To All VSB Trustees, Gordon Campbell, and the Ministry of Education
I am currently a student of University Hill Secondary, and I recently heard of proposals to rebuild our overcrowded school.
My main message here is to say that I SUPPORT THIS PROPOSAL 250%.
I also understand that the decision is now almost completely decided upon but there will be delays. I am disappointed to know there will be delays because it is simply not fair for those students who have endured years and years in our overcrowded school. Our school needs to be rebuilt now, as soon as possible. The conditions my fellow 560 students and I face everyday are simply intolerable. We simply and seriously need a new building.
Just like all the other students in Vancouver, everyday I get up in the morning to go to school, learn, and make the most of it. But what differentiates Uhill students from other Vancouver students is the intolerable conditions of our small school. First of all, the school only has one storey and limited space. We only have one undersized gymnasium in which gym classes - which are split into boys' classes and girls' classes - have to take turn using. On our last day of PE class, we had to share the gym and the field outside and still, I could not get a decent, safe badminton ralley going with my friend without hitting someone.
The classrooms are overcrowded. There aren't even enough classrooms to house all the students. Some important courses - such as Socials Studies and French - are held off-timetable, forcing students to be at school at 7:30 in the morning or get off late. This takes away time students can use to pursue extracurricular activities. Also, some classes are currently held in the library, so other students can't use the room during those periods.
The lunch hour is especially irritating. First, the halls are crowded to the point where they're virtually inaccessible. On rainy days, all the students squish in to eat their home-made lunches on the dirt-crusted, wet floor. We have no cafeteria. Students line up for an endless amount of time to wait at the school stores or, even worse, endure the long lineup to the three or four microwaves we have at the school. The line-up can take up to a quarter of the lunch hour or more.
My parents pay the taxes. My teachers pay the taxes. My neighbours pay the taxes. University Hill is recognized as an accomplished school in Vancouver. We all deserve a new school. We deserved one a long time ago.
Last but not least, I am happy to hear that Queen Elizabeth Annex will not be closed down because of us.
Please. Rebuild our school...SOON.
Thank you!
University Hill Secondary student
1 comment:
Dear Premier Campbell, Minister Bond, President Toope, Trustees, and all
others;
Based on the Final Report and Recommendations document of June 11, I am excited about the potential for networks of learning centered at UBC. Also, the recommendations re. Motions #2, #4, and #6 do seem appropriate for the FUTURE. (Although serious pieces are missing; Eg. while other schools undergo seismic upgrading, what happens to over 220 UHill Elementary kids who are currently being bussed away from of their
neighborhoods?).
HOWEVER, all we see in this report are words like ... proposals; prospects; frameworks; eventually; recommendations; plans;"in principle"; "subject to" ....
These are not "plans" - they are "hopes". After all these years!
AND WHAT ABOUT THE HERE AND NOW? This report has NO words acknowledging the real and current plights of
~ 440 elementary students working in overcrowded conditions
~ 220 elementary students forced out of boundary
~ 50 secondary students forced out of boundary
~ 550 secondary students functioning in severe overcrowding with serious deficits of "student choice and accessibility" (words used in the 2nd sentence of the Report's executive summary!)
NOTE: these numbers do NOT incorporate anticipated rapid growth in the community over the next 4 years.
This report contains;
- No resources
- No ideas
- Not even any words ...
to address the needs of children for the next TWO-FIVE YEARS. Needs
which are now, immediate, severely detrimental to learning outcomes, AND unfair.
What are you going to do for our kids RIGHT NOW?
With respect,
P.S. - You need to understand the real optics of the situation: As a little demographic investigation shows, most couple households with children in the UBC area have a median annual income less than mos families east of Main. Also ~80% of UBC area families do NOT speak English at home. Your recommendations certainly favor the few (rich and noisy) at the expense of the many (new to Canada, young & more timid). Provincial constraints not withstanding, you have not had the courage to do what was necessary to fix our CURRENT problem. I'm sorry, but that is what the evidence shows.
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