Update: I want to make it clear that my beef with the Neighbourhoods of Learning pilot project announcement is fully aimed at the provincial government, not at either the Gordon parent committee nor at the Vancouver School Board (VSB).

Had the Ministry of Education developed a rational funding and approval scheme, and stuck to such a policy, political opportunism coming from the Premier's office would not be the issue it is today.

My experience with the VSB has been they are treating all areas of the city with fairness and due process. But the process framework, imposed by the Ministry of Education, is flawed, and that has driven parents to do whatever they can to achieve that which they feel is necessary.

I'm sympathetic to the desires of the General Gordon community but I am more sympathetic to the needs of the greater Vancouver public school community. There are dozens of priority projects which must be done in a much more timely manner. Adding to the already unprofitable delays introduced by the ministry over the past few years, this politically driven detour in the process du jour introduces the real potential for additional delay and uncertainty.

If every school community refuses to work within the system, we are only condemning more students to live under heightened risk, and we expose our community to the long term economic and opportunity costs of significant post-disaster interruption to education services.

There appears to be universal acceptance that ministry standards do not provide necessary flexibility. Why then has this board elected to support the latest political detour rather than pushing the ministry and the Premier to fix the root problem?

What will we learn out of this pilot process, beyond the obvious that more money and multiple levels of government and authority will deliver something more than an educational facility? Lets save ourselves that exercise because that can be accurately forecasted today.

VSB chairman defends upgrade of school in premier's riding (Monday Sept. 15 2008, Vancouver Sun):

The B.C. government, not the Vancouver board of education, selected a school in Premier Gordon Campbell's riding for special treatment under a $30-million project unveiled this month, the board chairman admitted Sunday. But Clarence Hansen said he supports the government's choice, even though some parents are angry over what appears to be political favouritism.

No politics? Then explain this:

Hansen said General Gordon "isn't the one we would have picked" for the pilot but added that parents earned that right through their aggressive lobbying and creative ideas.

That's interesting, as it has been abundantly clear that Committee II did not support in any way shape or form the aggressive lobbying and creative ideas the Gordon parents were putting forth. If anything such creativity was going to slow down the Gordon project from ever getting approval.

Could someone at the VSB also explain why:

• Vice Chair Carol Gibson, who sits on Committee II Planning and Facilities, at the last C-II meeting in June knew nothing of this pilot project initiative of the Premier?
• If the Ministry and VSB were working collaboratively and not politically, why did not Vice Chair Gibson in fact showed exasperation with the Gordon parents and let them know in very direct terms that she / the board / the committee could not be "blindsided" by mere parents going around the system.
• Why other schools with larger populations, higher heritage "value", in areas lacking community resources are not receiving serious consideration for a community hub pilot? Sir James Douglas Elementary comes to mind, one of Vancouver's largest elementary schools.

When news of these surprise pilot projects first broke we were told the VSB made the school choices, and that various factors including heritage value were part of the consideration.

Noted today on Vancouver Sun journalist Janet Steffenhagen's weblog:

Education Minister Shirley Bond, meanwhile, was sticking to her message. "The Vancouver Board of Education and the Province worked collaboratively to develop the Neighbourhoods of Learning pilot," she said in an email that arrived too late for my story. "The Vancouver Board of Education identified the three schools based on a number of factors including heritage status, the need for seismic upgrades and the community desire to see full use of these facilities."

While we already know this now not to be true thanks to VSB Chair Clarence Hansen's admission this weekend, lets look at the heritage value of Gordon and Queen Mary.

This is a ranking, most-valued to least, of Vancouver schools from a recently completed heritage assessment (attached at the end of this post). Note where Gordon and Queen Mary show up on the list:

25 Vancouver Technical Secondary
25 Strathcona Community
25 Kitsilano Secondary
23 Selkirk Elementary
23 L'École Bilingue Elementary
23 John Oliver Secondary
23 Hastings Elementary
23 Dickens Elementary
21 Thunderbird Elementary
21 Sexsmith Elementary
21 Point Grey Secondary
21 Macdonald Elementary
21 Grandview Elementary
21 Douglas Elementary
21 Champlain Heights Community
19 Tennyson Elementary
19 Templeton Secondary
19 South Hill Elementary
19 Shannon Park Annex
19 Secord Elementary
19 McBride Elementary
19 Lloyd George Elementary
19 Kingsford-Smith Elementary
17 Wolfe Elementary
17 Tecumseh Elementary
17 Shaughnessy Elementary
17 Seymour Elementary
17 Renfrew Elementary
17 Queen Mary Elementary <- QUEEN MARY
17 Queen Alexandra Elementary
17 Nightingale Elementary
17 Moberly Elementary
17 Mackenzie Elementary
17 MacCorkindale Elementary
17 Kitchener Elementary
17 Gladstone Secondary
17 Churchill Secondary
17 Cavell Elementary
17 Carr Elementary
15 University Hill Secondary
15 Roberts Elementary
15 Queen Elizabeth Elementary
15 Norquay Elementary
15 Mount Pleasant Elementary
15 Maple Grove Elementary
15 Livingstone Elementary
15 Kerrisdale Elementary
15 Hudson Elementary
15 Hamber Secondary
15 Franklin Elementary
15 False Creek Elementary
15 Douglas Annex
13 Grenfell Elementary
13 Gordon Elementary <- GORDON
11 Van Horne Elementary
09 Trafalgar Elementary

Gordon was never a heritage candidate, and in fact the Vancouver Heritage Commission had passed a resolution in June which freed the VSB from considering heritage value in the redevelopment of Gordon.

RESOLVED THAT, regarding the project at 2896 West 6th Avenue (General Gordon Elementary School), the Vancouver Heritage Commission supports option 3 (full replacement) as presented at the June 16, 2007, meeting, recognizing the relatively lower score of 13 out of 25, but regrets the potential loss of the General Gordon Elem School building.

Queen Mary wasn't even on the VSB's close-in radar. From the current Seismic Projects page on the VSB web site, here are the projects which are moving closer to approval. QM is absent. Parents there have quite rightly been among those lobbying for seismic upgrades for years. Rumours suggest parent political connections have played a role in getting QM moving forward now.

In 2004 Premier Campbell made a promise, which he repeated during the 2005 election campaign, to ensure B.C. schools were made seismically safe. Parents of this province are still waiting for these promises to be kept, as the pace of project starts is wholly inadequate.

What's worse is the process for determining project focus is completely broken, as this most recent episode between the Ministry of Education and the Vancouver School Board so clearly illustrates.

Politicians are playing games with the lives of our children.