Vancouver elementary school parents, school boards back in BC Supreme Court

A years-long battle between a group of parents in Vancouver’s Dunbar neighbourhood and two school boards was back in the BC Supreme Court on Friday.

The Queen Elizabeth Annex (QEA) Parents Society has been arguing that the Vancouver School Board’s (VSB) decision to shut down the 70-student school was made in “bad faith” and should be reversed.

The small elementary school was set to close on June 20, 2023. The plan was that the district staff would let families of the current QEA students know where their children are for the new school year.

VSB Trustee Suzie Mah said that she and her counterparts had been put in a difficult position as the city moves to densify neighbouring areas in the coming years, while the school board asserts student numbers are declining.

“The discrepancy between the school district’s projected enrollment data and the Ministry of Education’s projected enrollment data does not give me confidence that I’m making the right decision when it comes to whether or not our district will need humiliating in the future,” Mah said.

The province-wide French immersion school board has also been trying to acquire the former QEA site. The VSB had been trying to seek funds to build a much-needed school in the Olympic Village area.

The QEA parents suggested on Friday that the board sent parents on a “wild goose chase” to fight the closure when it had already made up its mind based on securing funding for the Olympic Village school.

“I have concluded that this application for judicial review must be dismissed because none of the grounds of review have merit.  The respondents’ argument that the petition should be dismissed on the ground of delay is moot,” the judge said in the court case.

The judge sided with the school boards and said the parents’ allegations were “meritless” and the case was dismissed.