The five elementary schools put on the chopping block earlier this year to help offset a massive Vancouver School Board budget shortfall should remain open, according to a senior staff report released Sunday.
The report comes after three months of public consultations including meetings, online feedback forums and an independent public survey.
It recommends a moratorium on "any school closure process" until March 2012 and advises the board to halt closure discussions until June 2011.
"More needs to be done to vitalize Vancouver public schools as central elements of our neighbourhoods and communities," it reads. "More can be done if there is a will to work actively with other agencies and jurisdictions to seek shared possibilities."
The five schools facing closure at the end of this school year are Champlain Heights Annex, McBride Annex, Sir Guy Carleton Elementary, Sir William Macdonald Elementary and Queen Alexandra Elementary.
The schools were announced in October after the board whittled down a list of 11 potential candidates in the wake of an estimated $17-million budget shortfall. Their closure would save the board roughly $1.5 million.
Vision Vancouver school trustees Patti Bacchus, Mike Lombardi and Ken Clement announced they will vote against the closures Sunday.
"We went through a very intense and meaningful public consultation," Bacchus told ctvbc.ca. "We heard loudly, clearly and almost unanimously at our hearings that the communities did not think closing schools is the right solution."
Bacchus says the board heard several intriguing suggestions that could help offset the cost of keeping the schools open, including campaigns to boost enrollment and renting unused space to community groups.
"We can make these communities vibrant as opposed to boarding up their schools," she said
NPA trustees spoke out against the report on Sunday afternoon, accusing Vision of wasting $100,000 on a "meaningless public consultation process."
Trustee Ken Denike slammed the report for not offering an alternative solution to the budget shortfall, and Carol Gibson accused Vision of pandering to the public to gain polling points.
"You can see why they're loathe to make any tough decisions before the 2011 election," Gibson said in a release.
Bacchus denied that the consultation process was politically motivated and said board members gained "terrific ideas" from the parents and teachers involved.
"If the NPA doesn't think it's worth consulting the public and just wants to go ahead and make decisions on their own, fine," she said. "That may be their way of operating but it's certainly not ours."
The report will be presented to the board on Tuesday. A final decision on which schools, if any, will close is expected later this month.
The full report can be viewed at the VSB website here.
