Cumberland BC: The Cumberlander Articles Section
Uncategorized · 3rd June 2008
Editor, with permission.
By Lindsay Chung - Comox Valley Record - May 30, 2008
They pounded drums, sang and held up colourful signs.
Gathering in front of the school board office before the board meeting Tuesday night, Wachiay Friendship Centre supporters, holding signs stating “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it,” “Our school is our community” and “Don’t repeat history,” tried to make their voices heard, something they feel hasn’t happened in the process surrounding the proposed move of the Nala’atsi alternate high school program.
The Wachiay Friendship Centre (WFC) board of directors put forward a recommendation that the Aboriginal Education Council (AEC) proposal to relocate the Nala’atsi program, which was on the meeting’s agenda, be tabled and sent back to the AEC for full council discussion.
Trustees voted to defer the recommendation to move Nala’atsi and write the AEC asking to be invited to its next meeting Tuesday.
With the drums pounding in the background, WFC executive director Wedlidi Speck, board president Cora Beddows and Nala’atsi student Tabatha Webber told the school board they were left out of discussions about moving Nala’atsi out of the WFC and into the district-owned Assessment Centre.
“I want to emphasize it is not our intention this evening to diminish the character of the AEC, of which we are a member, or the school board of education,” said Speck. “Rather, we are here to tell our story, to state our case for inclusion and to be involved in the future of the Nala’atsi program.”
When Beddows wrote a letter to superintendent Jordan Tinney regarding Nala’atsi about a month ago, it was because she had heard about the proposal for the first time, she said, adding Wachiay should have also been involved in discussions about the $8,000 a year the AEC pays the WFC in rent.
“We are terribly insulted by that. We think because we are very involved in the future of our youth and the Nala’atsi program because it’s housed there at Wachiay, we should have been part of the discussion, and the money thing should have been discussed with us, too.”
Webber presented the board with a petition signed by 285 people to keep Nala’atsi at the WFC.
“We, the students, are deeply offended you claim to act on our best interests without knowing what they truly are, without even asking us,” she said. “If this is about money, then it’s a sad day when $8,000 means more to you than the lives and educations of my fellow students and myself.”
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PHOTO by lindsay chung
They pounded drums, sang and held up colourful signs.
Gathering in front of the school board office before the board meeting Tuesday night, Wachiay Friendship Centre supporters, holding signs stating “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it,” “Our school is our community” and “Don’t repeat history,” tried to make their voices heard, something they feel hasn’t happened in the process surrounding the proposed move of the Nala’atsi alternate high school program.
The Wachiay Friendship Centre (WFC) board of directors put forward a recommendation that the Aboriginal Education Council (AEC) proposal to relocate the Nala’atsi program, which was on the meeting’s agenda, be tabled and sent back to the AEC for full council discussion.
Trustees voted to defer the recommendation to move Nala’atsi and write the AEC asking to be invited to its next meeting Tuesday.
With the drums pounding in the background, WFC executive director Wedlidi Speck, board president Cora Beddows and Nala’atsi student Tabatha Webber told the school board they were left out of discussions about moving Nala’atsi out of the WFC and into the district-owned Assessment Centre.
“I want to emphasize it is not our intention this evening to diminish the character of the AEC, of which we are a member, or the school board of education,” said Speck. “Rather, we are here to tell our story, to state our case for inclusion and to be involved in the future of the Nala’atsi program.”
When Beddows wrote a letter to superintendent Jordan Tinney regarding Nala’atsi about a month ago, it was because she had heard about the proposal for the first time, she said, adding Wachiay should have also been involved in discussions about the $8,000 a year the AEC pays the WFC in rent.
“We are terribly insulted by that. We think because we are very involved in the future of our youth and the Nala’atsi program because it’s housed there at Wachiay, we should have been part of the discussion, and the money thing should have been discussed with us, too.”
Webber presented the board with a petition signed by 285 people to keep Nala’atsi at the WFC.
“We, the students, are deeply offended you claim to act on our best interests without knowing what they truly are, without even asking us,” she said. “If this is about money, then it’s a sad day when $8,000 means more to you than the lives and educations of my fellow students and myself.”
______________
PHOTO by lindsay chung