On Monday evening, June 25th 2018, the Board of Education Trustees at the Vancouver School Board (VSB) wrestled with a full agenda covering a range of items, including …
-
The formation of a new school naming and existing school renaming committee, in response to a demand by the public to have school names reflect community heritage, and the contributions of not just white men (as is the case at present) but the diversity of those residents of Vancouver who either now call Vancouver home, or did in our past;
- Establishing live streaming video of Vancouver School Board meetings, the service to start at the beginning of the new school year;
- Banning plastic disposable cups in favour of ceramic cups or glasses in school cafeterias;
- Approving a five-year capital plan for the Vancouver school district;
- Making changes to the electoral ballot in the upcoming civic election, so names will occur at random, rather than in alphabetical order.
- Banning plastic disposable cups in favour of ceramic cups or glasses in school cafeterias;
No item on Monday night’s Vancouver School Board agenda was more contentious than the decision that the Board would make as to whether the Board would sell the subsurface of a West End school property to the BC Hydro Crown Corporation — in order that BC Hydro might construct an underground substation — in exchange for BC Hydro building two new, state-of-art elementary schools in the burgeoning West End neighbourhood.
Lord Roberts Elementary School Annex | Vancouver’s West End neighbourhood
The controversy? Here’s what former VSB Chair Patti Bacchus wrote in a May 10th story in The Georgia Straight, titled, The VSB should pull the plug on B.C. Hydro’s school substation plan …
(If the Vancouver School Board approves the BC Hydro plan) the West End loses a much-loved small school and several trees beside a lovely, peaceful park that’s one of the few public green spaces in their densely populated community. They get five or more years of major construction work and all the disruption, dirt, and noise that brings. They get left with a buried electrical substation they worry will harm their and their children’s health, or maybe catch fire or blow up, as substations have been known to do. They may or may not get a school built on the site that would open in 2030 or later.
Meanwhile, those trustees who were in favour of the proposal pointed out to their colleagues that an agreement with BC Hydro would provide funding that would expedite the construction of a new Coal Harbour school, create a new playing field at Lord Roberts Annex, and provide space for a full-sized elementary school at the site after the work on the substation is completed.
Vancouver School Board meeting, June 25 2018 | Photo credit, Patti Bacchus
At Monday evening’s Board of Education meeting, as instructed by Board Chair Janet Fraser that the discussion of the contentious BC Hydro proposal must remain respectful, the eight Board of Education trustees who were present discussed the efficacy of the BC Hydro proposal: a precedent-setting sale of school property to a corporation vs the realization of two new elementary schools in the burgeoning West End neighbourhood.
In a story published in The Georgia Straight this morning, The Straight’s editor-in-chief Charlie Smith quotes School Board Chairperson Janet Fraser on the controversial decision taken at the Board last night …
“We thank our stakeholders and the West End community for their interest and input on this proposal and I also thank our Board of Trustees for their due diligence in reviewing the proposal materials and asking many questions,” Fraser said in a news release. “Having considered all relevant factors the Board has now voted to move forward with this project. The VSB will continue to consult and work with our stakeholders and the West End community as the timeline for this project unfolds.”
As Charlie Smith also goes on to write, “The two NPA trustees, Lisa Dominato and Fraser Ballantyne, both strongly endorsed the decision,” with Vancouver Non-Partisan Association trustee Dominato quoted from a press release, stating …
“There is a critical need for another school in the West End and this agreement will enable us to move ahead with this project sooner so we can meet the educational needs of current and future families,” Dominato said in a party news release. “The minister of education has been clear that the province does not intend to fund this project any time soon.”
Ms. Dominato confirmed in last week’s Planning and Facilities Committee meeting on this matter that the City of Vancouver is committed to the Coal Harbour development as part of the upcoming capital plan, which will include the new school, day care, and social housing.
The new Coal Harbour K – 7 elementary school is set to open in 2023 as part of this development, and will house the Lord Roberts Annex students until a new school is constructed on the Annex site, the new K – 7 Lord Roberts school projected to open in the fall of 2028.
In statement on Facebook titled, Why I Voted No on the Substation Proposal, OneCity Vancouver School Board trustee Carrie Bercic writes …
Schools and parks are there for the community. They are community assets and should be held in trust for all future generations. We shouldn’t be selling any of our assets to corporations (no matter what type of corporation) whether in whole or in part. This is especially the case because we are considering this proposal in order to have needed schools built — schools that should always be paid for by the provincial government.
The community impacts from this project, are too great. While we as trustees are responsible for school board decisions, this decision extends beyond just school board. The green space at Nelson Park is precious. It is something to be preserved. The transmission lines that would go through the park have a significant perception of being unsafe. This means that it will deeply impact the use and enjoyment of this park for the entire West End. It is important to realize that this park is the back yard and playground for hundreds of children and pets.
All of the above said, written and recorded, contention and controversy notwithstanding, if you’ve ever wondered what our elected officials are up to — no matter where you live — Monday evening’s Vancouver School Board discussion of the BC Hydro proposal offered a master class in respectful, informed, passionate and reasoned democratic engagement, as fine an example on how thoughtful decision-making takes place in the public realm as you’ll ever witness. Please, do yourself a favour: watch the video above.
We live in a cynical and divisive age, an age of anomie and alienation, of a seemingly never-ending flood of rage. But you know — it doesn’t have to be that way. Although the Board of Education trustees are off for their annual summer break, do yourself another favour when the Board returns in September. Attend a Vancouver School Board meeting, impress yourself, hearten yourself, and come to realize that things are not one one-hundreth as bad as you think they are, that indeed there are good and great people of conscience who listen to you, and make decisions on your behalf — because the decision that took place on Monday night, as retiring Board of Education trustee Joy Alexander so eloquently put it, “reflects the will of the people, the decision we will take tonight beneficial to those who elected each one of us to office in the hope that the decisions we might make would reflect their best expressed wishes. And so we must, and so we will.”
