Suspect caught Police arrest man for allegedly assaulting dog, owner. Page 8 guest comment Turban ban in soccer out of line with Canadian values. Page 12 Students rewarded Hard work results in scholarships and bursaries. Page 3
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SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 2013
VOL. 25, NO. 20
NANAIMO
Parents emotional over school closures
I
firST pubLic forum to discuss facilities plan focused on Cedar. By Jenn m c garrigle ThE NEwS BULLETiN
More than 400 emotional parents, students, district employees and community members showed up to the first public forum Wednesday evening to discuss Nanaimo school district’s proposed 10-year facilities plan. The draft plan calls for major changes, including school closures, rebuilding facilities and adding enrichment programs to a number of schools. The first forum at Cedar Secondary School focused on proposed changes in the Cedar area: closing all four elementary schools in the region, moving secondary students to John Barsby Secondary School and making Cedar secondary an elementary school with an arts enrichment program. Kathie Aarsen, who has two children at Cedar secondary, worries that shipping secondary students to Barsby could lead to more dropouts. “If you’re being shipped in, you’re not connecting with anybody,” she said. “You miss your bus, you miss school, you become disinterested, you quit.” Stacey Nielsen, who has two children attending South Wellington, felt that trustees were not really listening or looking at the social aspect of community schools. Her family lives near the old Waterloo school site, but she knows the parents in South Wel-
lington because that’s where her children go to school. If the plan is approved, her children will be split up, with one attending North Cedar and the other attending Woodbank, she said. Aarsen said that Barsby is already in the optimal size range and there still aren’t enrichment programs available to those students, so she is skeptical that more opportunities would arise if Cedar students attended that school. Wendy Wise, co-chairwoman of the North Oyster parent group, said parents at the school understand the district can’t run a bunch of half-empty buildings, but they want more than one elementary school in the area and they feel that it is more logical to send North Cedar and South Wellington students to North Oyster because the building is in better condition. “If one of their schools was in better shape, we wouldn’t be adverse to moving there,” she said. The proposed timeline is to close South Wellington and North Oyster schools in June, with students moved to Woodbank and North Cedar; relocate secondary students to John Barsby in the fall of 2014; and move all elementary students to the Cedar secondary site in the fall of 2015. The meeting started with a greeting from Snuneymuxw First Nation Chief Doug White III, who told the crowd that the plan was developed without engaging with the Snuneymuxw and that the band hopes to secure federal funding to build an elementary school in the area. u See ‘FORUMS’ /4
Toby Gorman/The news bulleTin
A passerby walks around barriers put up to protect people from the potential of a building collapse on Skinner Street Thursday. Since early May, portions of the roof have been collapsing, leaving cement block walls without support. The city approved a remediation order on the property Monday for the Langley-based owners.
Decrepit building forces street closure By ToBy gorman ThE NEwS BULLETiN
The city is warning pedestrians to steer clear of a decrepit downtown building that is in danger of falling to the ground. For the past month the former Bay Theatre at 91 Chapel St. has had portions of its roof collapse, the latest on June 5, causing building inspectors concern that the exterior block walls are no longer supported and could come crashing down even in a stiff breeze. To protect residents, the city has closed a portion of Skinner Street. A section of sidewalk as well as part of an adja-
cent parkade on Chapel Street have also been closed as a precaution. “We believe there is potential for [a collapse] which is why we’ve taken the steps to go ahead with those closures,” said Dale Lindsay, the city’s manager for building inspections. The city received an e-mail on May 8 from a worker in a nearby building advising that part of the roof had caved in. Further sections of the roof have caved in since, and on Monday city council gave the building’s owner, Langleybased Loft Ministries, 30 days to deal with the issue or have the city step in and do it for
them at owner’s expense. B.C. Hydro cut power to the building on May 8. It is likely the building, originally built in 1972, will have to be demolished, though under Section 72 of the community charter owners can also bring it back up to bylaw standards. City inspectors performed six inspections between May 8 and June 5, ultimately condemning it. On May 14, Steve Vantol of Loft Ministries retained a structural engineering company, Sorenson Engineering Associates, which reported back to him on May 24. u See ‘BUILDING’ /4
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