Fighting for Public Education: Suzie’s School Year in Review

We just wrapped up the final Vancouver School Board meeting of this school year and so I wanted to share a little Year-in-Review – because it has been a very busy year fighting for you and public education. 

The end of the school year means report cards, and I do have to do a little report card on ABC. I’m afraid it is more like a D, E, or F. The truth is they have failed to fight for public education, just like they have failed to fight for affordability in Vancouver. 

This year, out of 44 board meetings this year, 26 were held in private. To me it’s fundamentally wrong to be holding more than 60% of our meetings in private. As a public servant I want to expand public participation. I’ve continued to advocate for opening up the doors of the School Board to the public. I will keep fighting for that. 

But before we get into all the shortcomings of ABC, I first want to share some of the good news from the past year. 

One of the best things about this job is the opportunity to learn from the grassroots. This year, we held two Town Hall meetings with the community in Kitsilano and then in South Vancouver. 

We had some important victories this year. I brought forward motions that passed to finally install Automated External Defibrillators in all public schools and district buildings. The decision to put these life-saving devices in our school facilities came after years of public pressure and organizing by students and the public. 

Installing these AEDs is not just about preventing tragedies like the tragic death of a student at Pt Grey Secondary – it’s about the safety of our teachers, support workers, staff, and all community members who use our facilities. Two motions passed unanimously; one is to advocate to the provincial government to fully fund and implement in all school districts and the other to have the BC School Trustees Association do the same.

I’ve also continued my advocacy for a universal school meal program in all our public schools. COPE has been at the forefront of advocating for Food Justice in schools for decades. At City Council, with the added pressure of having COPE’s Sean Orr at the table, we saw ABC reverse course and restore the City grant for school meals. 

At the School Board, former ABC Trustees are now speaking in favour of universal school meals programs. We’re heading in the right direction on this issue! Earlier this year, I was honoured to co-present at a Universal Food Program town hall organized by NDP MP (and now interim federal leader) Don Davies. 

Now, some of things I have been fighting against – and the reason I am giving ABC such a bad grade on their report back. 

This year I continued to work with the Fleming Elementary community to object to the outrageous giveaway and loss of their two full basketball courts at the corner of 49th and Knight. The land where the courts are now fenced off was acquired by Vittori Developments for a 99-year lease for just $8.5 million. The District can only use $86,000 per year – and the money can only be used for capital expenditures. I brought greetings to a youth basketball tournament organized in March that helped bring attention to this loss of public space and social infrastructure. 

On a related issue, I have been fighting against the School Board declaring school fields as effectively private land – at times even fencing it off to prevent community use. This is an equity issue. Many of the lower-income neighbourhoods of our city also have less green spaces and fewer safe spaces for children to space. Community access to school fields must be protected, and I will keep fighting on this issue. 

The International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years programs at Elsie Roy, Lord Roberts, and King George were discontinued. Parents and alumni voices were not heard. I voted against it. 

Programs designed to safeguard inclusion and safety were underfunded in the 2025-26 Budget, which I voted against after my amendments were defeated by ABC, ex-ABC, and Green School Trustees. 

I fought back against the 25% wage cut for bus drivers, which resulted from the District abandoning its Living Wage policy. A Budget amendment to reverse this wage cut from Trustee Jennifer Reddy was also defeated by ABC, ex-ABC, and Green members of the Board. 

I stood up for public engagement with School Board in all its forms. After 270 letters from parents advocating for more money allocated for inclusion was called "spam” by ABC Trustee Chien, I joined many others in calling out this egregious disrespect of concerned parents. Trustee Chien did kind of apologize to parents, but then still went ahead and presented a motion for revising school district guidelines for more respectful and less disruptive stakeholder communications.This is part of a general pattern of disregard for democracy and its norms that we have seen from ABC. 

I pushed back hard against cuts to hours and staffing of the Strong Start Program which is funded by the provincial government (Early Years program 0-5 years). Funding has been frozen by the Province since 2016 – this is unacceptable. We need more Trustees willing to directly challenge systemic underfunding of public education. 

My motion to restore funding so Resource Teachers are replaced on day one of an absence failed. This means that our most needy students are often going without the support they need. 

And, finally, my motion to restore the Safe and Caring Schools staffing failed.

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Thank you to all our teachers, staff, parents, and the amazing students of this District. 

I’ll be continuing to work with colleagues in COPE and other community leaders this summer. In July and August, our Education Committee will be meeting to work on policy and plan for 2026. 

Thank you all for following, and wishing you all a wonderful summer!