Opinion: Is Vancouver planning for a no-kid city?

Conceptual artistic rendering of Olympic Village Elementary School. (Vancouver School Board)

Written for Daily Hive Urbanized by Jennifer Reddy, who is a Vancouver School Board trustee with OneCity Vancouver.

Many Vancouverites are marking the end of summer: it brings the PNE, cooler weather, and a return to school — where many kids will be looking forward to seeing their friends.

But for many parents, especially new parents, it’s much more complicated. For them, September brings kindergarten lotteries, the ever-increasing cost of school supplies, and the welcome relief of not having to plan endless activities for their children.

Moreover, in Vancouver, we not only suffer from a deficit of physical infrastructure to support kids and families, but we also suffer from a deficit of social infrastructure — there just aren’t enough kindergarten, childcare or before/after school care spots to go around.

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The cause is simple: Vancouver is growing and our supply of school spots is not. Far from building new schools, we’re selling off school lands, often in the very same places we are planning to build more and denser housing.

It’s happening all over the city. Take, for example, families in South Vancouver, who are facing the sale of already limited green space between Knight and Fraser streets — the south side of Fleming Elementary School.

Or the families at Joyce Street and Kingsway, who have recently learned of a “consultation” on the permanent closure of Carleton Elementary.

What about the families at Boundary Road and 22nd Avenue, who have just learned about the subdivision and possible sale of 4,000 square metres (43,000 sq ft) of Bruce Elementary?

These land sales have real consequences. Kids are not just losing spots in schools, they’re losing play space. And with the closure of neighbourhood schools, parents are losing vital community anchors, where we could build childcare and after-school activities — if only we had the will.

The ABC-majority Vancouver City Council is planning for much more housing — this is welcome. But the ABC-majority Vancouver School Board (VSB) is beginning to dispose of school land.

It’s been a while since I was in school. But as any kid who goes through our excellent public system could tell you: these numbers just don’t add up. With the implementation of the municipal government’s Vancouver Plan, neighbourhoods like Joyce-Collingwood will see more people, not less. This means more families, and more kids, and requires intentional planning for schools and childcare to meet their needs.

Schools across this city are far from being underused, many are absolutely packed. As Parent Advisory Council Co-Chair JL Luna said, “Bruce Elementary is at 100% capacity. K-3 students come to Bruce from Collingwood Annex, raising the school capacity. We’re full, any way you cut it.”

It’s even worse in high-rise neighbourhoods. Our dense neighbourhoods have seen growth in populations of both families and children. Much ink has been spilled about the need for a school in Olympic Village. But there is also a need in the West End, where the school board years ago sold off land that was used to build the Sheraton Wall Centre.

Had we built a school instead — even as part of a mixed-use development — families in the West End would not be on waitlists or in kindergarten lotteries. Instead, this vibrant, bustling neighbourhood — where we continue to see growth — would have its own neighbourhood school.

It’s a simple premise: where we own public land, we should build on it in the public interest.

This means more than grocery stores and coffee shops. This means childcare. This means neighbourhood schools. This means services available for the community, today, tomorrow and into the future.

Communities are densifying — in South Vancouver, in East Vancouver — and they are the same communities that are fighting to keep their schools open. It is not too late. As school trustees, our job is to hold school lands in trust for future generations and ensure that our infrastructure serves kids in every neighbourhood.

The ABC-majority school board still has a chance to shift direction, preserve public lands, build neighbourhood schools — and build a city where children can live, play and thrive.

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