back that arguments, parents point to UBC's South Campus Neighbourhood Plan from 2005, which promises that schools will be part of its massive development. .....

 The Vancouver Courier
January 23, 2008

Naoibh O'Connor

Parents note UBC promised to pay for new high school
UBC committed to pay for a new school on campus if VSB did not have the funds.

Two letters to the editor

Today it's Queen E. Annex, tomorrow maybe your favourite park
Vancouver Courier
Published: Wednesday, January 23, 2008
To the editor:
Re: "School problem Vancouver-wide," Letters, Jan. 18.
Re: "Dunbar first up for VSB scrutiny," Jan. 16.

The Vancouver Sun
January 19, 2008

Janet Steffenhagen

The Vancouver Sun "The Battle over Vancouver's westside schools

Response by QEA Parent

If you have no other sympathy for the QEA community, I suggest you object strenuously to the timetable set forward by the board on this closure. We have been given 21 days from the release of the EFR document until our first closure meeting. Moreover, our case is tied up in the midst of a massive overhaul of eight neighborhood schools, the EFR document is 43 pages, and new information is coming out in a series of nightly meetings that extend for more than a week. No parent can keep up with this flow of information.

I urge you to look into the outstanding questions surrounding this closing -- the issues go much beyond what you have written. Parents have been caught completely off-guard, and are doing their best to collect information and try to figure out why this is happening under such a hasty review.

Please join us in insisting that adequate consultation and due process are followed in every school closing case -- imagine the precedent if any school in the district could be shut down on a timetable like ours. Write the board to insist on adequate consultation in every school closing case: clarence.hansen@vsb.bc.ca, ken.denike@vsb.bc.ca, carol.gibson@vsb.bc.ca, don.lee@vsb.bc.ca, eleanor.gibson@vsb.bc.ca, shirley.wong@vsb.bc.ca, allen.blakey@vsb.bc.ca, sharon.gregson@vsb.bc.ca, allan.wong@vsb.bc.ca.

Our EFR issues are also related to the Ministry of Education interceding to prevent UBC from providing a lease to VSB for needed facilities at a UBC high school (U. Hill). This intervention seems to be the immediate cause of VSB rushing on such a fast timetable to sell public lands at QEA. Please contact the ministry to insist on adequate funding for our schools, and point out the flaws in its insistence on 95% "capacity utilization" district-wide to receive needed capital funding even in areas of obvious need: minister.educ@bc.gov.ca.

Please look into the issues and spread the word. This is an important precedent for all of our kids.

Courier
January 16, 2008

Naoibh O'Connor

Dunbar first up for VSB scrutiny

Should a West Side elementary school annex be closed so that money can be found for a secondary school at UBC? That's one of many questions emerging after the Vancouver School Board revealed the first phase of its educational facilities review last Thursday.

Cope Press Release
January 14, 2008

COPE Press Release - NPA School Closure and Reorganization Plan

Vancouver COPE School Trustees blast NPA school closure and reorganization plan.

• Rushed agenda mocks public consultation
• Sale and leasing of school building challenged
• Vancouver's 16 school annexes at risk
• Seismic upgrading concerns emerge

February, 2007

From various sources - some interesting articles

As BC's School Enrolment Drops
Why the dive, and the need for smart thinking.

The Tyee.ca has an interesting article on the current short term downward trend in BC school enrolments and notes that this will likely rebound in eight years. At that time we will be looking for more space rather than talking about closures.

Finance Watch -

In the article by John Malcolmson at Finance Watch, put out last April, discusses strategies for dealing with rising and falling enrollments and notes, "With the current push to shed assets, where will we be on this issue in 2015 when BC enrolment is forecast to grow again?"

BC's Move to 'Big Box' Schools
Students lost in shuffle? Parents worry closing small schools hurts kids.

Declining enrolment in virtually every district is to blame, according to B.C.'s Ministry of Education. But critics say the government's budget policies are killing small schools and leading to a big-box education model.

.....

"Closing down the small schools and leaving a few big box schools, is that really the way the government wants to go?"