Gladstone secondary will likely be the new home to the Main Street Education Centre this September.
The Vancouver School Board’s planning and facilities committee recommended March 4 that the board approve the relocation at its meeting March 10.
The committee had delayed endorsing the move from a leased space on Terminal Avenue so committee members could obtain more information.
The Vancouver Secondary Teachers Association had expressed concerns over the loss of science labs at Gladstone and that school staff didn’t support the relocation.
Board staff said efficient scheduling of classes would mean no loss of science offerings for Gladstone students.
Grade 12 student Connie Cheung previously told the Courier a mural designed and painted by Gladstone students would have to be removed to accommodate an adult education office. Cheung was hurt to hear Jim Meschino, the board’s director of facilities, suggest at an earlier meeting that a high-definition photo of the mural could be enlarged and framed as a replacement.
A member of Gladstone’s parent advisory committee voiced concern prior to the March 4 meeting that Gladstone feeder elementary schools were not consulted about having an adult education centre occupy part of the secondary school. Board staff noted consultation with feeder schools isn’t done regarding the movement of special or alternate education programs to or from secondary schools.
“Everyone would agree it’s not perfect,” board chairperson Patti Bacchus said of the recommendation to relocate the adult ed program to Gladstone.
She noted “a lot of opposition” among Gladstone parents and students and that adult education teachers want to keep their school intact. Most of the Main Street Education Centre is to be relocated to Gladstone, but a portion could go to Hastings Education Centre site at Britannia.
But Bacchus said few could argue against the board cancelling its more than $600,000 yearly lease for the Main Street Education Centre when a facility owned by the board has space available.
“And particularly when it’s available on SkyTrain and accessible to so many of the current students,” she said.
The school board forecasts a $15.88 million budget shortfall for the 2014-2015 school year. (The VSB estimated a budget shortfall of $24.3 million in December 2012 but the shortfall was reduced to $7.9 million in 2013.)
Boundary review
The VSB is about to adjust what it calls its Downtown Eastside school boundaries.
Mike Lombardi, Vision Vancouver trustee and chairperson of the management coordinating committee, says the boundaries are to be altered to better reflect where students actually go.
Students can choose to attend schools outside of their boundary if there’s room to accommodate them. Lombardi says it’s important to get the boundaries right so neighbourhood kids can be given first priority at their home school. He said it’s not about shifting populations to make undersubscribed schools busier.
Schools in the review include Seymour, Macdonald and Hastings elementary.
The board proposes consultation with school administrators this month, consultation with the larger school community in April, a draft to go to senior VSB staff and the management committee in May and a final report to the board in June.
