Proposed school closures to harm city’s most vulnerable
by Matt Robinson ~ September 24th, 2010. Filed under: Vancouver East.Concerned parents and citizens plotted with community leaders and politicians in East Vancouver Thursday on actions to prevent the possible closure of two local schools. The schools are just two of nine in East Vancouver identified by the Vancouver School Board as likely to be shuttered in 2011 to offset an $18 million budget shortfall.
Thursday’s meeting followed the release earlier this week of a University of B.C. report that claimed East Vancouver children are already more vulnerable than others in the city. With East Vancouver slated to take a disproportionate hit for the citywide shortfall, many in attendance questioned the board’s wisdom.
The cuts would be an “attack on the most vulnerable kids in this city,” said Noel Herron, a former Vancouver principal and school trustee.
“Vulnerable families feel like they’re under attack,” said Grace Tait, a family coordinator with the Ray-Cam Co-operative Centre. She noted that schools are “the only places that those families access any kinds of supports.”
Local mother Andrea Esslemont spoke of the great efforts she took over the last year to ensure her daughter, who has special needs, would be able to attend a school close to her home that has the level of care and attention she needs. “I want her to have the best possible start so that she can be the best person she can be,” said Esslemont, who also said that adjusting to change is very difficult for her daughter. “I don’t want the school to close.”
The meeting, which attracted a small crowd of a few dozen, was held at the Strathcona Community Centre amid a backdrop of plunking piano keys and the thumping of active young feet.
“You close a school, you close the heart of the community,” said Herron, “you close a neighbourhood school, you shut the neighbourhood down.”
Organizer Jenny Kwan, MLA for Vancouver – Mount Pleasant, said the shortfall and anticipated cuts amount to “a crisis in our public education system.” She challenged those in attendance to take coordinated, ethnically inclusive action to demand that their schools remain open.
A committee was formed in response to Kwan’s challenge. It is expected to take action on a number of suggestions made in the meeting.
