WEDNESDAY
June 17 2015 Vol. 106 No. 47
ANALYSIS 5
Lululemon vs. FIFA FEATURE 12
Luxury condos for locals SPORTS 24
Rugby player on the rise There’s more online at
vancourier.com MIDWEEK EDITION
THE VOICE of VANCOUVER NEIGHBOURHOODS since 1908
Off to UBC at 15 Students benefit from advanced program
Cheryl Rossi
crossi@vancourier.com
ITALIAN DRIVE Il Centro executive director Mauro Vescera and a friend danced in the sun while the Cory Weeds Quartet kicked off their set during Sunday’s Italian Day on Commercial Drive. The annual event attracted thousands to the Drive. See story page 8. PHOTO REBECCA BLISSETT
VSB needs new chairperson NPA’s Christopher Richardson resigns Cheryl Rossi
crossi@vancourier.com
The Vancouver School Board will elect a new chairperson June 24. The NPA’s Christopher Richardson announced his resignation as chair at the start of Monday evening’s board meeting. Green Party of Vancouver vice chairperson Janet Fraser assumed the role of interim chair. Nine trustees form the Vancouver School Board: four from the NPA, four from Vision Vancouver and the one Green. Fraser is considering whether she wants to be chair. “I was a definite no when I was first elected and now, I’m not sure,” she said. “I’ve been in the job for six months and
I’ve seen Christopher in the role as chair and I’ve learned a lot about the way the board works and part of that is seeing how hard it is to be chair.” Vision Vancouver’s Patti Bacchus, who served as chair for six years, said she isn’t sure whether she wants to resume that role. “There are pros and cons and I would have to talk to my caucus about where we see we can be most effective,” she said. “I certainly have enjoyed being out of the chair. The last six months [have] given me a little more freedom in terms of being able to speak out in terms of advocacy towards government and that has been helpful… What is best for the district needs to be the next question. We have some huge challenges coming up and we need to really think through what that’s going to take in terms of leadership in the chair to navigate the next steps.” The Ministry of Education released its
Considering your
Next Move?
special adviser’s review of VSB finances, asset management, administration and governance June 9. The report includes 52 recommendations for potential changes that EY, formerly Ernst and Young, says could save the board $250 to $750 million in one-time savings and $72 million in annual savings. The report suggests with 10,000 empty seats, the district could close up to 19 schools. A Vision Vancouver motion to extend a moratorium on school closures until December 2018 was defeated by the four NPA and lone Green trustee in January. Bacchus said she respects Richardson’s decision to resign. “There have been a number of incidents that have been challenging that I would say he made the right decision, but it’s up to him to really explain why he did it,” Bacchus said. “It doesn’t surprise me and I think it’s appropriate given what has occurred.” Continued on page 12
In September, Rex Chen will reach two milestones. He’ll enroll as a university student. And he’ll turn 15. Chen is one of 38 students enrolled in University Transition Program located at UBC. He and other academically gifted students in the Transition Program complete high school in two years. In January, Chen saw a paper he wrote about his science project published in Harvard’s Journal of Emerging Investigators for middle and high school scientists. For his class science project that won a silver medal at the Greater Vancouver Regional Science Fair, Chen designed a solarpowered desalination plant that could also serve as a waste-water facility. Chen’s father, a physics professor in Taiwan, discovered the journal and encouraged him to submit a paper. Dr. Lucy Shepelev, physics and math teacher at the Transition Program, tasked Chen and his physics classmates to choose a scientific paper on a topic they didn’t understand and to find a professor at UBC to participate in their presentation. “Networking is important,” said Chen, who spoke to the Courier with his coat zipped to his chin, ready to bike the sea wall around Stanley Park with his recreation class after his interview Friday. Chen said recreation class offers needed stress relief from his studies. Absent from the Transition Program are physical education, drama, art and music courses. But a student was leaning on a locker, strumming an acoustic guitar in the entrance to the Transition Program’s second-floor space in a building surrounded by tall trees on West Mall at UBC when the Courier visited. The Vancouver School Board and UBC initiated the University Transition Program in 1993. It’s funded by the Ministry of Education as a Provincial Resource Program and half of the students accepted are from outside Vancouver. Continued on page 7
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