Fate of yellow schoolhouse at General Gordon Elementary in hands of single trustee

The fate of a more than 100-year-old yellow schoolhouse on the grounds of newly rebuilt General Gordon Elementary school in Vancouver rests in the hands of a single, government-appointed trustee.

On Wednesday, DianneTurner will receive a report at aVSB committee recommendingthat the structure be demolished to make way for more playground space and the widening of a nearby laneway.

'Not often what the community wants'

"Often in my experience that's what the staff will recommend, often times it's demolish it, others times it's sell it, sometimes it's close it, sometimes it's just get rid of it," said former VSB chair Patti Bacchus. "And as trustees you go wait a minute, you know that's the easy thing to do but is it the right thing to do? And, it's often not what the community wants."

Bacchus was fired along with eight other trustees by the provincial education minister inOctober2016. They were replaced by government-appointed Turner, who will run the board on her own for one year.

The fate of the yellow schoolhouse, is an example, Bacchus argues, of the lack ofaccountabilityto communities on issues around schools.

"It really kind of sums up the need for locally elected government to make decisions, that are very local decisions," she said.

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Bacchus said her board also faced a staff recommendation to demolish the structure in March2016, but sought to find creativeways to save it, such as having a third party revitalize the buildingand use it for community programming oras a youth centre or museum.

But since then, thosefour proposals have allfallen through according to the VSB report.

"The building is in very poor condition and past its useful life," it said. "There would need to be asignificant investment to make the building reusable."

VSB staff also say that:

• The site is too small to meet Ministry of Education standards.
• Community members want it to be made into an outdoor play space.
• A$180,000 credit for VSB is being held by the city for completion of the widening of a nearby lane.

The report also questions the heritage value of the structure, although, "it would be appropriate to recognize the building for futuregenerations through installation of a plaque."

Bacchus says if community members want to try and save the building, it will be up to them to attend Wednesday's committee meeting and also contact Turner and the province about their wishes.

"Really these are school board decisions being made on their behalf ... while they don't have school trustees they can go to, they can go to the appointed trustee and to the provincial government," she said.

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