Parents across Vancouver say they feel shut out by the school board’s public consultation process.
The district is hosting three townhall meetings to give parents an opportunity to speak about schools facing potential closure.
According to the Vancouver School Board (VSB) website and tweets sent out by the district, registration for the meetings was supposed to open Saturday, October 1st.
But the night before, parents discovered they were already out of luck.
“On Sept. 30th at about 9 p.m., I received an email that said it was open and hurry up it was selling out fast,” said Queen Elizabeth Annex parent Megan Eastwood.
After several attempts to sign up Friday, Eastwood was unable to secure a spot.
“It said sold out, sold out, sold out, on all three days. I can’t believe they had limited our access to be able to speak our minds.”
Her experience wasn’t unique. Emily Fox also tried to register as a speaker, but was denied.
“There is a loss of confidence in the process. You see information on the VSB being retracted, and different information put up, and to me, that seems like it’s not operating in good faith.”
Fox is calling on the district to open more speaking opportunities.
“I feel like the onus is on the VSB to set up more consultations. It seems like the right thing to do. It seems like the fair thing to do.”
Vancouver trustees won’t say whether the early registration was a technical glitch, or a deliberate move that gave some groups early access. The acting superintendent is scheduled to address the concerns at a board meeting Monday night.
Parent Nathalie Baker wants someone from the district to be held accountable.
“I think the whole process has been tainted. I actually think there should be an inquiry as to the registration process, why it is they released the dates early.”
Becky DeJager, a parent of a student at Tecumseh Annex, says the board’s move penalizes smaller schools.
Parents say if the district doesn’t take action to fix the situation, they will host a townhall meeting of their own.
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