Cam I Am

It’s not very often that I actively oppose something, but today was different.

Today, Colleen, the kids and I went to a rally held today in opposition to the school closure process that School District 42 (SD42 – Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows) is undertaking.

The purpose of the rally was very simple – make it clear that we aren’t happy with the speed of the process.  In the Cornerstone report, that the district refers to, it states that SD42 should take 1-2 years to go through the process..  it’s been 3 months!  

People who spoke included the President and Vice-President of the Teacher’s Association, a couple of students from Davey Jones Elementary in Pitt Meadows, and even one of the school board trustees! (By her own admission, her colleagues are not impressed with her going against the grain!)

It was nice to see a unified approach to opposing this process..  Up until now, at public meetings and forums, there has been people saying things like “School X is better, so you should close School Y”.   That kind of mentality isn’t helping anyone…

The sad part is that only about 50 people showed up.  From my daughters school we saw only two other parents that we recognized.  You would think that since Riverside is one of the schools that is being considered for closure, more people would take action. Colleen and I ensured that we signed the petition to slow the process down and evaulate things better, such as the statistics error that Colleen pointed out:

For example, in the document titled “School Closure Process, Housing development statistics and projections” it states that the population of children, aged 0-14 in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows has declined by 3722 between 2001 and 2006. In reviewing Stats Canada figures for this same period, I found that the population of children in these areas, aged 0-14, has declined by only 145 (and of these, by only 20 youth in Maple Ridge).

The whole rally lasted for 30-40 minutes overall.  We’ll find out what the school board is planning on Monday at the ”findings” meeting.  The public can attend, but not participate.

Here’s Lizzy and her protest sign:

And Lizzy signing the poster:

Prepare for a good long read!  While this will mean little to nothing for a lot of people, it means everything to anyone with kids in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows… 

Over the last few weeks, my wife has been going to meetings about the proposed school closures in SD42 (Maple Ridge (MR) & Pitt Meadows).  While I haven’t been able to go to these meetings (someone has to watch our kids!), she and I have been talking about the process and posibilities, and digging up information to present (and combat) the school board with.  (Click on Keep Reading for more!)

Continue Reading »

After a lot of consideration, I’ve decided to change the look of my blog..  But of the templates available, I had a hard time choosing the one I wanted..

First of all, I wanted one that still allowed me to use the picture of Megan and the duck in the header.  A lot of the ones that I found either didn’t have a banner picture option, or simply wouldn’t allow me to crop the picture the way I wanted..

Secondly, change is good!  While I was content with the layout of what I had, there were a few changes that I wanted to make.  Firstly, I wanted to better highlight another page on my blog “Canadian Recalls“.  Aside from a little thing down the side of the old layout, there was no way with the previous layout that I was using that I could highlight when changes were made to it..

Thirdly..  well..  I guess I just thought it would be nice to try something different..  it goes back to the “change is good” idea, I suppose..

Anyhow, I hope that everyone is having a great day..  I’m trying to have a more positive outlook on things..

I’ve decided to devote a page to recalls. This can be found at (http://blog.eagleinbc.com/canadian-recall-list/).  As I’ve stated in a previous post “Getting Tired of Recalls“, I think that the recall situation is getting out of hand.

So, this is for recalls that I come across.  By no means is anyone to assume that this is a complete list.  Also, this will be mainly a Canadian List (But very often, Canadian/USA ones are the same).

If you have one to add, please feel free!  My main source will be from Health Canada, but I may use others as well..

Overall, I think that awareness is key.  The more sources that list the info, the more likely that it is that more people are going to  get the message.

Thanks!

Cam…

(Please note that this list is effective as of today, October 9, 2007.  I may refer back to older ones though)