2 THE VOICE, THURSDAY, OCT. 13, 2016 EDITOR JAKE WRAY tlarge AAA AA I ii PIERRE ELLIOTT TRUDEAU ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MELANIE GREEN photo Pierre Elliott Trudeau Elementary school is one of two South Vancouver schools that were being considered for closure. South Van children to stay put Parents relieved closure process suspended, upheaval avoided 66 By MELANIE GREEN wo South Vancouver schools vice to the community to lose it,” he said. “It’s hard with cutbacks. I would like to see all my kids graduate from closure. “We didn’t get to where we are light- ly, folks. I feel as if we are throwing out Surrey school board in no- win situation “Choice” programs, like French immersion, are overcrowded, causing tension among parents By REUBEN DONGALEN Jr. at whether they should move pop- ular special programs like French immersion because of the overcrowd- ing of some schools. As the district continues to discuss ways to cope with overcrowding, mov- ing or eliminating optional, “choice” programs in schools that are signifi- cantly above capacity may be one of their quickest solutions. Shawn Wilson, chairperson of the Surrey Board of Education, said it makes parents irate when they can’t send their children to a school that is within view from their home. “You know often what happens is, you will have peo- ple that live in a house and they can see the school, and yet they’ve got to take 25 blocks away or something to get to their school. That’s sim- ply not fair,” Wil- son said. But the school board risks enraging another group of parents if it starts re- locating programs. According to Karen Tan, the presi- dent of the Surrey District Parent Advi- sory Council, many parents are moving into areas where there are certain schools offering specific choice pro- grams. “Tf it’s a parent [of a child] that’s ina Ss" school trustees are looking hr | SHAWN WILSON Surrey school board chair If public have been spared the axe, at Trudeau.” months of work,” she said at the Oct.3 | choice program and have moved close education least for now. Andrea Sinclair, who works with a —_—s meeting. “I am absolutely flabbergast- to the school to be at a certain program, . Pierre Elliott Trudeau Ele- grassroots collective committed to ed that we should be asked to come up it’s kind of disheartening,” she said. is truly mentary School and Champlain public education, said many parents and throw it all aside without further On the other hand, Tan said that she pub lic, Heights Annex were among 11 Vancou- feel B.C. education is underfunded, and _ discussion.” understands the board’s decisions. . ver schools being considered for clo- their advocacy helped stall the school- VSB trustee Allan Wong, who sup- There are only a handful of choice then it sure, until the Vancouver School Board —_ closure process. ported the motion, said at the Oct. 3 programs in Surrey. Aside from French needs to be passed a controversial motion on Oct. 3 “If public education is truly public, meeting that recent changes to provin- immersion, they include traditional suspending the closure process. then it needs to be funded,” said the Pa- cial education policies caused him to schools, Discovery, Punjabi language, fi unded The decision means 376 South Van- —_— rental Advocacy Network spokesper- _ reconsider the school-closure issue. Intensive Fine Arts and more. ANDREA SINCLAIR couver students will be allowed to re- main in their schools. son. “Parents have had enough and pushed back.” “Eleven school closures, one school with over 1,000 students, we cannot Wilson said the board is expecting to decide on relocating or eliminating two SPOKESPERSON Tom Wildon, whose three children The motion to suspend the closure __ take lightly. Just to say that we need to | choice programs this fall. PARENTAL ~— attend Trudeau Elementary, said he process was contentious, with five plough ahead without the proper infor- The French immersion program at OEWORK was relieved the school will stay open trustees in support and four in opposi- mation concerns me,” he said. Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary and the for the time being. “Trudeau is a community based school and it would really be a disser- tion. VSB trustee Penny Noble voted against the motion to cease the school- The VSB decision prohibits re-visita- tion of school closure until June 30, 2017. Inter-A program at Kwantlen Park Sec- ondary are primary candidates for amendments. Teens push to build youth shelter Students form group to ad- vocate for homeless shelter in Langley for vulnerable adolescents By VERONNICA MacKILLOP have launched a battle to help homeless teenagers. “We decided to form a youth home- pisetsm students in Langley by the students. “We put posters up around Langley that said #SAFELangley in hopes that people would type it into any social me- dia, and be able to find anything that we had posted,” said Meaghan Lay- cock, a SAFE member and Brookswood student. school district meeting, students from several schools decided that it was time for a change. SAFE (Shelters Are For Everyone), is the name of the organization started up,” said Laird. Loren Roberts, with Encompass Sup- port Services Society and the youth homeless initiative, said young people speaking out is very powerful. Gordon Stewart, acting superinten- dent of the Langley schoo] district, said that the sustained funding for the shel- ter has to come from the province, which may not see it as a priority. “TYouth homelessness] is not some- conversation cafe, and over 100 showed thing that’s in your face as much as other issues,” Stewart said. “A lot of the youth during the day will access the school system for food and get help from friends or staff. It’s not as visible as someone who is older and doesn’t have these resources.” Teenagers helping each other is a step in the right direction, according to Stewart. “There’s nothing better than youth advocating for youth,” he said. lessness task force,” said Jordyn Laird, a student at Brookswood Secondary, and a member of the task force. The goal is to eventually have a homeless shelter for teenagers in Langley. SAFE has held events such as an out- door concert and barbecues, to raise awareness and a little bit of money for a future youth shelter. “We're hoping that eventually we In 2016, 162 high school students in —_— will have a connection with a politician Langley were homeless or in unstable who would want to help us,” Laycock housing. There is currently one home- said. less shelter in Langley and those seek- SAFE members were shocked at the ing shelter there must be 19 or older. amount of community support. “We In November 2015, at a Langley were expecting maybe 30 people for our J Twitter photo courtesy of LENNY YUN SAFE Langley members, left to right: Erin Moloney, Meaghan Laycock, Jordyn Laird and Chantelle Killey.