March 4 protest rally postponed

Click on the title to read the article.

EXCERPT:

Niki Hope

The Record

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Olympic fever and a recent meeting with the education minister have halted parents' plan to hold a rally at city hall to protest high school construction delays.

The district parent advisory council was planning a rally for March 4 to put pressure on city councillors and school trustees to find a solution for where to build the replacement New Westminster Secondary School. The rally was postponed after members of the district parent advisory council met with Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid on Wednesday.

The minister did not ask the group to put off the rally, but after meeting with her, they were "encouraged" about the prospects for the long-overdue high school, said district parent advisory chair Margot Barton.

"We want to see where the chips fall," she said. "We want to give her some running room, and we want to see where things go."

A never-ending construction project in New Westminster - Report Card

A never-ending construction project in New Westminster - Report Card

Excerpt from the original article published in the Vancouver Sun:

A newly formed coalition, which includes the District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC), is pleased the board is seeking public input but has sent an open letter to trustees indicating that its members expect answers to a lot of questions.

Here is the list of people the coalition wants to hear from at the Tuesday meeting (taken directly from its letter):

- The regulator of cemeteries, to speak to what can and can’t be done on a de-commissioned graveyard.

- Golder and Associates, to answer geotechnical questions about site buildability and anthropological issues.

- Jim Wolf, to speak to the history of the site.

- A provincial government representative, to talk about regulations and expectations around school construction.

- Staff members from the city, including the heads of Development Services, Engineering, Parks Culture and Recreation and Traffic Planning, plus the City Manager.

Should these people be unavailable, we request the presence of their deputies or at least access to the unredacted documents they produced in coming to their conclusions.

We understand that meetings between the City and School District staffers have been taking place over the past few weeks. We look forward to hearing a full report at the Information Session on any developments that have arisen from these meetings. Further, we respectfully suggest formal recognition and inclusion of this coalition in future discussions related to this site.

The letter is signed by Margot Barton from the DPAC executive; Don Ellam, DPAC capital project subcommittee; Jessica Schneider, Massey Theatre Society; Shawn Cody, Royal City Youth Soccer, and Casey Lazecki, Royal City Track and Field Club.

The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at Century House.

New Westminster News Leader - Public to have say in schools capital project

New Westminster News Leader - Public to have say in schools capital project

EXCERPT:

The biggest roadblock is where to locate the secondary school. There are many constraints on the Mercer block site, including a large portion of land where the school currently sits that is being dedicated as a cemetery.

That leaves the properties currently occupied by Mercer Stadium, Massey Theatre and the skateboard park as options. The district owns the theatre while the stadium and skateboard park are city-owned.
Jeff Melgram will moderate the workshop. He was also involved in the community workshops earlier this year that helped generate the locations for the new middle and elementary schools.

The information meeting and workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 8 starting at 6:30 p.m. at Century House. The public is asked to pre-register for the meeting. Further information will be available on the district's website (www.sd40.bc.ca).

Phone: 604-519-1066 Fax: 604-526-6358