Support our non-partisan group of parents from schools across Vancouver to stop school closures and land sales now
Queen Elizabeth Annex was closed in June 2023. In December 2023, Mr. Justice Gomery sided with the VSB against the Queen Elizabeth Annex (QEA) Parents’ Society. He acknowledged the VSB’s incomplete information disclosure to the parents and caregivers but stated the trustees’ discretionary decision couldn’t be overturned. The QEA Society is now appealing this decision in the Court of Appeal for British Columbia.
We are very concerned that the judgment permits the VSB to make non-transparent decisions in contravention of its own rules. If we allow the VSB to ignore proper process in its decision-making and ignore enrollment trends and federal, provincial, regional and local growth forecasting, it will spell disaster for public education in the city.
The good news
Parent and PAC advocacy helped convince the VSB to temporarily halt land disposals in September 2023 to give staff time to update their enrolment projections:
“Board directed staff to update the enrolment projections in VSB’s long range facilities plan in the context of the City’s recent zoning changes and existing neighbourhood plans. After that information is provided to the Board, it may consider restarting the engagement processes relating to proposed school closure of Carleton Elementary and surplus declaration of the eastern portion of the Bruce field.” VSB Board meeting, September 25, 2023
VSB also finally acknowledged in January 2024 that student populations are increasing, not decreasing. However, they are still making poorly thought-out decisions behind closed doors, like the decision in January 2024 to gut Lord Byng mini school with no consultation.
When VSB listens to parents and PACs they make better decisions for all our kids. Help us make sure that they can’t use the QEA court case as an excuse for more secret decision-making based on faulty data.
How can I help stop the school crisis? Donate now
Donors like you have already stepped forward to cover $50K in legal expenses incurred to-date. We are appealing the decision to close QEA and the result of the appeal will have broader ramifications for all potential school closures across Vancouver.
Why now?
- We have a team of top appeals-court litigators who see the merits of an appeal and the wider public interest in the case. They are taking on the appeal pro bono.
- We have a fair chance of winning if we can stay in the fight.
- VSB’s case hangs on declining student enrolment in the district, while VSB’s own data show that enrolment for elementary schools has been stable since 2012, and sharply increasing since September 2022.
- This case will have huge knock-on effects to save other VSB schools and lands, at this critical moment when the VSB is not protecting its primary interests: public education for the people of Vancouver.
How will donations be used?
Despite all the time being donated to this cause, there will be out-of-pocket expenses including the possibility that we may have to post security for costs with the Court in order to continue with the appeal.
Donations will first be used to support QEA’s legal case, and then other schools that need legal, political and media help. Efforts by parents are 100% volunteer, so all of your money is going to direct costs.
How did we get here?
VSB has been considering and implementing school closures for decades. In 2010, 12 schools were under closure consideration, but were saved. By 2019, half of those schools were already in high catchment utilization zones. Three school Annexes were closed after the public rejected school closures in 2016 and schools that were being seismically replaced were being shrunk even in neighbourhoods with growing populations. Replacement schools such as Lord Nelson and Maple Grove were overcapacity the moment they opened.
In recent years, VSB declared a portion of the Fleming site surplus in 2021. It voted to close QEA in 2022 and declared its land surplus to the needs of the district in 2023, paving the way to sell the land.
QEA is just the first of 21 schools identified for closure in the VSB’s secret Land Asset Strategy (the highly redacted version linked here). In recent years, the VSB has initiated the closure of Carleton Elementary and the sale of Bruce Elementary’s school field. It also pushed through the relocation of Ideal Mini students and had just announced the gutting of the Byng Arts Mini-school citing lack of space for catchment students. Byng is in the same catchment as Queen Elizabeth Annex where a year before the VSB was arguing that the QEA site was “surplus” as they were projecting continuing enrolment decline in the area.
QEA went to court to argue against the QEA decisions based on the procedural unfairness of the closure decision (an inadequate and illegitimate consultation process) and the unreasonableness of the surplus decision given the false and misleading information provided (including misleading enrolment numbers and inaccurate enrolment forecasting, that goes against every other planning authority). In December, 2023 Justice Gomery issued reasons for judgment in the matter brought by the Queen Elizabeth Annex (QEA) Parents’ Society against the Vancouver School District (VSB). We are very concerned that the judgment permits the VSB to make non-transparent decisions in contravention of its own rules.
VSB-owned lands and buildings have an estimated value of over $7.6 billion, based on 2018 B.C. assessment numbers. If we allow the VSB to ignore proper process in its decision-making and ignore enrollment trends and federal, provincial, regional and local growth forecasting, it will spell disaster for public education in the city.
The QEA Parents’ Society is appealing J. Gomery’s decision. We have a team of top appeals-court litigators who see the merits of an appeal and the wider public interest in the case. They are taking on the appeal pro bono. Despite all the time being donated to this cause, there will be out-of-pocket expenses including the possibility that we may have to post security for costs with the Court in order to continue with the appeal.
Why is the QEA court case so important?
A win for the QEA Parents’ Society would make it clear to the public, the Ministry and the Trustees that the VSB is not acting appropriately. It will force their process to change or they risk going back to court for every disposal decision moving forward, especially decisions that rely on VSB enrolment projections. A win for QEA means a win for all families that don’t want decisions about their schools being made behind closed doors and for all Vancouverites who support the public school system. It will force VSB to manage public assets in an ethical and legal manner. Vancouver needs the courts to enforce a legal process or the VSB will continue to do what it wants when it wants in secret.
The VSB’s actions set a dangerous precedent for how the VSB could make decisions in the future. If your local school is next, what can you expect? We must send a clear message to the VSB, and the Province of British Columbia, that the current process is inadequate, based on outdated data predicting a decline in students and the VSB failing to follow its own policies and regulations. We need the VSB to make decisions in a transparent way, think long-term and not sell off this valuable asset: land.
Do you really need my support?
Yes. This court case has been made possible 100% because of donations by people like you. This legal challenge maintains the first line of defence against a long list of planned closures to follow.
Vancouver’s public education system is at a critical juncture, as the VSB’s lack of transparency and unpreparedness for growth threaten to undermine the quality of public education for Vancouver students.
Donors have already stepped forward to cover the $50K in legal expenses incurred to-date. Additional funds are required for out-of-pocket expenses including the possibility that we may have to post security for costs with the Court in order to continue with the appeal.
Please make a gift to support this battle on the front lines to stop the tidal wave of school closures being targeted by the VSB.
Vancouver is Growing!
The BC Ministry of Education forecasts an increase of over 1,000 students per year for the next ten years, which has already started. — In fall 2022, VSB saw enrollment increase by 1,600 students more than it forecasted in a single year. If the BC Ministry of Education forecast of 10,000+ more students over the next ten years continues to become a reality, VSB will have a shortfall of more than 2,300 seats by 2032. That’s one high school plus two to four elementary schools, for a total of up to 5 more schools needed. It takes 5-10 years to plan and build a school. We should be planning and building now for that shortfall, not closing schools.
