2011 Updates
- Feb 17, 2011: VSB warns it will revisit school closures in a year-long comprehensive district review. Vancouver Sun report
2010 Archives: reports & info re Vancouver School closure consultation process
- Dec 5 2010: The VSB cancelled plans to close up to five East Vancouver schools to help cover Provincial funding shortfalls, after fall public hearings on the proposed closures prompted a storm of public outrage. Read the VSB staff report recommending a moratorium on school closures.
- October 2010:Revised VSB report on schools considered for potential closure
- VSB School Closures Webpage
- Original VSB school closure notification list
- List of VSB schools, with 2009 enrolment vs peak capacity.
- Map of Vancouver public schools and catchment boundaries
- Ministry enrolment projections (Note: This does not include extra requirements for fullday kindergarten and early learning)
- VSB district facility projects: seismic and new construction
- 2007 Educational Facilities Review:Summary feedback on identified district priorities
News – 2010 school Closure public process
- Dec 5: Vancouver Sun: Safe after all? Proposal to close 5 Vancouver schools appears dead
- Oct 27: Vancouver Sun: Vancouver parents, students continue to voice opposition over school closures
- Oct 26: CBC News: Vancouver school closures spark concern
- Oct 26: Georgia Straight: Big crowd shows up to tell Vancouver trustees to save Sir Guy Carleton elementary
- Oct 24: Globe and Mail: For many, school is about more than the numbers
- Oct 14: The Tyee: Turning schools into neighbourhood learning hubs
- Oct 5; Vancouver Sun: Five Vancouver schools, plus Garibaldi Annex, face possible closure
- Oct 5: Georgia Straight: Five East Vancouver schools remain on closure shortlist
- Oct 5: The Province: Five Vancouver schools stay on 2011 closure hit list
- Oct 5: Vancouver Courier: Five schools on the chopping block
- Oct 5: Metro News: School closures list narrowed to five
- Oct 4: CBC News: 5 Vancouver schools short listed for closure
- Oct 4: CTV News: VSB recommends 5 schools for closure
- July 21: Vancouver Courier: School closure speculation
- July 19: Vancouver Courier: NDP’s Dix questions VSB’s list of East Side school closures
- July 9: Vancouver Courier (Seymour Elementary): Small school, big problems
- July 1: Globe and Mail: Parents, students fight to keep their school
- June 29: The Province: Parents ‘not willing to give up’ on Dunster school closure
- June 29: News 1130: Parents fear schools will close regardless of rally – 3 Collingwood schools threatened
- June 29: Vancouver Courier (Bruce): Parent prepares to fight for elementary school
- June 25: CTV News: BC schools stand empty long after closure
- June 24: North Shore News: North Vancouver school closures attract private interest
- June 24: CTV News: Parents hope to fight Vancouver school closures
- June 24: The Province: School board announces closures
- June 22: News 1130 (N Van): Helping students deal with school closures
- June 18: Vancouver Courier (Garibaldi): Revitalized school eyes looming school closures
- June 4: Vancouver Courier: (A.R. Lord) School closure plan perturbs parents
- April 14: Edmonton journal: Five Edmonton schools to close
- March 17: Vancouver Sun (Carleton): Vancouver community rallies to save oldest school
- Jan 28: Prince George Citizen: Greying population has direct link to school closures
SOS campaigns
McBride Annex
- Save Mcbride Annex Website
Sir Guy Carleton Elementary
- Save Carleton School website
Garibaldi Annex
- Garibaldi Annex is thriving: Info on the school compiled by Garibaldi parents
- Garibaldi Annex Parents website
- Save Garibaldi Annex website (info on the successful 2008 parent campaign to save the school)
Other SOS campaign links*
*(NOTE: the following schools are no longer being considered for closure)
Admiral Seymour Elementary
- Vancouver Courier report: Small school, big problems
Graham D Bruce Elementary
- Vancouver Courier report: Bruce Elementary PAC challenges empty space claims
- Facebook group: Keep Graham Bruce Elementary School open!
Henry Hudson Elementary
- Save Henry Hudson School petition
- Hudson Fact Sheet, compiled by Hudson parents
Charles Dickens Annex
- Dickens parents have formed an advocacy committee to respond to the school closure proposal.
Resources
- Free online petition hosting: Petitions Online.com
- Set up your own online surveys (not free but affordable): Survey Monkey
- BCTF’s provincial school closure database
- BC Education Analysis: Interactive map of BC school closures since 2002
- Save Queen Elizabeth Annex website (info on the successful 2008 parent campaign to save the school)
- West Coast Save our Schools Committee (Video produced by Ucluelet PAC)
See also:
- News & research on value of small/rural schools
- Vancouver education funding news
Discussion
Questions? Information to share? Please use the Comments section below.
Hi there,
I wanted to add our new site campaign to Save McBride Annex. We are currently working hard to keep the school open as well as support the other schools. We’d appreciate it if you could add our site to your listing as well.
thanks!
A group on facebook i found as a great support & are taking action.
Alliance of Parents and Partnerships Lobbying for Education BC,APPLE BC, we have just launched this facebook site, we want BC to have the best education system for our kids, we are opposing the ongoing cuts to education and potential school closures. We will be organizing on several fronts, November 12, 2010, we are going to Premier Campbell’s office, as the BC Liberals refuse to come out and the community forums on education forums.
http://www.facebook.com/index.php?lh=9a49322a930df45022c9820e799287a6&eu=1Mevhy_fkbjmOxU0-SlQfA#!/home.php?sk=group_160606120638745&s=20
Under the liberal leadership there has been 75 schools closed.
More recently, Christy Clark supported the closure of three schools in North Vancouver on her radio talk show. Most of the children from one school, Fromme, were sent to Lynn Valley. The school at Lynn Valley is so crowded the children don’t even have a proper fullsized cloakroom and their belongings are stuffed into cubbies. It is so overcrowded that even in inclement weather the kids must go outside. Although a small school, Fromme was close to capacity and was ranked last June the highest of all Fraser Institute ratings for elementary schools on the North Shore. It is now being leased out to a private French school, commencing this with March. Lynn Valley had one of the lowest Fraser Institute rankings by the way, even before overcrowding. More and more public schools are being supplanted and replaced by private schools creating a two tier education system and ghettoizing anyone who cannot afford or does not believe in private schools, or do not particularly want French immersion.
We don’t want a two tier health care system and yet we are getting a two tier education system. Christie Clark supported the closure of these three schools – obviously there is a headcount demand for them – or the private schools would not be moving in. Shameful.
Agree Disagree.