PLATFORM 2011 - VISION EDUCATION
In spite of the financial challenges in affecting all BC public school districts, there's a sense of renewal in Vancouver - a sense of optimism and possibility. That's what advocacy and collaboration are all about. Vision has accomplished a lot on Vancouver School Board – and we have so much more to do.
Vancouver public schools are the best place for your kids - a place where they'll receive an equitable, first-rate education. We have a plan for ensuring our schools stay that way and seek ways to update and improve learning opportunities for all students.
We know that advocacy works. Last year the Vancouver Sun named Vision Vancouver school trustee and Vancouver School Board Chair Patti Bacchus one of BC’s most influential women for her high-profile advocacy work.
Your elected Vision trustees, working with our COPE colleagues, got the attention of provincial decision-makers and forced them to engage in a dialogue on the challenges facing not just the Vancouver School Board, but school districts around this province.
We're moving Vancouver into a new era of learning, building on the successes of our top-performing school system to producing outstanding opportunities and results for students and our communities.
Leadership and Advocacy
Vision Vancouver has spent the last three years demonstrating what advocacy and standing up for Vancouver's kids and public education for Vancouver can achieve. At the Vancouver School Board, we’re working to build partnerships with other levels of government, community partners and — at the grassroots level — with parents, families and residents - all to support public education.
Since 2008, your Vision-led school board has:
- Put public education funding on the top of the public agenda and forced provincial leaders to acknowledge funding challenges
- Worked alongside our parents and students to say “no” to more spending cuts
- Consulted and listened to our community and said no to school closures in the Vancouver school district
- Acted as a voice for students - and helped to give students their own voice in the process
- Secured partial funding restoration for the district, along with a successful campaign for tax rebates
- Developed and completed an up-to-date strategic plan for the district
- Got the district's financial house in order by streamlining senior management and administration to use our dollars more efficiently and focus funding where it's needed the most - in the classroom
- Brought a culture of collaboration to the district, working with parents, stakeholders, teachers and unions, district employees and our COPE colleagues on school board
- Moved over $200 million in capital projects forward
- Implemented a sectoral review – going neighbourhood by neighbourhood to identify needs and assets of each community
Next term, Vision will:
- Provide leadership and action for a strong, vibrant, well-funded and responsive public education system in Vancouver
- Continue our ongoing work to advocate and lobby assertively for adequate, predictable, and stable funding for Vancouver students
- Continue to effectively manage the resources of the school district to support diverse and innovative learning opportunities for students, and make the most of the resources we have
- Advocate with the province to increase the pace of school capital construction and seismic upgrades
Student Success, Safety and Equity
Vancouver schools are a microcosm of our city - wealthy kids and poor kids, cultural diversity. Schools are places of diversity, of tolerance, sustainability and innovation - all the things we want our city to be. Preventing homelessness and crime, improving child health, increasing tolerance, innovation to solve complex community challenges - we can begin to tackle all these things in our schools. We need to invest in this sustainable, healthy and just future for Vancouver's kids - the future of our city.
Since 2008, your Vision-led school board has:
- Created a new Mandarin bilingual program at Norquay Elementary School – we listened to parents in our community and made it a priority
- Supported program options - choices in music, the Arts, culinary arts and nutrition, academically enriched program, languages, Aboriginal and alternative programs — even at a time of declining resources
- Responded to the diverse learning needs of students, by implementing Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement and working with the community to establish an Aboriginal-focused school of choice
- Increased student safety from anti-bullying, internet safety programs, and updated emergency preparedness plans.
Next term, Vision will:
- Increase the student voice in learning, planning, and policy development and create learning environments that support student engagement
- Implement new initiatives to make our schools safer, inclusive, bully free and more welcoming for all students, and promote socially responsible behavior in both children’s real lives and online
- Engage families directly in supporting student success and provide information and tools to support their involvement
- Work with advocates for students with special needs to find better ways to successfully include all students in secondary school life
- Continue to focus on equitable access to student learning opportunities and success through enhanced teaching and learning, use of educational technology, early intervention, and assessment for learning and innovative programs
- Improve services for Aboriginal students by continuing to work with the Aboriginal community to plan and implement an aboriginal-focused school of choice
- Develop technology infrastructure to support teaching, learning, and system-wide efficiency and effectiveness, in consultation with our education partners
- Ensure equitable access to educational opportunities in all Vancouver schools by targeting resources and interventions where needed
Protecting and upgrading school facilities
Former Premier Campbell made a commitment to upgrade all Vancouver schools for earthquakes by 2020. With the recent devastating earthquakes in Japan, the need for our schools to be safe is more top-of-mind than ever before. Patti Bacchus was part of the group that succeeded in securing the government's commitment to seismically upgrade Vancouver schools, and Vision will not give up until the last school is done.
Since 2008, your Vision-led school board has:
- Secured an unprecedented level of capital funding and to expedite the timetable for seismic upgrading of schools and needed capital projects
- Completed two completely renewed and seismically upgraded schools — Jules Quesnel and Laura Secord — with several more upgrades in progress
- Developed new uses for unoccupied school buildings, or those in disrepair. Our latest success story: the new Green Thumb Theatre project at Carleton Elementary. The theatre group to fundraise for restoration, and a lease that covers at the school districts’ operating costs - bringing new life to the school and draw students and families from other neighbourhoods
- Partnered with the City of Vancouver, Vancouver Park Board, and other agencies on initiatives related to childcare, sustainability, and use of public buildings and land
- Implemented the training and equipping of over 300 Vancouver School Board employees in light urban search and rescue to provide school-based emergency response in the event of an earthquake
Next term, Vision will:
- Work with the province to increase the pace by capital construction and seismic construction in Vancouver schools
- Work with the Ministry of Education to establish a Program Office to plan the implementation of an expedited timetable for seismic upgrading of Vancouver schools, to ensure that educational facilities decisions consider factors such as health and safety, 21st Century learning design, heritage, and sustainability
- Finalize a school renewal plan for the entire district to ensure the remaining at-risk schools are completed by 2020
Leadership on Environmental Sustainability
Since 2008, your Vision-led school board has:
- Developed a policy and operational framework to make the Vancouver School Board the greenest school district in North America
- Worked with the community and other agencies to develop a green district sustainability plan
- Worked with student leaders in sustainability – students are showing parents, teachers and trustees the way
- Decreased the district’s energy usage through effective energy management plan
Next term, Vision will:
- Work with the City of Vancouver and other agencies to promote student health and fitness by encouraging students to walk/cycle to school sustainably – and safely
- Work with students, partners, and community agencies to implement the district sustainability plan with the goal of making the VSB the greenest school district in North America
To read more about Vision's commitment to Safe, Livabe Neighborhoods, please CLICK HERE.
