Sitting in a cozy house while the rain pelts the windows and the wind shakes the remaining leaves off the trees, I can't help but think of my two daughters and their families. One of them is in San Jose del Cabo, Baja South, Mexico basking in the warmth of sunny, clear days and white sandy beaches and the other is enroute to the happiest place on the earth, Disneyland. And here I sit...in cold, damp, wet, windy South Delta! So...where's this light at the end of the tunnel??
Actually, it's everywhere! How fortunate we are to be in this little oasis of the planet. Yes we have this typical "winter" weather that we have to deal with but we also have amazing natural wonders surrounding us daily. The mountains, the ocean, the miles of dykes and trails to explore. I have some amazing pictures of magnificent eagles taken on the dyke at the bottom of 17th Ave. in Tsawwassen that are admired all over the world by my friends and family who do not have the fortune to live here. I especially love our resident Heron (one of many) that sits in the ditch at the corner of Hwy. 17 and 56th Street watching the cars go by...I call him our traffic counter! We are truly very lucky.
We are also very blessed to have the Southlands in our neighbourhood but not necessarily the confrontation that it seems to evoke in the community...for years! Yes it is privately owned land and yes there are those that want to see this land developed as well as those opposed. But how does this proposed development impact our schools?
So, how does the Southland development and School Board Trustee go hand-in-hand? Well, with the development of 900 houses, chances are more children will come into the community. This will benefit the declining enrolment crises we've been told is predicted. Will it mean another school will be built in the Bounday Bay area for those children or will it mean they will be bussed to other schools in the district. Many of which are bulging at the seams. One may get the impression that because we hear "declining enrolment" that our schools are sitting half empty. They aren't. More children in the district, means more schools. Surrey is faced with that problem right now and they are valiantly trying to get more money out of Victoria to build these schools. It's like pulling teeth.
We are already strapped financially with funding from Victoria in its present state, how do can we expect them to hand over more money (that they say they don't have) for new schools? Can we re-open Boundary Bay school that was closed three years ago by the present school board of trustees, and if so, is it big enough? What about Delta Manor? Can that be restored to being a school again? And we all know that Tsawwassen Junior School is gone! Where is that sale money anyway??
Funding from Victoria is based on "bums in seats". We get X amount of dollars per child. The amount is increased if the child is special needs or First Nations. With the addition of, hypothetically speaking, 1800 more students (2 per home), how much money is that generating? It won't be enough for a new school! But with that many new students (presuming the status quo is in place), won't a new school be warranted? How will we deal with the same problem that Surrey is facing? We will still fall short of the population in schools in the larger cities? Is it fair to be penalized by the province because we live in a smaller populated area (with or without the 900 extra houses)? Shouldn't our children have the same opportunities as those in Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, New Westminster, Surrey? Do those schools have more programs for the children and better facilities because they get more money? How can the province guarantee that every child in British Columbia has equal rights? What a quagmire we have in allocating dollars to our children's education!
I have always said that there should be no cuts to budgets that are deemed education. I would rather have a bumpy highway than closed programs in the schools. Having said that, I would like to tell you about the people of San Jose del Cabo. In this little, quaint, 17th century Mexican town there are three schools. A high school, an elementary school and a branch of the University. The schools are jammed with children and young adults...all of them in uniforms. Every child is in school. The schools are open in the evenings, sometimes for classes for adults or for celebrations or just get-togethers for the kids with music, dancing and lots of laughter. On the weekends, Saturdays are open for business in the school and the only day I've seen them all closed is Sunday. They use their schools not only for education, but for the community. A gathering place. I walk past the high school many times during the day and I always hear laughter and chattering in the yard. When school is dismissed, you hear the same thing and see them as they wait for their busses to take them home. What you never see is groups of kids just "hanging around".
This is a third world country. This town is very small and not very rich. Every child has a uniform as I mentioned and every uniform is pristine. The main highways are paved and the tourist areas are kept immaculate. The gardens are beautiful. But when you drive into the core of the city you find the cardboard houses (yes cardboard), the tin shacks, the one room adobes with eating areas outside under a tarp where all the families share their meals together. The streets are sand. They are not paved. But the people are amazing and the most friendly I've met in a lot of my travels in the U.K, Europe, the USA and Canada. Even with all the poverty they experience on a daily basis, these people laugh, sing and dance (literally) in the streets (city centre square on weekends). AND...every child is in school. Learning. Socializing. Accepting. The streets can wait...the children have to be educated. This spoke volumes to me. Especially when I come back here and see what we have and realize how lucky or, maybe, spoiled we are in Canada...in Delta. This small town knows the importance of an education for everyone and they make sure everyone is getting the education they deserve to have to make them a better citizen of the planet. Many of these children will probably move to a bigger metropolis or another country. But they will be better than their parents and their grandparents and have more opportunities because they are getting a good education...a solid foundation for their future.
Isn't that what it's all about? So when I say that I can put up with bumpy roads, cracks, whatever...some weeds in the boulevards...roads not plowed if it snows (mine never is, by the way)...or garbage pickup every two weeks (why not), there is a reason. I can't easily swallow the billion or so dollars being spent on a sports facility in Vancouver when the schools across the province are crying for more funding. As much as the Olympics 2010 was received by the world, I had and still do have, problems with the money that was spent and that isn't coming back to us as we were told it would. Wasn't Montreal a lesson for everyone? Just think what all those dollars could have done had they gone into the education of B.C. children.
I would like to see collaborative meetings where trustees, councillors, mayors and provincial government all discuss "spending" in education. Where do we put our tax dollars...our hard earned dollars that we are giving to them to spend for us. We don't have a say. We can't be at those meetings. The only way you are represented at these meetings is through your elected officials. It's not just about being able to balance a budget or having experience dealing with multi-million dollar budgets in corporations. It's about having the people around the table with the questions and the wherewithall to come up with the solutions. Again...it's teamwork. It's about all levels of government being able to respect one another and sit down together and find the solutions and put them into action. Those are the people who should be elected on November 19th. I know I am one of those people. Hopefully, there are others (and I know of some) out there as well. Choose wisely...your children's future depends on it.
No comments:
Post a Comment