Dear Editor,
I am extremely displeased by the recent decision of the Ministry of Education to withhold funds necessary to seismically upgrade schools in Richmond and Vancouver unless a 95 per cent utilization rate is achieved.
A utilization rate of 95 per cent is arbitrary, unfair and places no value on classrooms utilized for enriched learning spaces, such as music and art, or for desperately needed before and after-school care.
This government has continually prioritized large projects to the benefit of big business and the resource sector, particularly LNG.
The proposed $3.5 billion dollar Massey Bridge project also comes to mind.
How many schools does $3.5 billion dollars buy you? One hundred million dollars was recently banked into a “prosperity fund” as if the government is benevolently saving for future citizens. B.C.’s future citizens are attending schools that will have varying degrees of failure in the event of an earthquake. B.C.’s future citizens are attending schools in which the government has deemed enriched learning spaces, such as art or music rooms, to be “empty classrooms.”
In Richmond alone, more than 6,700 students are sitting in classrooms that are seismically unsafe. They are in schools that are evaluated to have high risk of widespread damage or structural failure in the event of an earthquake.
We are told by experts to expect “the Big One” to happen any day. However, this government sees no problem with holding back all funds for seismic upgrading until its conditions are met. These small children are at risk of death. It is unacceptable, and completely reprehensible that anyone would consider their lives a bargaining chip in the ongoing budget war the provincial government has been waging against education.
I am deeply upset with the Ministry of Education for taking the steps they have taken. It is one thing to demand school boards cut costs, but it is completely another thing entirely to refuse to undertake any remediation to ensure children’s safety unless demands are met.
The school boards have been forced into a highly unenviable position of closing schools which are well attended in order to meet the Ministry of Education’s demands. The Richmond School Board is doing its duty to protect its students, despite knowing that when they close schools with specialized learning spaces, it will be to the students’ detriment.
I am a parent of a child who attends Diefenbaker elementary. Despite having hundreds of children less than a five-minute walk from school, despite it being filled with students, it is on the short list for closure. It has developed specialized learning spaces for students with learning challenges, a math lab and a before and after school care room. These are well utilized and much needed resources, despite the ministry stating otherwise.
I have challenged the minister of education, Mike Bernier, to speak with a voice of reason, and be a champion of students as the minister of education, not their adversary.
I ask you, concerned and caring citizens, to do the same.
Kelly Greene
Richmond
