Vancouver school trustees to talk Bill 11 with B.C. Liberal MLAs

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      All four Vancouver-area MLAs of the ruling B.C. Liberal Party are expected to be present in a meeting today (April 10) with the city’s school board.

      Amid a range of issues facing School District 39, the anticipated attendance of Suzanne Anton (Fraserview), Sam Sullivan (False Creek), Moira Stilwell (Langara), and Andrew Wilkinson (Quilchena) may seem notable.

      The school board previously invited the Vancouver caucus of the B.C. NDP for a meeting.

      Only one—Shane Simpson (Hastings)—out of the seven New Democrat representatives from Vancouver made it on March 30.

      But that may not look so bad because Simpson brought along party education critic and Victoria-Swan Lake MLA Rob Fleming.

      Today’s meeting is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. at the school board’s West Broadway offices.

      “What we’ll be doing is giving them an overview of our challenges,” Vision Vancouver school trustee Mike Lombardi told the Straight in a phone interview Thursday (April 9).

      These include budget pressures, and pending seismic and capital projects.

      Also expected to be discussed is Bill 11, a contentious measure introduced on March 26 by Education Minister and Surrey-Fleetwood MLA Peter Fassbender.

      In a previous interview, Lombardi asserted that the legislation would provide the minister with enhanced powers to take over school boards.

      Vancouver school board chair Christopher Richardson had noted that the bill seems to re-arrange where the minister’s powers are written in legislation.

      In a phone interview on April 2, Richardson said that some of the minister’s powers, specifically the authority to issue administrative orders, are already provided in the current School Act.

      “He’s reshuffled the chairs of the Titanic,” the NPA trustee said in jest about Fassbender’s bill.

      Richardson noted that all of the B.C. Liberal MLAs from Vancouver have indicated that they will attend today’s meeting with school trustees.

      Comments

      1 Comments

      Dianne

      Apr 10, 2015 at 9:52pm

      And will the Liberal MLAs merely add their colour and commentary to the decor of the Titanic OR will they actually hear the real facts and take a strong message to their captains who seem determined to sink public education?

      Its so hard to remain optimistic - actions speak so much louder than words and promises.

      0 0Rating: 0