VSB retools inner city program, ends hot lunches for some
Posted March 11, 2014 12:48 am.
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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The Vancouver School Board has approved the Inner City Schools Program revisions, which means big changes for hot lunch and other programs affecting students in need.
Board Chair Patti Bacchus says there will now be a three-tiered approach to Vancouver’s 15 inner-city schools to deal with kids facing child poverty. “The first tier will have six schools and they will receive the highest level of support. The second tier will receive a fairly high level of support but not as complete as the first tier, the third tier just some.”
The changes mean there may not be a universal lunch program for all students in inner-city schools. “In schools where we know there are some students who are affected by poverty and may need the food support but not higher levels, we will do a bag lunch program for students who need it,” says Bacchus. She assures “some schools will have a breakfast and a lunch program where we know there’s a very high concentration poverty, and in some cases there will be a lunch program where it’s on an as-needed basis.”
Bacchus says changes are aimed at better supporting kids in need with the funds the board has available. “It’s a cost neutral proposal so it’s not adding or taking away funding, but it really was a re-visioning of how we support students who are affected by poverty. As the city shifts and populations shift the manifestations of poverty do change as well.”
It’s not just lunches involved in the plan. Schools that have higher poverty levels will get more special education assistants, support workers, out-of-school programming, and other resources. Some of the current programs for inner-city schools are as old as 25-years, and Bacchus says they wanted to make sure there were no gaps or overlaps and the new approach will help bring those into line.
“We have two pools of money. We have CommunityLINK funding which comes from governments specifically to target students who have different vulnerabilities and are affected by poverty. We also allocate a portion of our operating budget to what we call our inner cities schools program,” Bacchus explains, adding a far greater level of resources is needed in addition to a provincial poverty reduction plan.
BC and Saskatchewan are the only provinces without plans addressing child poverty, with BC in the top spot across the country when it comes to the number of kids in need.
Bacchus didn’t explain which schools fall under what tier, but says changes won’t take effect until the next school year.
