Candidates Questionnaire Week Two: School Closures
Update: Added a response from COPE candidate Rocco Trigueros [12:10 PM Thursday, July 28]
Welcome to the second in a series of weekly articles we’re calling Candidate Questionnaires. Once a week, The Nest sends school board candidates from all six major political parties one or two questions, for their written responses to be published here. Responses are only edited for clarity.
Last week, we asked candidates:
What is your stance on school closures?
Their responses are below. Candidates have been grouped by their political party, listed in a randomized order. Candidates under each political party are also listed in a randomized order. Please send your questions to ehnewspaper@gmail.com, and enjoy learning about the people running for your school board.
Vote Socialist
Karina Zeidler
I’m opposed to school closures on principle. Schools are not just a place where students go to get an education, they are an essential part of a community’s infrastructure and character. Up until I read the Griffin’s Nest article on the history of the Queen Elizabeth Annex school closure, I had no idea how far the BC Government had gone to extort the Vancouver School Board, in order to force them to sell QEA. Everyone in BC should read that article, to see the depth of the bullying, secrecy and dishonesty on the part of the Ministry of Education, that finally led to the school’s closure. The way that the government held the Olympic Village school plan hostage, held kids’ education hostage, in order to force a democratically elected board to sell out, is just unconscionable. School Board Trustees should work for Vancouver’s kids. Not for the BC NDP. If elected, I will stand with Vancouver schools and their communities, not be “persuaded” to do the BC NDP’s bidding.
OneCity Vancouver
Rory Brown
School closure is a spectre that seems to come up again and again and I can find no educationally sound reason to go through with it. There are many arguments that are rooted in efficiency that compel the district to look at school closure, but ultimately they don't have much to do with education when considering Vancouver's context, and have nothing to do with equity of access to the variety of educational options that parents now face. The housing crisis, real estate speculation nightmare, rapid growth and the need for seismic upgrading has fueled strange school population phenomena across the lower mainland and the VSB's answer to these commingled problems has been to shut down engagement and stifle real debate amongst participants. That makes for an opaque and frustrating experience for parents and decays trust in our system. It's time to open debate, share and source trusted data and examine school population -- always with a keen eye on equity of access for everyone.
Jennifer Reddy
With each decision, I gather the information at hand, review relevant reports, and try to understand different perspectives before coming to a decision. To date, I have not found a convincing reason to close schools in Vancouver. For example, in the recent decision to close Queen Elizabeth Annex, we were not able to accurately assess the needs of children and families in the area. We did not adequately include or reference data on city developments, First Nations developments, or other important pieces of information available to us in order to understand future educational needs of the community. In addition, we have made a commitment to host nations to implement the principles of UNDRIP which require us to co-govern and steward these lands for future generations. With these consultations outstanding, we don’t yet have a clear picture of the aspirations and needs of host nations. Therefore the closure of QEA was made with faulty and incomplete data and I did not support it.
For me, every decision must be informed by the community. In particular, those who are most affected must have their perspectives heard, and decisions must reflect what we learn. Governing is a balancing act, and it’s only through a deep commitment to process and transparent decision making can we hope to make meaningful change.
Krista Sigurdson
A school closure is a drastic and enormously disruptive measure that should only take place if good long-term transparent planning takes place and points towards its inevitability. We have seen how even new housing development in our neighbourhoods hasn’t led to the opening of new schools (e.g., no neighbourhood schools in Olympic Village and the River District). We have also seen how density has caused huge problems for Vancouver families competing for spots in their neighbourhood schools. All this is stressful and unnecessary. It’s important that school planning is seen with a long-term view that takes into account future density and prioritizes access to local neighbourhood schools.
I supported Trustee Jennifer Reddy in her opposition to the closure of Queen Elizabeth Annex, particularly because that school site has now been lost to the district for future generations of kids. Growth is expected in surrounding neighbourhoods. Its closure is disruptive to families, and wasn’t a decision I would have supported had I been on the Board. I am particularly troubled by the prospect of selling public land. Trustees, as stewards of our shared public land, should not support school closures that would result in the sale of public land.
Kyla Epstein
All decisions on school closures made by the Board of Trustees must be transparent and evidence-based. Ensuring access to vibrant, neighbourhood schools with fulsome programming to meet the needs of all families is vital. Listening to and working with local First Nations to determine how UNDRIP impacts these kinds of decisions is a key responsibility.
In the recent case of the Queen Elizabeth Annex school, none of these important measures were taken. There wasn’t transparent or evidence-based decision-making. The decision did not recognize the need for the neighbourhood school. Furthermore, the engagement with families and kids didn’t result in any change to the decision that went ahead. That’s not meaningful consultation.
Can I say that I would never vote to close a school? No, that would be disingenuous and would ask me to have a crystal ball that I don’t have. What I do know is that we have to fight for more resources for VSB so that kids and families choose public education and that we must have neighbourhood schools open and available to families near to where they live. Schools are crucial in all our communities. We must do collaborative, long-term planning with the city and always meaningfully consult and engage with the First Nations on whose stolen and unceded land we reside.
Gavin Somers
In a nutshell, I am opposed to closing public schools. Public schools are meant to be hubs in communities that can provide opportunities for educational, social and intergenerational engagement. In the past, closures have often come with the pressure to sell the school land, with the argument of short-term financial benefit to cover other necessary costs around facilities upgrades and improvements. I am a strong believer that public education has been long underfunded, and that part of a trustee’s role is to advocate for better funding from the provincial level while holding land in trust for future generations.
Furthermore, past school closures have not taken into consideration the densification of neighbourhoods over time, thus resulting in a lack of schools where there should be more. An example of this would be in the downtown core and west end neighbourhoods, where students are on enrollment waitlists and many have to leave their catchment area to attend school.
The recent closure of the Queen Elizabeth Annex (QEA), a small local French immersion school, was strongly protested by the local community. Community members brought forward much evidence as to why the school should not be closed, including that students who would be dispersed to the local Jules Quesnel school would add to crowding in an already full school. As well, future population growth on the West Side was not properly projected. Current OneCity School Board Trustee, Jennifer Reddy, was one of three trustees to vote against closing the QEA, and I stand by her vote.
Any consideration of future school closures should only be done after a thorough audit and review of existing schools and population, local growth and long-term (30-year) projections for growth in neighbourhoods, and in consultation with our Host Nations [(Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam)] projections for development (ex: Sen̓áḵw).
By closing neighbourhood schools, we are not prioritizing student safety (ability to walk/ride/roll to schools closest to them), and the most recent closure of QEA demonstrates a complete lack of consideration for the community-specific engagement process designed to hear the concerns of the community and respond appropriately.
Green Party of Vancouver
Janet Fraser
Any school closure is very difficult to consider, and especially so for the school community/ies most impacted if a proposal is brought forward.
Any school closure would have a unique context and so there would be many factors that would have to be taken into consideration, for both the impacted school community/ies and the district as a whole. A key aspect would be engagement with stakeholders, rights holders and the public.
Given the provincial constraints on public education funding, these difficult decisions have, and continue to be, brought forward to boards of education.
Lois Chan-Pedley
TL;DR: I don't like it, but sometimes - when your job is to serve all students across all neighbourhoods and when you don't get enough capital funding from the provincial government - it has to be done.
Closing schools is a tool. It's a tool of desperation and destruction; it's a tool no one wants to use. No one wants to close schools (if for no other reason than because you get made out to be a villain no matter your justifications and rationale). But it does help balance a budget, especially when schoolhouses are increasingly expensive to operate and maintain. Three and a half years into my term and I'm learning that everything comes down to money, even though it's a really unglamorous way to look at education. Seismic upgrades? Need money. Outdoor classrooms? Costs money. Robust universal music program? School food program? More librarians/counsellors/neighbourhood liaisons? Money. Bathrooms that are better/more easily maintained than the gaping hellmouths that we currently have? More money. Closing QEA is hopefully going to help us generate some desperately-needed funding to help students who need our help to stay in school long enough to graduate.
I'd love to categorically say I will not close schools but I honestly - desperately - can't. It would be a disservice to all the students who need me to do so.
Nick Poppell
When I watched the proceedings on the QEA closure on June 6th I felt immense sadness for those students. I was personally touched by Trustee Hanson’s and Parrot’s words and genuinely felt for every trustee who was backed into a corner to make this decision. Most of all I kept thinking about those 71 students. How did we get here?
The coverage in the Griffins’ report did a good job of laying out the various stakeholders and their perspectives on this. In my view of the facts, it is clear to me that the blame for this decision largely lies with the provincial government. The continued lack of support over the past 2 decades (regardless of the party in government) has strained our operational abilities. Whether through continual court challenges, or lack of any capital expenditures (new schools or seismic upgrades in the past 3 years) our provincial government’s track record can use improvement. In regards to QEA specifically, the amendments to Bill 22 this past spring essentially handcuffed the VSB.
Despite provincial inaction, I really believe in finding solutions. As an elected trustee, I would take these steps:
Bring VSB and City staff together and identify low occupancy schools and encourage density and growth in the surrounding areas. We have built the school, it’s time for the city to help build the young communities we all want.
Leverage our existing non school site properties (ie Kingsgate) to ensure the district is raising funds for capital assets, which are key to student success, through leasehold deals. That said, the provincial government cannot shy away from its responsibility of funding capital projects (new schools and seismic upgrades).
Continue to explore the potential of creating student and staff housing on school grounds, starting with those most vulnerable.
Actively explore every and any opportunity to work with the provincial government to expedite seismic upgrades, and ensure that no schools are faced with the threat of permanent closure through that work.
We need both the province and city to work together if we are going to achieve the goal of never closing a school again. Only through cooperation and collaboration will we succeed, and in doing so demonstrate to students that we value their education and success.
COPE
Suzie Mah
Schools, like public libraries and community centers, are hubs for building and maintaining a sense of community for the people who reside in each Vancouver neighbourhood. I am, and consistent with COPE's policy, opposed to school closures. Having said that though, the issue of school closures is an extremely complex one. The decision to close a school should not be taken lightly. When a school is closed, you have taken away the rights of families to have their children go to their neighbourhood school. Often it is a hardship for families to have to arrange for their children to take the bus or be driven to a school that is farther away from their homes. Parents may have to pay for after-school care. Over the past fifteen or so years, there have been several closures of annexes in the district. The school board's reasoning is always that there is declining enrollment in the annex and then a decision is made to slowly restrict the enrollment and eventually, the annex is closed because there is one class left. Capping enrolment is a self-fulfilling prophecy that will result in a school closure. An example of this was Garibaldi Annex. In the 1990s, the annex was thriving and had almost 175 students. By 2015, the school had dwindled down to less than 50. Instead of promoting the programs in the annex and trying to attract more enrolment, they started capping enrolment. The annex closed in 2018. Since then, there have been many other annexes closed in the same fashion. My understanding is that there is still a list of schools that may be potentially closed down the road. When a decision is made to cap enrolment, you deter parents from wanting to enroll their children at that school. Who wants their children to attend a school that may not exist in two or three years?
If elected, I would like to see a broader and longer consultation process with parents, students, staff, and community groups. I would be interested in exploring all avenues rather than seeing a school close. When I heard about the decision to close Queen Elizabeth Annex in 2023, I was surprised that this decision was made in order for a new school to be built near Olympic Village. Since when do we trade one school for another one to be built? If a school is needed due to population growth in an area of the city, should the government not cough up the money to build it? What will happen when Vancouver implements its Broadway Plan? If there is huge density, will the province fund the building of new schools then? When schools are closed, onsite daycares close, school libraries close, and other community programs that run out of the schools close. School closures affect more than just the students that go to the school. Once a school is closed, it will be near impossible to reopen it. A prime example is Carleton Elementary. That school has stayed empty now for several years. Where's the practical and financial sense in closing any school if it's going to sit empty and idle?
Rocco Trigueros
It should not happen. As much as it is possible, we need to keep educational spaces open to all sorts of instructional programs, not only for children but also for young adults, adults, seniors, immigrants, workers, families, parents, etc. Yearly enrollment can not be a reliable measure of "educational achievement", because the density and flow of the city change constantly. A quiet neighbourhood can be the next day a very populated multicultural hub. We need to be ready for education, as much as we are ready for other emergencies.
A school is more than an institution for children's education. A school is a gathering point for our community, a sanctuary for discrimination, racism, homophobia, and transphobia where civic principles are taught, enacted and promoted. A window for outreach and opportunities for those in need.
The City does not save money by closing a school, because interrupting education is expensive and costly for all of us, in terms of miscommunication, isolation, poor skills development, division and lack of collective working vision for a truly progressive city. In a community school in 1997, as an immigrant, I found my first friends and mentors who guided me into an exciting life of public service.
Vision Vancouver
Allan Wong, Steve Cardwell, Kera McArthur, Aaron Leung, and Hilary Thomson have responded together to this week’s questionnaire. In future questionnaires, each candidate will answer separately.
We recognize the value of neighbourhood schools and their importance to families’ sense of community. Vision has a long history of standing up for neighbourhood schools. In 2010 and 2016, Vision trustees stood up and voted against school closure plans for up to 10-12 schools. We know that school closures are incredibly stressful for families.
However, it may, at times, be necessary to consider changing the use of a school or even closing it for seismic, educational, or other reasons.
Here are some principles we think are important when considering these decisions:
School lands always remain in public hands for public purposes and for future generations. With new housing developments across the city, we recognize that it is our responsibility to protect and preserve school properties for future population growth.
New uses must be of benefit to the school community.
Students must be able to be accommodated in another school in their neighbourhood.
Candidates with no response
The Non-Partisan Association has yet to announce candidates, and did not respond to multiple inquiries as to whether they will be participating in this series and when candidates can be expected.