Questions that parents from QEA asked VSB staff earlier this week.
“The VSB’s policy manual states ‘We believe in being accountable to the community, and we value and promote open communications’. Many parents at QEA, however, have encountered staff who are openly resentful of their requests to communicate about an issue of concern. Staff at multiple levels of the organization routinely fail to return phone calls or respond to written queries (even over a period of weeks). Chris Kelly, do you or do you not believe that you need to be accountable to the community?”
Also:
“In September, allegations of favoritism were raised in the media because two schools in Premier Gordon Campbell’s riding had been selected for a community-service pilot program. Now it appears that these same two schools and QEA – which was last year saved from liquidation following extensive campaigning by parents – are the only schools in the area to suffer staff cuts. Is there any way in which the allegations of favoritism could have influenced the decisions on school staff transfers, and is this why we have not been allowed to see enrolment and staffing data for other schools in the area?”
QEA parents should do a closer look at staffing across the district. And, there is still the problem that hundreds of children from the university area are being denied a space in their schools as enrolment drops in other areas.