Vancouver School Board (VSB) trustees voted Tuesday evening in favour of a motion that will designate the French immersion elementary school site and its buildings as surplus and instruct staff to proceed with a property “disposal process.” It’s currently attended by about 70 students.
Some parents are raising concerns about the sale of the Queen Elizabeth Annex school.
“All of its school sites are necessary given the radical and surprising nature of urban change in Vancouver,” said Michael Hooper, a parent of two who attend the school and a professor of urban planning at the University of British Columbia.
“There’s only one entity I know of in Vancouver that says they have surplus land in an economy and demography like Vancouver, and that’s the VSB.”
The board voted last spring to shutter the school for good at the end of June this year, proposing its students relocate to Jules Quesnel Elementary or Queen Elizabeth Elementary.
Staff cited data indicated an overall increase in Vancouver’s population, but a decline in the city’s birth rate and number of school-aged children.
“Over the (10) years, the District has seen approximately an 8.4 per cent decline in enrollment, representing approximately 4,400 fewer students,” reads a backgrounder on the decision.
“Current forecasts indicate further enrollment decline in the years ahead.”
According to the district, Queen Elizabeth Annex’s operating costs were 40-per cent higher than the provincial enrolment allocation of $7,885 per student in 2019, and closing it could save between $150,000 and $300,000 each year.
The backgrounder also notes that moving the school’s Kindergarten to Grade 3 immersion program over to Jules Quesnel Elementary would allow students to attend a single French school until Grade 7, reducing the number of transitions they need to make.
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Hooper alleges no alternative options for use of the school site were considered.
In a Tuesday interview ahead of the vote, VSB chair Victoria Jung said the school could be sold or leased long-term if the surplus vote passes, but that will be decided later.
She said the surplus decision will be based on consultation with parents, stakeholders, First Nations, and communities — all of which has been completed — as well as alternatives for community use of the space. The province’s francophone public school board has indicated interest in acquiring it, she added.
“This has been a long process and people have been generous with their time in their feedback, and parents in the community are really important in our decision-making,” said Jung.
“We take all of their input into account and will during our debate tonight around the table and before our decision, our votes are counted.”
Suzie Mah, a recently-elected VSB trustee with COPE Vancouver, said she would have opposed the closure of Queen Elizabeth Annex had she been on the board last spring. She voted against the surplus decision motion on Tuesday for two reasons.
“Firstly, I would be ignoring my commitment as a trustee to respect, engage and listen to what the Musqueam have to say about disposal of Queen Elizabeth Annex, Mah said commenting on the motion at Tuesday’s meeting.
“Secondly, policy 20 states that trustees must consider future educational needs and school space requirements for the district before a surplus property may be disposed of.”
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According to Mah, the VSB has heard from several urban planning experts who believe Vancouver’s expected population increase will come with an increase in children.
“Closing this one site — although it’s a small site — we can always add more buildings, we can always repurpose it for school board use,” she suggested.
Hooper said he, too, has doubts about VSB data predicting a decline in local enrolment.
“As we all know, looking at the skyline of Vancouver, the idea that you would have surplus schools is non-sensical actually, from a planning perspective,” he said, adding that parents have attested they can’t find spaces for their kids in Vancouver schools in September.
Hooper also said there are “hundreds upon hundreds of kids” who can’t get into local French immersion schools each year.
The school’s parent society has filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court seeking a judicial review of the VSB’s decision to close Queen Elizabeth Annex.
The VSB has recently barred the public from participating, in-person, at its meetings — offering an online option instead.
Hooper has called this practice and the decision-making around Queen Elizabeth Annex “a crisis of accountability and transparency.”
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