TUESDAY DECEMBER 1, 2015
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SILVER AT POPEYE’S
HOME TO SING AT CHRISTMAS
Local bodybuilder competes at Hard Rock Casino event
Singer-songwriter Beth Anderson back from Nashville for the holidays
A32
A26
LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD IS . . .
Seeking payback
Board says teachers, staff wasted time on new system J.R. RARDON
reporter@pqbnews.com
Teachers and support staff throughout School District 69 have spent valuable time through the first three months of school dealing with shortcomings of B.C.’s new online student information system, school officials said. And now the SD69 Board of Trustees wants some payback. During their regular meeting last week at the board office in Parksville, trustees unanimously approved a motion that would urge the Ministry of Education to seek a “resolution with compensation” from the software’s developer and use that compensation to “address unanticipated costs” to school districts. “These people got $95 million of our taxpayers’ money, and the fact is they handed us a diesel Volkswagen computer program that isn’t doing what it’s supposed to do,” trustee Barry Kurland said during last month’s meeting, when he sought direction to draft the motion. “It raises the question, ‘What are they going to do about it?’” At issue is the new MyEducationBC student information software program, contracted by the Ministry of Education from Fujitsu Consulting (Canada). The program, which replaces the BCeSIS software, is being introduced to school districts across the province in a staggered rollout. Immediately upon its implementation in Parksville Qualicum this September, however, MyEducationBC proved all but unusable as teachers, support staff and building administrators reported inability to access the system, dropped or missing information and other snags. See HUGE IMPACT ON MORALE, page A8
JOHN HARDING PHOTO
After gathering Sunday at the Parksville Community and Conference Centre, about 100 people marched along the streets of the city to the waterfront in a call for action on climate change issues.
PARKSVILLE GATHERING AHEAD OF PARIS TALKS
Marching for climate justice JOHN HARDING
editor@pqbnews.com
About 100 people gathered and marched in Parksville on Sunday for climate justice, part of a global effort ahead of the Paris talks this week that will involve 150 world leaders. Before hitting the streets with signs on their way to the waterfront, the crowd listened to a variety of speakers at the Parksville Community and Conference Centre urge action at home and abroad. “It seems like people are waking
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up,” said Brian Pasquill, the president and CEO of a company (Recap Power Works) that offers renewable energy solutions. “Awareness is starting to happen — people care and now we have the technology to do it.” Pasquill spoke about things people can do in their own homes to save energy, including the use of LED lights. “We have to start in our homes with our own energy consumption,” he said. The Town of Qualicum Beach’s director of planning, Luke Sales, also
urged people to do what they can in their homes and lives. “At a personal level, there’s a lot we can do,” he said. Sales pointed to transportation as “the No. 1 challenge we have,” citing statistics that show 60-70 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions come from fossil-fuel-burning vehicles. He said politicians have “competing priorities” and need to hear from the public that combating climate change is a priority. See MP CALLS, page A4
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