Despite its greater population of children, a geographic disparity means all five schools slated for possible closure are on the east side
Criteria for possible closure varied from school to school. Upkeep, age, seismic upgrading and ease of redistribution of the students to be displaced all had to be considered.
But a key component was "capacity utilization" -- the number of students presently going to a school as opposed to the number of students the school was designed to house.
In the VSB's report, there is a map titled Elementary Utilization Capacities that shows the location of all the elementary schools of Vancouver and their annexes.
They are colour-coded to show their capacity percentage: dark brown for a utilization greater than 100 per cent, for example, and black for a utilization less than 70 per cent.
A quick glance at the map shows a startling geographic disparity.
It shows what, in effect, has become two elementary school systems, one west of Main and one east of it.
The one west of Main Street is robust and full to overflowing.
The one east of Main is depopulating and in trouble.
Of the west side's 31 elementary schools and four annexes, 19 are operating at a capacity greater than 100 per cent. Another nine have an operating capacity of 90 to 100 per cent. None are operating at a capacity less than 70 per cent.
The east side is a different story. Of its 44 schools and 12 annexes, only four schools are operating at a capacity greater than 100 per cent, and seven are operating at a capacity between 90 to 100 per cent.
And while there are no schools on the west side operating at a capacity of less than 70 per cent, there are 20 such schools and annexes on the east side.
Why this stark geographic disparity exists no one is quite sure, though there are plenty of theories.
But the result? The VSB report identified 11 schools and annexes for possible closure. Only two of those were on the west side.
That number was whittled down, however, and the report's final analysis recommended only five schools be closed.
All five are on the east side.
As for the two west side schools that had been identified for possible closure?
They had been taken off the list.
The parents of those east-side schools slated for closure are, understandably, angry. Schools are the heart of a neighbourhood, and no parent likes seeing his or her child moved to another school.
The VSB argues that the closures have nothing to do with a west-side bias, and that the reasons behind the east-side closures are purely economic. Patti Bacchus, the Vancouver school board chair, pointed out that the east-side schools also happen to be more numerous and closer together. Given the decade-long decline in Vancouver's elementary school population, Bacchus said, some closures are to be expected on the east side, given the greater number of schools there. Some pruning is to be expected.
This is true, up to a point.
But that argument ignores some very worrying trends between what is happening on the west side and the east.
According to a study titled Trends and Patterns in Public Elementary School Enrolment in the City of Vancouver, by Andrew Yan, a researcher with Bing Thom Architects, the decline in the elementary school population has been weighted heavily toward the east side of the city.
"Using Main Street as an east-west boundary and 33rd as a north-south boundary, the geographic distribution of enrolment is highly uneven. Over the five most recent school years, schools in the northeast and southeast sections of the city have seen significant declines (approximately 11 per cent), whereas schools in the northwest and southwest areas have seen small increases in their student populations."
Some of these declines are alarming. In four years, from 2005 to 2009, Walter Moberly elementary in southeast Vancouver went from 784 students to 590, a loss of 194 students. Captain James Cook elementary, also in southeast Vancouver, lost 140 students over the same period. Little Sir William Macdonald elementary in the northeast sector of the city lost 50 per cent of its students in that five-year period. It now has 70 students.
Yet in that same period, the west side's Kerrisdale elementary grew to 632 students from 510, a 24-per-cent increase, while Queen Elizabeth elementary, also on the west side, grew to 470 from 386 students, a gain of 22 per cent. Most of the west side's other elementary schools also showed modest gains or stable enrolments.
This has happened despite the fact that the east side has a greater population of student-age children than the west side, and traditionally always has.
This has also happened, said Vancouver Coun. Andrea Reimer, a former school board trustee, despite the fact that there are more school-age children in Vancouver than there were five and 10 years ago, not fewer. These declines are not due to a shrinking school age population, as they are in the Interior.
So what's going on? Why the disparities?
As I wrote earlier, theories abound, which I'll discuss in my next column. But the effect of those disparities, and what they say about the city and its school system, could be profound.
More on Tuesday.
pmcmartin@vancouversun.com
