Parents, students protest Vancouver School Board decision to relocate standalone mini school

Parents of students attending a unique high school program in Vancouver's Marpole neighbourhood rallied Wednesday evening to protest the program's planned relocation to a much bigger school.

Vancouver school district staff told parents last week that Ideal Mini School — a nearly 50-year-old program that has long served students who might not fit in elsewhere — will be relocated next year from its current standalone building to Sir Winston Churchill Secondary. 

The district's plan is to use the mini school's building on West 59th Avenue to accommodate students from nearby Sir Wilfrid Laurier Elementary.

A rally in opposition to the school district's plan drew dozens of parents and students to the Vancouver School Board (VSB) building on Broadway near Granville Street ahead of the evening's board meeting. About 100 of them attended the board meeting, filling the board chamber and an overflow room.

Among the protesters was Ideal student Sophia Kalley, 17, who transferred to the school at the start of this academic year.

"Ideal is a very tight-knit and warm, familial community and I enjoy getting to see everyone in the school every day," Kalley said.

"I enjoy the familiarity and the warmness and I don't think that that would be able to continue at Churchill."

Fellow student Eileen Abujebara, 16, agreed.

"I love the community and I love the small space that we're in," Abujebara said. "I feel like a big school is very overwhelming and I'm very used to small schools, so I would like to stay in with my friends and not have to be separated and move somewhere where I don't want to go."

A meeting with parents and caregivers to address questions and concerns about the transition has been set up for Thursday, the VSB said.

'True tight-knit community'

School board trustee Jennifer Reddy disagrees with the district's decision, saying the plan to relocate Ideal Mini School, which serves about 125 students in grades 8 to 12, doesn't factor in what makes it unique.

"The relocation for some individuals is being seen as a closure because the design and location of the school, from what I've heard, is really specific to the students that are going there, and the connection they have and belonging they have to that site in particular," Reddy said. 

The website for the Ideal Mini School says it's unique among mini school programs because it has its own standalone building, helping it form a "true tight-knit community where knowledge sharing, collaboration and mentorship can take place."

Students in the program are encouraged to pursue their own interests and passions through community-based and in-class learning, the site says.

Jennifer Uegema of the Ideal Parent Advisory Council says it has been contacted by dozens of alumni who have said how important the school was to their development. 

"If they had had to be in a 2,000-person school, they would not have graduated from high school," Uegema said.

"Ideal Mini School offered them a place to feel safe and accepted and included, and many of them really thrived in that environment." 

In a statement, the VSB said Churchill administers the Ideal program, and is the official school on transcript record for Ideal students.

VSB associate superintendent Pedro da Silva said many Ideal students are already taking courses at Churchill.

"We feel very comfortable and confident that the program will be maintained," da Silva said. 

The VSB statement also said the locations of "district choice programs" like the Ideal Mini School are subject to change, "taking into account the enrolment needs of the catchment areas." The relocation of a district choice program is an operational matter that does not require board approval, it added.

VSB designates annex 'surplus' to needs

Last week the VSB also voted to designate the Queen Elizabeth Annex, on the city's West Side, as "surplus" to the district's needs — raising the prospect of the property's eventual sale or lease.

Last year the board voted to close the school, which offers French immersion to 71 students in kindergarten to Grade 3, at the end of the 2022-23 year. The Queen Elizabeth Annex Parents' Society has filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court seeking to reverse the decision.

A VSB staff report said enrolment in schools west of Granville Street has been declining for years, mirroring a decline in birth rate and youth population.

But Reddy, who voted against the designation, said she has heard from parents who say they're seeing their neighbourhoods increase in density, noting the Vancouver Plan — a land-use strategy that includes the goal of bolstering multi-family housing options.

"To be at a table where we're not thinking about future children or present children in our decision-making process really concerns me," she said.