Write now to make a difference for all North Vancouver children!

A new policy regarding covered play areas is being written by the North Vancouver School District right now. Today's decisions will effect generations of kids. It's time to act! 

Provide your input while the policy is being reviewed. We’ve made it quick and easy to send a letter to the North Vancouver School District, MLAs and Ministry of Education by providing email addresses and an optional starter template. 

Our kids should have options to stay dry. Write to save our covered play areas!

Covered Play Areas are a necessity in rainy North Vancouver

To our dismay, we have been advised by the North Vancouver School District that they plan to re-classify and re-name the policy that is under review from “Covered Area Projects” to “Site Enhancements”; lumping covered areas in with “outdoor classrooms, playground installations, gardens, and public art”. 

As we have pointed out, many feel that covered areas are a necessity (an essential component of the school building given our rain-forest climate), not an “enhancement” to be grouped in a policy with gardens and public art. Lumping covered areas with “enhancements” seems to already defeat any potential policy toward including them as an essential component in schools. 

The motion that the North Vancouver School Board approved in Nov. 2012, stated that they will “forward the issue of covered area projects to the Policy Review Committee for the development of policy and to the Presidents’ Council for future advocacy”. We urge the NVSD to create a policy, with public input, that specifically addresses covered areas only (in the two existing scenarios): 

1.    Covered Area Policy for new school builds (not an additional capital project but within the school build/renovation capital budget): Covered areas should be included in new school building plans from the beginning so they can be included in the funding estimate and capital fund planning with the Ministry (the Ministry of Education Area Standards state that covered play areas may be included within a school build budget). The costs are significantly lower if done in the building process rather than after-the-fact AND as mentioned they can be included within the building budget.  

2.    Covered Area Policy for the schools that have had them dismantled or not included in their build (now an additional capital project because of the NVSD decision to eliminate those covered areas): the omission/removal of covered areas was a decision made without public consultation, we need a policy that helps remedy the results of that decision by building and funding covered areas for those schools that no longer have them.

We encourage the policy review committees to really consider the students and to gather and consider public input to create policies that meet the needs of the children. The decisions made today will affect thousands of children for many generations to come. 

Option 1 Design approved, but School District will not fund

Members of Highlands Covered Area Committee & Highlands principals met again with the NVSD (North Vancouver School District) Finance & Facilities Dept. on April 2^nd. The NVSD approved Option 1 (see Highlands-Options), however they said they will not provide any funding (nor will they work towards sourcing any funding); Highlands’s students and their families would have to raise the entire estimated $150,000. We pointed out that we feel that the portion of the NVSD board approved motion (posted in our Nov. 30^th update) “the board will consult with the Highland Parent Advisory Council and staff to…develop a multi-stakeholder funding plan” has not been fulfilled.

Additionally, the onus is being placed upon Highlands’s families despite the fact that the NVSD saved $700,000 from the Highlands school build coming in under-budget; all whilst Highland’s parents were raising concerns regarding the need for covered areas (concerns raised frequently from the date the designs were revealed in 2006 through to today). We pointed out what an enormous undertaking it would be for Highlands’s families to raise $150,000; our HPAC simply does not have the funds and we would be challenged to garner the commitment to raise and spend that large sum of money (it would take years of hard work to raise those funds and many feel that covered areas should be included within the school build budget, rather than funded by families).

We also reiterated that given our rain-forest climate, we view the NVSD decision not to provide covered areas as a building deficiency; rather than an exclusion of a “nice to have feature”. Schools should be built to serve the students in the climate they live in; where it rains a lot and children are required to go outside daily, offering shelter options is a necessity. Children’s needs for fresh air, exercise, and outdoor learning experiences are at stake when you take away outdoor covered area options.

The BC Ministry of Education’s school building “Area Standards” supports the inclusion of covered areas in school builds in areas of high precipitation (so they can be funded within the school capital budgets as they have been in the past). We encourage the BC Ministry of Education to ensure that the standards are upheld. The fact that the decision to include covered areas rests with each school district seems to defeat the reason the standards were created in the first place.

The NVSD is currently reviewing the policy regarding covered areas as noted in the final portion of their approved motion “to forward the issue of covered area projects to the Policy Review Committee for the development of policy and to the Presidents’ Council for future advocacy.” Our covered area committee feels that the next step is to raise community awareness of the issue of covered areas for all North Vancouver Schools and encourage members of our community to provide their input toward the policy decisions. We would like to see the NVSD policy set to include (and fund) covered areas in future school builds as well as a policy set to include (and fund) covered areas for the schools that had their covered areas taken away (either dismantled or not included in their new build).

At some point, a decision was made to stop building covered areas, even to dismantle some existing ones. We recommend a high level of public consultation and student consideration as the policies regarding covered areas are reviewed. We have learned that over the past ten years, a number of North Vancouver schools have made requests for covered areas; clearly there is a need. We encourage parents from all North Vancouver schools and members of our North Vancouver community to write to the NVSD (the Superintendent & the School Board) with your concerns regarding the need for covered areas and your recommendations as they create policies concerning them. 

In a recent survey conducted by Highland’s PAC asking families “what are some key things that HPAC members can do this year to most benefit our school?”, “work on creating a covered play area” came in at a close second to the top request “support and help develop our school learning environment”. We have had many people throughout our community tell us that covered areas are a “no brainer” given our climate. We encourage the North Vancouver School District to create a policy, and find a means to ensure covered areas for all schools.