North Westside Communities Association – 2016 AGM
To-night 73 residents and members of the North Westside Communities Association met for the Annual General Meeting and election of Officers. This is twice last years turnout and a larger crowd than we’ve seen in the last five years. See the North Westside web site for details and election results.
Of interest was the motion requesting support from the membership for the North Westside Governance Committee and their request during the RDCO Board Meeting of August 22 – Agenda and Presentation. Listen to the Board audio of the NW Governance Committee Presentation and the 1.5 hours of Board Q&A following their Presentation. The Resolution passed unanimously and will be reflected as so in their Meeting Minutes which I will take to the next Board meeting on September 19 and to the meeting with the Minister.
It is at this Monday, September 19 2016 Regular Meeting of the Board that a Motion of Support for a Governance Study in the North Westside will be put forward. This is a very important crossroad in the process as support is required from the RDCO Board to move forward. With the September 23 meeting set with Minister Fassbender this Board support is critical to securing the Ministers support and Provincial funding for the Governance Study.
After the NWCA adjourned their meeting I was approached by a dozen or more residents that have an issue with the school busing to School District #22 in Vernon. Apparently children not already students in District #22 will now be required to attend school in District #23 many as far as Rose Valley. This is extremely inconvenient for both child and their parents. Not just the distance between Vernon and West Kelowna separates the family. I have been told bus times for pick up and return are different from District #23 & #22 as are school breaks, holidays and of course any extracurricular activities the kids are involved in. This is an incredibly insensitive and impossible situation to put these young rural families and their children through.
Some particular elements of this situation seem unusual. Firstly I have been assured by the Clark Constituency Staff on behalf of our M.L.A. that if your child is a student of District #22 they will remain so until graduation. Any additional children or new residents of the community will be directed to District #23 Schools in West Kelowna. To those with children already in Vernon Schools this will see your youngest going to Kindergarten (7:00 AM Pickup until 5:00PM Return) and the rest of their schooling in West Kelowna. Another item is busing to District #23 comes with a $250. per year bussing fee whereas the busses to Vernon have no surcharge. Although classroom space seems to be available to North Westside residents space on the busses is not.
North Westside Parents and School District #22 need to meet and see if there is some middle ground or compromise that they can reach for the kids. Possibly some grandfathering by family rather than individual students might relieve the pain of those families already with kids in the District #22 system. Another point is payment for bussing, if your children are required to use the District #23 school bus system they will have to pay the $250. annual busing fee anyway so maybe offering this same funding to District #22 might help to solve what seems to be a busing problem not a classroom space problem. Just a thought.
