QE annex may dodge the wrecking ball. UBC Schools Delayed

Recommendations spark mixed reactions
Naoibh O’Connor, Vancouver Courier
Published: Friday, June 13, 2008

Reaction was mixed to school board recommendations unveiled Wednesday night that would save a West Side school from closure, while promising new schools near UBC.

The recommendations are part of a final report on the first phase of the district’s educational facilities review, which targets the Dunbar area.

Initial recommendations proposed shutting down Queen Elizabeth annex and selling the land to pay for renovations at UBC’s National Research Council building, which would be turned into a high school. University Hill secondary would then be modernized and converted into an elementary.

Vancouver Sun reporter, Janet Steffenhagen, brings us an informative and positive story about successes in aboriginal education. Her story is a fitting companion to the federal government’s apology.

Aboriginal educators find hope amid dismal student results

Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, June 13, 2008

Kathi Dickie began working with aboriginal students 25 years ago when she was employed as a home-school coordinator in Fort Nelson, tracking down truants and other students who were missing from school.

She knows from that experience — and her years at a residential school — about the troubled relations between aboriginal families and the public school system. She’s also familiar with dismal statistics that suggest aboriginal teenagers entering high school are just as likely to drop out as they are to graduate.

Yet she has found reason for hope. “I’m seeing a change,” Dickie, who later became a teacher, said in an interview, pointing to the federal apology for residential schools, a recent agreement giving B.C. first nations more control over their children’s education and gradual changes in provincial curriculum to recognize aboriginal history and culture.