FRIDAY MAR 8, 2013 VOL. 38, NO. 42
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Daylight savings time begins
Fire chief says it’s a good opportunity to change smoke detector batteries
More music
Island Discovery Learning Community presents: The Secret Garden
Close encounters
Student shares what he sees through the macro lens
Beyond numbers and letters
Taxi, shuttle, bus
BICS engages students in all aspects of development
Team of islanders looks at addressing gaps in island transportation
SUSANNE MARTIN
SUSANNE MARTIN
EDITOR
EDITOR
his week, the Fraser Institute issued its report cards for B.C.’s elementary schools based on the annual Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) that tests reading, writing and numeracy, written by students in Grades 4 and 7 in the 2011-2012 school year. The institute’s website includes the names of the schools and their ranks. Bowen Island Community School is looking back at five years of solid ratings. This year’s rating has gone up to 8.3 out of 10, compared to last year when BICS received 7.5 marks. The below expectations percentage went down to 4.6 from last year’s 11.9. Jennifer Pardee, BICS principal, says, “While our district does not endorse the Fraser Institute rankings because of the very limited indicators used to create their ‘report cards’, we do appreciate the opportunity to share some of the unique ways we are engaging our students in all aspects of their development.” Pardee explained that parent engagement is an important goal at BICS. “We know that parents play an active and important role when it comes to educating the whole child,” she said. Pardee also stressed that social and emotional learning is foundational to academic success and has been an important focus at BICS. “We frame this as our ‘heart’ goal,” she said. “Inquiry-based learning is a second major focus for us as it supports students’ intellectual development and their academic achievement. We frame this as our ‘head’ goal which also provides teachers with a rich opportunity to collaborate and work together to enhance student learning.”
ave you ever missed the last ferry and had to leave your car in Horseshoe Bay to get home on the water taxi? Have you had an injury that’s prevented you from driving the kids to school? Or have you been out for a night and wished you had an alternative way for getting home? There are many scenarios when a taxi service would be welcome and necessary and George Zawadzki, Alan Mills and Glenn Cormier have looked into ways of making such a service a viable option on Bowen Island. “We’ve researched what it’s going to take to get a cab here but it’s difficult to make it as a private venture,” Zawadzki said, explaining that he has looked at the numbers and, while they are promising, they are not “make-profit numbers.” “They are break-even numbers,” he said. “So, if it’s to be sustainable, not like the initiatives that have come and gone, we need government support.” Glenn Cormier is the co-owner of the Bowen Island Pub. He says that the big hurdle for a taxi service is the provincial licensing that caused the previous attempt to fail. It also narrows down options for use. “Normally with a taxi, it requires provincial licensing but when we started doing our research into a taxi service, we found that provincial licensing can be bypassed if the service is run through the municipality,” he said. Cormier explained that if the municipality determines that there is a need for transportation services, it can define the service and license it locally, without going through the province. “We decided that this would be a much better option for meeting Bowen’s needs because with provincial licensing, you get stuck in a pigeonhole,” Cormier said.
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On Wednesday, March 6, there was a bit of excitement in the air with the arrival of the film crew working on Bowen Island for the TV series The Killing. Cast and crew were spotted at work on the ferry, on the municipal dock and at the Union Steamship Company Marina. Debra Stringfellow photo
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