School District proposes closure of Vancouver Westside elementary school

Queen Elizabeth School Annex at 4275 Crown Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

For the fourth time in about 15 years, the Vancouver School Board (VSB) is proposing to permanently close Queen Elizabeth School Annex, located at 4275 Crown Street on Vancouver’s westernmost border with Pacific Spirit Regional Park.

VSB has begun a public consultation process on the potential closure of the elementary school by June 30, 2023. This latest process was triggered by a decision by VSB’s elected trustees earlier in January 2022.

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However, this is not a neighbourhood catchment school, as it sees students from across the city through VSB’s choice program.

This public school provides French immersion programming to students in kindergarten to Grade 3. From the annex, for continuation into grades 4 to 7, students transfer to either Jules Quesnel Elementary or Queen Elizabeth Elementary, which are both located nearby.

Queen Elizabeth School Annex 4275 Crown Street Vancouver

Queen Elizabeth School Annex at 4275 Crown Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Currently, the school has a low enrolment of 71 students, which the VSB says has led to high operating costs of $11,288 per student — 40% greater than the provincial per student allocation of $7,885.

VSB states enrolment at the school has fallen by 8.4% over the past 10 years, and this trend is expected to continue.

Furthermore, the 1964-built school building — complete with six classrooms — has a high seismic rating, and an estimated deferred maintenance cost of $2.6 million.

If the school is closed, VSB would save between $150,000 and $300,000 in operating costs annually, and existing students would be transferred to either Jules Quesnel Elementary or Queen Elizabeth Elementary.

VSB indicates there has been “serious interest” from Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique, the French-language public school board in BC, to acquire the site through long-term lease or sale. This could provide significant revenue to support other capital projects, such as building a new school, or expanding and performing seismic upgrades on an existing school.

The potential of using the school sale revenue to build the new elementary school at Olympic Village is specifically highlighted by VSB.

An online survey on the closure proposal will be available April 11 to 29, 2022. School trustees are expected to make a decision on the school’s future in a public meeting on May 30, 2022.

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