Gordie Accused of Special Treatment for Schools in Home Riding

The B.C. education minister has denied accusations that two older elementary schools were chosen for a pilot upgrade project because they are in Premier Gordon Campbell's Vancouver-Point Grey riding.

Shirley Bond said Monday that the provincial government consulted fully with the Vancouver Board of Education before selecting General Gordon Elementary and Queen Mary Elementary for the $30-million project. Lord Strathcona Elementary in east Vancouver was also chosen.

"We have said from the beginning that this dialogue took place with the Vancouver Board of Education and the decision about the schools that would be involved in the pilot was made in complete collaboration with the Vancouver Board of Education," Bond said.

New Democrat education critic Norm Macdonald has said politics played a role in deciding which schools would benefit from the Neighbourhoods of Learning project, which is aimed at turning schools into places where education and community services are brought together in a single hub.

Bond denied that General Gordon and Queen Mary jumped the queue.

"Not at all," she said. "These schools were part of the suggestions provided to us by the Vancouver board."

The chair of the Vancouver Board of Education issued a statement Monday night, offering a "clarification" of the decision upon which the three schools were selected.

Clarence Hansen said a seismic study determined General Gordon should be replaced because the cost for renovation exceeded the cost of replacement.

He said the school's parent advisory committee took their concerns to the premier's office and advocated for it to be one of the three project schools while getting seismic upgrades at the same time.

"I … wrote to Education Minister Shirley Bond in February 2008 to request parents' concerns be considered in the planning of a replacement school," Hansen said.

"[The] government asked the school district to consider developing a hub of community services and programs supporting learning, which could be located at General Gordon Elementary," he said.

"Through this collaboration, government ultimately determined the terms of its announcement [of three schools] of Sept. 3, 2008."

Vancouver is the first of three B.C. school districts to participate in the Neighbourhoods of Learning project to create three model schools by partnering with the province. The other two participating districts, in rural areas, will be announced later.