A few hundred people descended on New Westminster Secondary School Sunday afternoon to send a message to the Ministry of Education that they are tired of waiting for a new high school – they want one now.
“I think it’s showing that people in this community are really, truly fed up,” said Danielle Connelly, who organized the event, adding she and other parents won’t be satisfied until there’s shovels in the ground.
“Until there’s a commitment, we’ve kind of been conditioned to be skeptical.”
The Ministry of Education had initially told the school district it could expect final funding approval for the replacement high school last fall; then the approval date was pushed back to the new year; and more recently, Education Minister Mike Bernier has said funding will come in the “coming weeks.”
But that’s not good enough, according to those gathered at the high school Sunday.
Elizabeth Waddington’s husband graduated from New Westminster Secondary School more than a decade ago, and even back then there was talk about replacing the aging building.
“It’s been about 15 years in the making, and in 15 years (my son will) be there, so I really would like him to have a new school,” said Waddington, who is a mother of two kids, ages two-and-a-half and two months.
Waddington, like many parents who turned out to the rally, doesn’t have any kids currently attending the school. Instead, she stopped by to show her support for the parents whose kids are at New West secondary and the staff, she said.
“We have a small community, so we need a large voice,” she added.
Also at the rally was New Westminster MLA Judy Darcy, Mayor Jonathan Cote, school board chair Jonina Campbell and fellow trustees, Casey Cook, Michael Ewen, James Jansen, Kelly Slade-Kerr and Mark Gifford.
Darcy, Cote and Campbell all spoke and shared their frustration with parents, promising they would continue to lobby the province to move the project forward.
Residents, meanwhile, were encouraged to sign a petition calling on the province to approve funding now.
“We’re just going to have to keep pushing people to sign the petition, write letters and hopefully, the treasury board will do right by New West and our kids,” Connelly said.
