Public Consultations with the Vancouver School Board (VSB)

The VSB Engagement Process to gather parents, guardians, teachers & staff input and feedback is about the Long Range Facilities Plan (LRFP) which includes issues on enrollment numbers, seismic upgrades, 95% capacity and school closures.

Given the Provincial Budget on Education Funding, and the resulting VSB shortfall, it’s critical that we all give input and feedback to this process! The LRFP feeds into the VSB Strategic Plan for the coming 16 years through to 2021 – it’s all connected.

The LRFP can certainly have an affect on our school.  For example, at Dickens, our school won't close as we have a new building BUT we could see class sizes increase to their absolute maximum capacity. We could lose our "open" spaces that we’re currently using, due to the 95% capacity being imposed by BC Government. If a neighbouring school was to close or be repurposed for seismic upgrading, then we would certainly feel the impact of that in our community and school.

The VSB is having to make some tough decisions and they need our input for two key reasons:

•  Feedback and data from us helps them to push back at the Ministry of Education.
• Input across cross-cultural, community and socioeconomic perspectives helps the VSB make smart, strategic decisions for all our children - they don't know what they don't know until we tell them!

The VSB wants to know what to consider, and what's important if they close a school. They are seeking feedback on temporary accommodations for seismic upgrading, and they’d like to hear what’s acceptable or not, with repurposing spaces.

The kick-off for Public Consultation is Saturday, March 5 - see poster below - this will be an Open House where the VSB will share information and will seek input and feedback.

This will be followed by five other Open House /Workshop dates from April through to May 8. Most are on weekends with a few during week day evenings.  

The Open Houses will be an opportunity to learn and share. The Workshops will be more interactive with breakout groups. You only need to attend one session and it doesn't have to be the one closest to your home or school.

The final Open House on May 8 is where the VSB will be sharing their report, based on input received from March and April.

All communications are currently in English but the VSB Engagement Team will be reaching out to different communities, translating materials, and having translators for certain events.

Click on the Strategic Plan Summary to understand how the VSB Strategic Plan and the LRFP overlap. See the Engagement Poster below for dates and locations of the Open House/Workshop events.

The VSB will be updating regularly through their blog: vsbengagement.wordpress.com

and via Twitter: twitter.com/VSBEngagement