POINT GREY SECONDARY SCHOOL
5350 East Boulevard, Vancouver, BC, V6M 3V2 Tel. (604) 713-8220 P Fax (604) 713-8218
[Please comment on the School Plan.]
Catherine Remedios
Director of Instruction, Learning Services
Vancouver Board of Education
1580 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC, Canada
V6J 5K8
April 23, 2009
Dear Ms. Remedios,
I am writing to you in my capacity as the chair of Point Grey Secondary School’s Parent Advisory Council. Our PAC is opposed to the Board of Education’s decision to close Point Grey Secondary’s Learning Assistance and Life Skills program at the end of the current school year. We believe the school and the student body benefit from having this district program.
The Point Grey Secondary PAC has met on this matter and has voted to express its support for LALS parents, who wish to see the program continued at Point Grey Secondary. Among other things, we believe the Board of Education has provided no acceptable rationale for the closure, and that it has not provided sufficient advance notice.
With regard to the rationale, we understand that the LALS program at Point Grey is considered excellent, and therefore poor performance is not a reason for the closure. We have been told that closure is not related to budget cutbacks. The only rationale we have heard is that most of the children come from out of catchment and that the Board of Education believes these children and their families would benefit by attending schools closer to their homes. This rationale would only make sense if the parents involved had been consulted and agreed that the advantage of a closer location would more than offset the stress of change. In fact, these parents have told us that no consultation occurred. These parents have also asked us to write to you on their behalf, because they want their children to remain at Point Point Grey Secondary.
With regard to timing, we are shocked and disappointed that the Board of Education would provide notice only in April for a program closure in June. This is extremely short notice for any program closure, but especially for a program affecting the most vulnerable children in our community. Those children who would have been continuing in the program next year will face the serious challenge of adjusting to a new location with very little time to adapt. Moreover, new children who have already been accepted into the program for grade eight, and who have begun the process of adjusting to Point Grey, will now have to adjust to a major change. These are children who do not cope will with the challenges and stresses of change. They deserve far more notice than they received.
Point Grey Secondary’s PAC respectfully urges you to reconsider the decision. Please let the LALS program continue at our school, and please make this decision quickly, to permit proper planning and alleviate the stress facing the most vulnerable children in our community.
Regards
“Carolyn Kennedy”
Carolyn Kennedy
Point Grey Secondary PAC Chair
CC: Helen and Sean Yu, Point Grey LALS Parent Committee
Randy Clark, Principal, Point Grey Secondary
Patti Bacchus,
Chair, Vancouver Board of Education Trustees
Ken Clement, Trustee responsible for Point Grey Liaison
Chris Kelly, Superintendent of Schools, Vancouver Board of Education,
Gary Little, Associate Superintendent, Area, Vancouver Board of Education,
Valerie Overgaard, Associate Superintendent, Learning Services
Vancouver Board of Education
Gwen Giesbrecht, DPAC Chair
Alan Bayless, Point Grey Secondary DPAC Representative
April 21, 2009
Dear Colin Hansen
I am writing to you in my capacity as the chair of Point Grey Secondary School’s Parent Advisory Council with regard to the provincial budget’s allocation for education, and its direct impact on our school. Our PAC is concerned that funding is falling too far behind the needs of our school, and that our school administration will be overstretched next year as a result.
Let me start by acknowledging the difficulties that you face amid the current economic recession, both in your role as MLA for Vancouver Quilchena (where Point Grey Secondary School is located) and in your role as Minister of Finance for British Columbia. The parents at Point Grey, especially those who have felt the bite of the recession in terms of employment or pay, understand that your budget choices are not easy ones.
That said, we think it is also important to recognize that public school funding is an absolute priority because our education system is so important for our children and the future of our province. With this letter, we respectfully request that the provincial government allocate additional funds for the school system for the school year that begins in September. We also request that the provincial government rescind or at least modify the requirement that school boards reduce administrative costs by 3 per cent.
Unfortunately, the operating budget for the Vancouver Board of Education has for many years not kept up with the pressures of inflation. As a result, levels of service have declined incrementally over the years, including at Point Grey Secondary. For the upcoming school year, the Vancouver School Board is cutting more than $7 million of expenses compared with the current year, and this will affect all of our students.
We are especially concerned about our students’ access to Vice Principals because Vancouver has the highest ratio of students to Vice Principals in the province. School administrators, led by the Principals and Vice Principals, have a multitude of complex student issues to deal with--those issues range from discipline, safety and security, and social issues.
There is no such thing as an eight hour day or a five day week for school Principals and Vice Principals. We see them in the building at all hours of the evening and on weekends, providing the leadership required to make a school work properly. They just do not have enough time to deal students, staffs, and public issues on demand. The workload is overwhelming, and next year it will get worse.
In many cases, students require the Vice Principals to act as advocates on their behalf, whether it be for school or personal issues. Troubled students—and there are many of them in the city’s schools—are especially taxing on the time of school administrations. Given the current workload of VPs, both students and staff quite often cannot even access a VP when they need to see them about educational issues.
At Point Grey, the problem in the current school year is compounded by the requirement that our three top administrators, between them, have responsibility for three teaching blocks. We expect that they will be required to take on even more teaching blocks next year because of budget cutbacks.
Ironically, the requirement that administrators teach classes actually raises the cost of teaching because Principals and Vice Principals earn more than teachers. More importantly, we reduce the ability of these administrators to fulfill administrative tasks that are crucial for safe and cohesive schools. Even if the Principal himself does not teach, we add to his load because he must backfill for the Vice Principals when they are teaching.
Point Grey Secondary’s PAC is also concerned that the education budget problem in Vancouver may further worsen in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. That is because the Vancouver Board of Education, through prudent prior budgeting, has a past surplus of some $3 million to apply to next year’s funding requirements. For the following year, there will be no similar surplus and so another round of cuts will be needed even if provincial funding remains consistent at the 2009/10 level.
In summary, despite our sympathy for the province’s budgetary constraints due to the recession, we respectfully urge you to allocate additional funds for the school year that starts next September, and rescind the directive of a 3% reduction in administration costs, so that our school Principal and Vice Principals, and those of other schools in our district, will be able to perform their crucial jobs.
Regards
“Carolyn Kennedy”
Carolyn Kennedy
Point Grey Secondary PAC Chair
CC: Vancouver Board of Education (c/o Chona Caparas)
Randy Clark, Principal, Point Grey Secondary
Shirley Bond, B.C. Minister of Education
Alan Bayless, Point Grey Secondary DPAC Representative
April 21, 2009
To the Trustees of
the Vancouver Board of Education
I am writing to you in my capacity as the chair of Point Grey Secondary School’s Parent Advisory Council with regard to the 2009/2010 budget and its direct impact on our school. Our PAC is concerned that our school administration will be overstretched next year as our two Vice Principals may be forced to spend more time teaching classes.
The parents at Point Grey Secondary acknowledge the difficulties that you face given the funding reduction from the provincial government. In this context, we know that your budget options are limited and your choices are not easy ones. We also understand that, to a significant extent, your hands are tied by the directive from the province that administration costs be cut by 3 per cent.
We depend on our school administrators for so many things, from advocating for troubled students to being immediately available when a safety issue arises, to providing educational leadership that makes our schools the best they can be. We expect them to know the students personally, to write reference letters for them, to attend after-hours athletic and theatre events and PAC meetings, and to help the teachers work together as a team. There is no way they can do this in an eight hour day, and we see them in the school late at night and on weekends, even if the administrators have young families.
At Point Grey, the problem in the current school year is compounded by the requirement that our administrators, between them, have responsibility for three teaching blocks. We fear that they will be required to take on even more teaching blocks next year because of budget cutbacks. We expect that other schools will face similar problems. Therefore we ask on behalf of all schools that if you have to make cuts to administration that you do not make these cuts at the school level. .
In summary, despite our sympathy for the difficult position that the Board of Education has been placed in due to provincial cutbacks, we respectfully urge you to allocate sufficient administration funding at the school level so that our school Principal and Vice Principals, and those of other schools in Vancouver, will be able to perform their crucial jobs.
Regards
“Carolyn Kennedy”
Carolyn Kennedy
Point Grey Secondary PAC Chair
CC: Randy Clark, Principal, Point Grey Secondary
Gwen Giesbrecht,
DPAC Chair
Alan Bayless, Point Grey
Secondary DPAC Representative