If We Care About the School Facilities for Our Children: Two Simple Steps

An Urgent Message from the University Hill Secondary and Elementary PAC Executives

Dear Fellow Parents, Guardians and UBC/UEL Residents,

The Vancouver School Board (“VSB”) has heard from many parents about the shockingly inadequate school facilities in the UBC area. We thank you for your support to date.

But, please, we need to keep up the pressure. We ask that, before the end of May, you e-mail the VSB school trustees, and key representatives from the provincial government and the University of British Columbia (the main funding partners), and let them know that action is needed NOW to resolve the growing crisis. Let them know that students, parents, guardians, and area residents have waited too many years for school facilities equal to others across the district. The situation will soon get much worse with a growing population.

A critical decision on school facilities will be made in early June, and the decision-makers need to hear from many of us. They need to be reminded that hundreds of families in the UBC area are affected and concerned, and that we insist on fair treatment. We need many voices to show a strong political force; that is how many decisions are made in a democracy.

Step One: Please send a short and urgent message, asking for action now on the UBC school crisis, to some or all of the following:
VSB Trustees: [clarence.hansen@vsb.bc.ca; allen.blakey@vsb.bc.ca; carol.gibson@vsb.bc.ca; ken.denike@vsb.bc.ca; eleanor.gregory@vsb.bc.ca; sharon.gregson@vsb.bc.ca; don.lee@vsb.bc.ca; allan.wong@vsb.bc.ca; shirley.wong@vsb.bc.ca]

Our MLA, and our Minister of Education: [Gordon.Campbell.MLA@leg.bc.ca; Shirley.Bond.MLA@leg.bc.ca]

UBC Vice President, External, Legal and Community Relations: [stephen.owen@ubc.ca]

Step Two: Please come to a meeting next week to discuss the situation with key school trustees and other representatives. Again, we hope as many people can come to demonstrate the level of concern in the UBC area to the main decision-makers. We will also receive news about recent developments:

Time: 7:00 pm
Date: Wednesday, May 28
Where: U-Hill Secondary School Library/Auditorium

The VSB has received strong opposition from the Queen Elizabeth School community about the proposed closure of its Annex. Our community needs to make its much larger voice clear. The sale of the Annex land has been proposed to help to fund the new school facilities in the UBC area. If the Annex land will not be sold, we all need to know how the UBC school facilities will be funded.

The VSB’s plan has included the renovation of the former NRC building into a new secondary school for 675 students, and the rebuilding of the current U-Hill Secondary School on Acadia Road into a new elementary school. Only if the plan is approved will the UBC area have the necessary two elementary schools and an expanded and renewed secondary school for our children.

We look forward to seeing you at 7:00 pm on May 28 at this key meeting.

U-Hill Secondary and Elementary Parent Advisory Council Executives