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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2014
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TWO NEW WESTMINSTER SIXTH GRADERS TAKE ON THE HEALTH SYSTEM
Brothers say girls-only vaccine is unfair BY CORNELIA NAYLOR REPORTER editorial@royalcityrecord.com
Two New Westminster middle school boys don’t think it’s fair they’re not getting the same free protection against the cancer-causing human papilloma virus (HPV) as the girls at their school. Twin brothers Elliot and Nelson Roy were handed notices last week about upcoming vaccinations for Grade 6 students at their school, École Glenbrook Middle. The two 11-year-olds noticed the HPV vaccine was being offered to girls only. Most of their male classmates didn’t make much of it, they said, and others thought boys couldn’t get the virus, but the Roy brothers knew better because they had watched a documentary on the subject a short time before. “It showed how deadly these sicknesses can be,” Elliot told The Record. “I went to sleep that night kind of thinking, ‘Why are we not getting this? This is a life-saving vaccine.’” Nelson agreed. “We heard what it could do to people
Vaccination equity: New Westminster twins Nelson and Elliot Roy want free HPV vaccinations for boys, too. Now in B.C., only girls are vaccinated for free. Cornelia Naylor/ THE RECORD
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Report: Archeological dig needed on school site BY NIKI HOPE REPORTER
nhope@royalcityrecord.com
A recent consultant’s report says an archeological dig is the only way to determine the extent of the old cemetery on the New Westminster Secondary School site. School board chair Jonina Campbell said the report provides more information on the complicated site but won’t stifle progress on the decade-long bid to get a new high school in the city. “I have been assured by our secretary treasurer and staff that this will not hold up the high school project, that the infor-
mation in here is information that helps us understand the site better,” Campbell told The Record. “We are in conversations and moving forward on the project, but this information is not going to hold up the building of the high school. Once we know the footprint for the new school, we ask for designs for that footprint.” Secretary-treasurer Al Balanuik told The Record he could not “definitively” say that Golder Associates’ findings will delay or alter the high school replacement project. “I can’t say definitively,” Balanuik said. “My sense is that information is important, so this is additional information to inform
decisions regarding the capital project. … It is part of larger package of information that been compiled and shared with respect to the site.” The fact is the New Westminster school district isn’t footing the bill for the project that is estimated to cost $100 million to complete and is one of the most complicated and costly school replacement projects in the province. It’s up to the provincial government what it’s willing to shell out and what it’s willing to risk for the school that parents in the city have been begging for more than a decade.
The Record contacted the Ministry of Education for a comment on the report and the project in general. The ministry received a draft document from the New West school board about the New Westminster Secondary School site, communications staff member Matt Silver said. Ministry staff are reviewing this draft and continue to work with district staff, he added. Meanwhile, Campbell is encouraged by the fact that the school district opened a new elementary school last month and has started construction on a new middle ◗School Page 10
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