NEWS 3
Recovery Day festival set COMMUNITY 17
Coolest city ice cream spots
THINGS TO DO THIS WEEKEND
SPORTS 34
’Bellies on the brink
THURSDAY AUGUST 18, 2016
There’s more online at
NewWestRecord.ca
LOCAL NEWS – LOCAL MATTERS
Y O U R
H O M E T O W N
EDUCATION
Will new school be ready?
Bus pass cut means more hardship for city woman
Fraser River Middle School was delayed for a year, and now crews are hard at work to get it finished for September opening
By Theresa McManus
tmcmanus@newwestrecord.ca
Karla Olson is speechless – not because she doesn’t have the words but because she is fighting back tears – when describing her feelings about changes to bus passes for persons with disabilities. Earlier this year, the provincial government announced it was eliminating the annual $45 bus pass for people with disabilities and is increasing the monthly allowance for people with disabilities by $77 a month. A monthly transit pass is $52, which results in a $25 monthly increase to people with disabilities. “I guess my question is, is it a reasonable expectation that $25 will cover all the increases in costs that have been occurring over nine years to one’s basic living requirement?” said the New West resident. “It’s not.” According to the province’s website, beginning Sept. 1, people receiving disability assistance who have the “persons with disabilities” designation have the option of keeping a bus pass and receiving a $25 monthly increase or cancelling their bus pass and receiving a transportation support payment of $52 and a $25 monthly increase. While the government’s plan will result in a monthly increase of $25 to $77 a month, depending on whether individuals get a transit pass, Olson said it highlights the fact that people with disabilities haven’t had increases to their monthly rates for nine years and basic living costs continue to rise. Olson, who suffers from a number of chronic conditions and is in physical pain daily, said the smallest of things can put her into “crisis mode,” so she’s stressed about the impact of the changes that take effect Sept. 1. Continued on page 11
By Cayley Dobie
cdobie@newwestrecord.ca
HOT DOG IN THE CITY: Tiny, a 19-month-old New Westminster chihuahua, has it made in his shades, hanging out with his human companion Schaka Layton in Sapperton during a stretch of hot, sunny weather that is expected to last right through the weekend. PHOTO CORNELIA NAYLOR
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With three weeks left before students head back to school, the New Westminster school district has its fingers crossed its newest school will be ready to go. Crews at Fraser River Middle School are putting the final touches on the new school, including paving and landscaping the site so it’s ready come September. “The goal is to have it done.We have three weeks, and the plan is to have it all done.These guys work miracles, but right now I’m being told by my facilities director that we’re going to be very close to finished,” district superintendent Pat Duncan told the Record. The new middle school was originally scheduled to open last September, but in January 2015, the district chose to postpone the opening date by one year to ensure the school would be completely ready for students when it opened. Duncan said the district’s main goal is to avoid a repeat of what happened when École Qayqayt Elementary School opened in September 2014. Construction at the new downtown elementary school was incomplete when school started. It was
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