N E W
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2012
W E S T M I N S T E R
INSIDE: Fundraising for cancer foundation ◗P11
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◗ THE MATH BROUHAHA
Parents ask for math audit BY NIKI HOPE REPORTER
nhope@royalcityrecord.com
The district parent advisory council is asking the Ministry of Education to audit math marks at New Westminster Secondary School. The district-wide parent group sent a letter to Education Minister George Abbott on Friday calling for the province to intervene in the ongoing math saga at the high school. “We are not sending this because we want our district to get into trouble,” district parent advisory council chair Wendy Harris, who wrote the letter, told The Record. “We want to get to the bottom of this.” The math issue surfaced when “We want to get NWSS parents Lisa to the bottom of Chao and Kal this.” Randhawa started talking about WENDY HARRIS their probParent lems with a math teacher at the high school, whose class they believe had an unusually high failure rate. The parents felt they were being ignored by the district and eventually went to the media. Chao filed a freedom of information request to gain access to math marks at the high school, and she was alarmed by the failure rates she found. The letter says that DPAC shares those concerns and decided an audit was necessary to rebuild “confidence” in the district. Earlier this year, the district bumped up the grades for students in the math class in response to the Foundations of Math 11 issue, but that move didn’t appease the parents. The DPAC letter says the ◗Math Page 8
Jason Lang/THE RECORD
Fun for kids of all ages: Melanie Gunderson and daughter Sara enjoy a teeter-totter ride with Maddie and Candice Gunderson at Ryall Park in Queensborough, where the Megan’s Place Tiny Tot Playground Picnic and Children’s Festival is taking place on Sunday June 24 from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The playground has recently undergone a $135,000 upgrade.
Remembering Megan with joy BY THERESA MCMANUS REPORTER tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com
City residents are invited to celebrate the reopening of a tiny tot playground created in memory of a local youngster. Three-year-old Megan Gunderson was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in front of her Queensborough home in June 1996. Following her tragic death, the community rallied together to raise close to $100,000 for new playground equipment in her memory. “It’s a place where we really feel Meggie’s always thought of,” said grandma Dolly Gunderson, a longtime Queensborough resident. A toddler playground seemed like a fitting memorial for the young girl, who loved her daily visits to Ryall Park with family members. The Gunderson family normally has a playground cleanup of Megan’s Place
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Megan had been gardening with her mother, who ran inside to get a hat to protect her blonde head from the sun. It’s believed the little girl then saw a van that looked like her father’s and ran out towards the vehicle, probably thinking her dad was coming home. “The van pulled over,” Gunderson said. “The witness said she looked out and took off.” To date, no one has been charged in connection to the hit and run, and the police file remains open. Prompted by an anonymous tip, the police and Megan’s family made a public appeal in the summer of 2010. They asked the tipster and the driver to come forward and identify themselves. A woman in her mid to late 30s with brown hair was seen driving a 1990s red Dodge Caravan or Plymouth Voyager at the time of the accident.
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every June, but this year they’ll be celebrating the refurbishment of the playground. “It is quite beautiful,” Gunderson said. “We are going to celebrate our park, our children, our future.” The city included $135,000 in its 2012 budget to completely renovate Megan’s Place. The community is invited to attend the Megan’s Place tiny tot playground picnic and children’s festival on Sunday, June 24 from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The free event will feature live entertainment, interactive fun and games, cake, a speech by Les Gunderson (Megan’s grandpa) and a reading of a poem by Grace Coleman. “Every year my sister writes a poem for Megan,” Gunderson said. “She will do another one.” The festival is being put on by the Queensborough Community Centre and the Queensborough special programs committee.
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