Suzie Mah’s End of Year Vancouver School Board Report, 2023-24
August 8th, 2024
Suzie Mah here. It’s been another busy year as your COPE school trustee. Here’s my end-of-year-update:
Unfortunately, the ABC majority has proven time and time again to make the wrong choices for students, teachers, and families. This year’s budget puts money in the wrong places AND it’s not enough. When you account for inflation, the Vancouver School Board Budget is actually shrinking.
Students need more resources and support, but a growing share of the budget is going towards senior managers and people who don’t work with students.
Students with disabilities are being deprived of support they need due to teacher and support staff shortages.
And the ABC majority has been looking for any excuse to make cuts, close programs, and sell-off our public assets.
To make matters worse, ABC has been moving an increasing amount of our school board meetings “in camera” (private from the public) and trustees like myself are legally forbidden from disclosing what happens in those meetings. It’s undemocratic.
Vancouver needs a school board which respects the democratic process.
Vancouver needs a school board which will stop cuts, closures, and sell-offs.
And Vancouver needs a school board which will ensure every student gets the support they need to thrive.
We can do so much better than Ken Sim and ABC.
Every single person in our society is impacted by the quality of our children’s education. It’s my strong conviction that schools aren’t just an issue for teachers and parents. We all benefit when our public schools are supported.
If you’re outraged at the way that Ken Sim and ABC are letting down our students, please share this end of year report with your friends.
ABC’s Lack of Transparency and Killing Democratic Input and Participation
Since becoming your school trustee, I’ve become increasingly concerned with a disturbing trend towards secrecy and trustees making decisions behind closed doors. Instead of discussing and making decisions at public meetings where the public can hold trustees more accountable, more and more private meetings are being held.
These in camera meetings have trustees and senior managers discussing and making decisions on big issues such as school closures and public land sales. When these issues come to a public school board meeting, debate is almost non-existent, and trustees are merely rubber stamping decisions that were forwarded for required adoption at a public meeting. The Vancouver School Board’s Policy 7, Section 6 lists items that are to be on private session agendas.
This year, ABC decided to combine two long-standing Board committees together, merging the Finance and Personnel Committees together. This move makes no sense. Senior managers gave the reason that the Personnel Committee “hardly met in previous years” yet union leaders have told me that they have tried to get items on the agendas but were turned down. Facilities and Planning, Finance and Personnel, Policy and Governance, and the Education Plan Meetings have been condensed to either Mondays and Wednesdays and there are evenings where there are three meetings back-to-back. Agendas have also been pared down and committee members have been limited in their ability to speak and present at these meetings.
Public Delegation meetings are monthly meetings where anyone can sign up to present an issue. Delegations are only allowed up to five minutes to present and trustees can only ask clarifying questions. Trustees are not allowed to debate or further discuss the issue after each delegation. The number of delegations is dwindling as there is no action or acknowledgment of the efforts of people who present. This must change. Public input needs to be respected and issues must be effectively and immediately addressed.
The democracy deficit under ABC in the Vancouver School Board cannot continue.
COPE Will Keep Fighting Against Cuts, Closures, and Sell-Offs
When ABC has argued for closing programs and selling off school board land, one of their main arguments has been citing erroneous projections that school enrolments in Vancouver are allegedly going to go down.
As your VSB Trustee, I have been steadfast in arguing the opposite. No, that is not the case. Our enrolments are going to continue to go up. Our population is growing. This does not pass the smell test.
On this subject, we recently had a significant win thanks to your support. This spring, school board senior managers finally admitted that student enrolment will INCREASE and not decrease in the following three years.
Even though they admitted their error, of course there were no apologies for the undue stress caused to students, parents, and the public by the threat of cuts and closures. There were no apologies for initiating the closing of Queen Elizabeth Annex and Carleton Elementary, selling off a part of Fleming Elementary’s south parcel of land, and threatening to carve and sell off half of Bruce Elementary’s playing field.
Your signature on our “No Cuts, No Closures” petition, your participation at our April 19th rally, and our persistent opposition to the ABC majority’s decisions to consolidate, close, and sell off our schools’ public assets led to senior managers to rethink their student enrolment projections. I worked with, and continue to work with, local Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) leaders, MLA Adrian Dix, and union leaders to strategize on how to oppose and stop ABC’s agenda to dismantle our education system.
In addition to the admission that student enrolment will be going up, the Board of Trustees voted in September to put a pause on closing Carleton and selling off half of Bruce’s playing field. In June, trustees were told that a third-party company “Urban Futures” (urbanfutures.com) would be contracted to do an “Enrolment Projections Review.” The results of this review will be revealed in the fall.
Depending on the results of the review, the fates of Carleton and Bruce will be determined. This is why we must continue the fight to preserve our schools and public land in the next year and beyond.
If you haven’t already, sign up to support the No Cuts No Closures campaign and get updates.
The Schools We Need Survey & Town Halls
When I talk to parents, teachers, and the public, they have a lot to say. They say they want seismically safe schools that give all students the support they need to learn. They want schools where parents, students, staff, and the public feel their voices have actually been heard and respected. They tell me they want schools in their own neighborhood with access to reliable on-site childcare before and after school.
The Vancouver School Board has no interest in hearing this feedback. Ken Sim’s ABC school board is closing down all opportunities for meaningful public participation.
Because of that absence of democracy, this spring, COPE launched “The Schools We Need” campaign to give parents, teachers, students, and the wider community a voice in the Vancouver School Board.
The Goals of the Campaign are to:
To inform (give people the knowledge to fight for students),
To involve (to create opportunities to collaborate with like-minded people), and
To develop (to create actions that will achieve more provincial funding, make better use of current funding, result in improvements to education programs in Vancouver schools, and achieve better accountability and transparency by current and future elected officials).
We hosted our first Town Hall meeting in late May at the Russian Hall. Union and PAC leaders facilitated small group discussions and asked participants for their feedback and ideas on the schools we need. Future Town Hall meetings are planned leading up to the 2026 civic elections to build power to achieve the goals of this campaign. I hope to see you there at one of these informative and hands-on town halls.
We launched a public online survey asking you to respond to current Vancouver school issues and asking for your ideas on how to build the schools we need. This survey is still open and can be accessed here.
Sign up to be notified of future town halls here.
Teaming up with OneCity to Oppose ABC’s dismal budget
In June, the ABC and the Greens voted to adopt the 2024-25 budget. Instead of putting money back into hiring more teachers and staff to work with students, over $900,000 would be used to hire staff to work at the school board offices. Both the undemocratic process and poor content of the budget were totally inadequate for students, teachers, and families.
In response, COPE and OneCity issued a joint press release criticizing the budget. Going forward, OneCity trustee Jennifer Reddy and I will continue working together on issues of common concern on the Vancouver School Board.
Advocacy for Affordable and Fare-Free Public Transit
In the 2018-2022 session, COPE school trustee Barb Parrot introduced a motion to support Allonboard’s call for free transit for children under the age of 12 at VSB. A similar motion was introduced at City Council and Park Board by COPE. It passed in all instances, and Vancouver’s endorsement of the campaign contributed to the 2021 decision by the Province of BC to implement fare-free transit for youth under 12. COPE’s ultimate goal is to make public transit fully-funded and fare-free for everyone, so contributing to this successful campaign to extend free access to youth is something we’re proud of.
I’ve continued that work to support universal transit accessibility in this term, bringing forward a motion in 2023 which endorsed the Centre for Family Equity’s “Free Transit for Teens” campaign.
The motion was passed unanimously by trustees in the VSB, and in fact, I also moved a similar motion at the 2023 BC School Trustees Annual General Meeting which was adopted, leading to other school districts adopting similar positions. Our collective demands were to push for expansion of free transit access to everyone under the age of 18.
In late March, I voiced opposition to Translink proposed fare increases. Supporting the use of public transit by keeping fees low is a tool that we have to fight the climate crisis and protect the planet. Unfortunately, the 2.3% fare increases were ultimately implemented over my objections. I will continue to fight for affordable, eco-friendly, fully-funded and fare-free public transit.
COPE is still fighting alongside the Centre for Family Equity to expand free transit for kids to youth 13 to 18. Sign our petition here.
In Closing
I am proud to be serving families, teachers, and students on the Vancouver School Board. It’s tough being in the opposition but it has also been rewarding. I have met many allies who are determined to work with me and others of like-mind to fight against decisions that will negatively impact students. I am also grateful for the dedicated union leaders, parent and community groups that are always there to defend public education.
There will be opportunities for everyone to get involved this fall in fighting for students. I hope to see you at the next Schools We Need town hall meeting to share your thoughts on public education in Vancouver and work together to brainstorm solutions.
I also want to invite you to join me and come to watch public VSB meetings. You can sign up to be notified of upcoming public meetings and town halls here.
Finally, please consider making a financial contribution to support our current and future campaigns leading up to the 2026 election. Under BC Election law in 2024 you can donate up to $1370.68 that will go directly to school board campaigns, and you can also donate up to $1370.68 for council and park board actions.
Have a relaxing and safe summer! More to come in September!
In solidarity,
Suzie Mah
P.S. Your donation means that we can elect a progressive coalition to the Vancouver School Board in 2026 that will truly fight for students. This donation link goes 100% to COPE’s School Board campaign. Thank you.