We’ve been wading through our back files of the week and found a story that caught our attention over a week ago, but never quite made it to blog form, until now.
Having caught up with our more breaking news of the week, we return to an interesting review of the Neighbourhoods of Learning pilot project. Where recent stories in the media about the upgrade of schools in Premier Gordon Campbell’s riding have caught the attention of the Minister of Education Shirley Bond.
Ms. Bond took offence to the suggestion that any pressure from the Premier’s office was responsible for the selection of two schools in his Vancouver-Point Grey riding for participation in the new program.
She addressed her concerns in particular to a recent wire service article by Paul Willcocks in the Prince Rupert Daily News, which examined those projects down south. You can get the theme of that article, from a recent item posted to Willcock’s blog, Paying Attention.
However, it would appear judging by her lack of local reference, that she apparently was unaware of a local story done by Kris Schumacher which explored the same issue and sought out local comment on the program.
Her most recent response to the issue came in a letter to the editor published in the September 26 edition of the Daily News, which resembles one of those mass mailings that we receive in our mailboxes from time to time from the Provincial government.
Having caught up with our more breaking news of the week, we return to an interesting review of the Neighbourhoods of Learning pilot project. Where recent stories in the media about the upgrade of schools in Premier Gordon Campbell’s riding have caught the attention of the Minister of Education Shirley Bond.
Ms. Bond took offence to the suggestion that any pressure from the Premier’s office was responsible for the selection of two schools in his Vancouver-Point Grey riding for participation in the new program.
She addressed her concerns in particular to a recent wire service article by Paul Willcocks in the Prince Rupert Daily News, which examined those projects down south. You can get the theme of that article, from a recent item posted to Willcock’s blog, Paying Attention.
However, it would appear judging by her lack of local reference, that she apparently was unaware of a local story done by Kris Schumacher which explored the same issue and sought out local comment on the program.
Her most recent response to the issue came in a letter to the editor published in the September 26 edition of the Daily News, which resembles one of those mass mailings that we receive in our mailboxes from time to time from the Provincial government.
.
In the spirit of keeping all of our information gathering on education issues balanced as much as possible, we retrieve it from our to do list and provide below for addition to the debate…
While we suspect that she has to present the case for the defence as it is, the optics of the Premier’s riding, a tony little part of Vancouver benefiting not once but twice from this pilot project is to say the least not helpful.
Should she wish to learn a bit more about potential sites that could benefit from this new approach to education and community services, we recommend she add this article from Kris Schumacher to her reading list…
Letter to the Editor
Prince Rupert Daily News
Friday, September 26, 2008
Page 4
Premier had no say in school’s selection
To the editor,
I’d like to correct some factual errors which appeared in a column by Paul Willcocks that ran recently in your newspaper regarding our government’s new Nieghbourhoods of Learning pilots (Schools in premier’s riding have done well, Daily News Opinion, Sept. 22)
Contrary to what was written, it was the Vancouver Board of Education that proposed General Gordon Elementary as an example of a school that could benefit from a change in approach by the ministry regarding facility area and funding standards.
In fact, in a Feb. 20, 2008 letter that I received from Vancouver board chairman Clarence Hansen, General Gordon was the only school specifically mentioned as a potential candidate for what would eventually develop into our Neighbourhoods of Learning pilot.
While Premier Gordon Campbell, as the MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey, subsequently offered his support for the General Gordon project, the premier also supported the inclusion of the old Charles Dickens Elementary structure- a school in NDP MLA Jenny Kwan’s Vancouver-Mount Pleasant riding. It was the Vancouver Board of Education that decided not to include Dickens among those first pilots.
Three Vancouver district schools- General Gordon, Queen Mary and Lord Strathcona elementaries – were named earlier this month as the initial pilot schools in the $30 million Neighbourhoods of Learning concept that will see education and community services effectively brought together in a single neighbourhood hub. Contrary to what was written, these were schools that Vancouver trustees identified as priorities and ultimately presented them as such to our ministry.
It must be pointed out that two rural districts in B. C. will also be selected as part of this initial pilot for Neighbourhoods of Learning. These pilots will guide the future design and joint use of schools in British Columbia.
Shirley Bond
Minister of Education
While we suspect that she has to present the case for the defence as it is, the optics of the Premier’s riding, a tony little part of Vancouver benefiting not once but twice from this pilot project is to say the least not helpful.
Should she wish to learn a bit more about potential sites that could benefit from this new approach to education and community services, we recommend she add this article from Kris Schumacher to her reading list…
Letter to the Editor
Prince Rupert Daily News
Friday, September 26, 2008
Page 4
Premier had no say in school’s selection
To the editor,
I’d like to correct some factual errors which appeared in a column by Paul Willcocks that ran recently in your newspaper regarding our government’s new Nieghbourhoods of Learning pilots (Schools in premier’s riding have done well, Daily News Opinion, Sept. 22)
Contrary to what was written, it was the Vancouver Board of Education that proposed General Gordon Elementary as an example of a school that could benefit from a change in approach by the ministry regarding facility area and funding standards.
In fact, in a Feb. 20, 2008 letter that I received from Vancouver board chairman Clarence Hansen, General Gordon was the only school specifically mentioned as a potential candidate for what would eventually develop into our Neighbourhoods of Learning pilot.
While Premier Gordon Campbell, as the MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey, subsequently offered his support for the General Gordon project, the premier also supported the inclusion of the old Charles Dickens Elementary structure- a school in NDP MLA Jenny Kwan’s Vancouver-Mount Pleasant riding. It was the Vancouver Board of Education that decided not to include Dickens among those first pilots.
Three Vancouver district schools- General Gordon, Queen Mary and Lord Strathcona elementaries – were named earlier this month as the initial pilot schools in the $30 million Neighbourhoods of Learning concept that will see education and community services effectively brought together in a single neighbourhood hub. Contrary to what was written, these were schools that Vancouver trustees identified as priorities and ultimately presented them as such to our ministry.
It must be pointed out that two rural districts in B. C. will also be selected as part of this initial pilot for Neighbourhoods of Learning. These pilots will guide the future design and joint use of schools in British Columbia.
Shirley Bond
Minister of Education
No comments:
Post a Comment