What Parents Can Do
Other schools in Vancouver and BC have "skipped" the line so to speak, for various reasons. The most obvious is that some schools have louder voices. They have slick parent and press packages, successful social media and email campaigns, and a presence in the press. Their parents are able to commit time and money to put their school in the public and political eye. Their schools also, in the majority of cases, seem to reside in Liberal ridings.
Strathcona is an interesting case, with the school sitting in an NDP riding, but many of its attendees living in False Creek, a Liberal riding. Our parents hold one or more jobs, and we don't seem to have the same connections or resources to put towards this issue.
That said, we need to rally our parents behind this issue. The only way we can get our school fixed is to highlight the inequity of this situation, and to be vocal and in the eye of the politicians. Here is what you can do to help:
Sign the petition!
"In Japan, earthquake safety is treated very seriously and public facilities are upgraded constantly. It's awfully shameful that a school designated as high risk would be lower priority for upgrades. Vancouver is due for a quake. Fix the school before it happens."
Send an Email:
The main points of letters/emails/tweets could include:
- In 2005 the BC Government put Strathcona as #1 on the list to be upgraded as it was the highest risk school in the province
- We've had to promise to board up our primary building and live with an aging boiler just to get our bare bones budget below the cutoff they gave us
- Even after cutting $6 million from the budget they've demanded first a value analysis and now a cost/engineering analysis. The first showed that nothing else could be cut. What will the second tell us? How much have these analyses cost the taxpayer?
- Heritage buildings are expensive. They found a way to spend double our budget on Kitsilano, they can find a way to fund ours. Don't punish our children just because they're "unlucky" enough to have school buildings on the heritage registry.
- Playing politics with children's lives is not acceptable. We've watched and waited as schools in Liberal ridings have jumped the queue. We're not going to wait any more.
- All we need is a signed project agreement. There is no other way to save money, there is nothing more to be done. Stop stalling.
Facebook
Peter Fassbender and Jenny Kwan are both on facebook, and you can join our facebook page at Lord Strathcona Seismic Upgrade Planning Group to get updates in real time.
Talk to the press
Email us at [email protected] with quotes or stories we can share with the press. If you would be willing to speak with TV or radio news please give us your contact information to pass along.
Send a letter
Use the email ideas above to send a letter to your MLA, and to:
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Minister
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Mailing Address
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Mike de Jong (Minister of Finance)
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103-32660 George Ferguson Way
Abbotsford, BC V2T 4V6
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Peter Fassbender (Minister of Education)
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PO Box 9045, Stn Prov Govt,
Victoria, BC V8W 9E2
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Talk to other parents
Send them to this website, ask them to join in our campaign and raise awareness about the issue.
If you would like to join our committee we would be very grateful for your help! Specific skills we need right now:
- Media relations
- Communications
Strathcona Seismic 6 years, 7 months ago
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