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SS - your comments on the attendance of City Council at the meeting we 'right on'! Why are they getting involved in cross-jurisdictional issues of a we/they nature. This whole ploy (as you describe it) shows even more why we need to be one Langley at the governance level just as our School Board, Police force etc. serve all the citiznes of the Langleys. City of Langley students attend schools throughout the District and Twonship students attend Stafford - get realistice the City has no ownership of any one school and therefore should not muddy the waters by trying to sway the vote just because it is 'their' school! All schools in Langley are all of our schools!
The decision on French Immersion is staggering. Removing the program from James Hill, where students from all Murrayville, Peterson Road, Wix Brown areas had access to it boggles the mind. This was a great program with great staff! Where is the leadership in the area of languages at the Board Office - are they truly advocating for this valuable program?
Hi Susan, just found your blog - interesting commentary.
I have been literally biting my tongue since the meeting - I have an overwelming temptation to shout "WE TOLD YOU SO!"
When I first got involved in SD politics, it was as part of an innocent delegation trying to point out to the board that it didn't make sense to add more secondary seats in the central Langley area. We even offered to help set up a series of community meetings to get the public to work together to come up with a better solution. We notified the board that we were circulating a petition objecting to the addition of new seats when there we so many empty seats already.
Our first taste of the way this district does business was when they treated us rudely at that first meeting and then had Sup. Truscott have our petitions seized from school district properties. But even with the few days that they were out, we collected 150 signatures, on the petitions we did manage to hold on to.
It went downhill from there. Opposing ridiculous capital expenditures to expand the fundamental program was seen as opposing the program itself. We were accused of everything from hating fundies to not having our facts straight to being on the devil's side in a spiritual battle. I was even slammed at my church because somebody I was sitting next to at a board meeting (who I think was a union rep) was mistakenly thought to be from a group of neighbours that were opposing the conversion of the elementary school to a secondary.
My contact with the management and trustees has been one of the most distasteful, but eye opening experiences of my life. If this is the way all levels of government are run, I will never again believe a government report without researching the facts for myself and I will not expect that politicians are out for the good of all their constituents.
The good news, is that I believe that I have maintained my intergrity through all this. I only tried to point out errors and pitfalls, I have not lied, passed on facts that I have not personally researched and verified, nor treated others poorly just because our politics differ.
My last thought - the district might as well drop their transitions goal - it seems to be the last thing on their minds.
Why are the Langley City Council past & present desperately trying to keep Stafford open? What's the hidden agenda? 
How are you supposed to sell your city to prospective residents if you can't provide all the services a municipality is supposed to supply? Mayor Peter said that already. No hidden agenda.
Have you signed the petition? For more info and to sign online, go to:
members.shaw.ca/amalgamateschoolboard/
PETITION
To: Shirley Bond, Minster of Education
The Langley Board of School Trustees has been requested to begin a process of consultation and investigation with respect to possible amalgamation of the trustee electoral area for school trustees. To date, there has been no willingness on the part of the Langley School Board as a whole to bring this discussion to the table and to consult with its constituents.
We, the undersigned, having examined the facts available to us and considered the issues, believe that it is in the best interest of all Langley students to examine this option. We request that the Minister of Education, Shirley Bond, begin a process of consultation and investigation, and take the steps necessary to:
a. amalgamate the two (2) trustee electoral areas for the Langley Board of School Trustees AND
b. reduce the number of trustee seats from seven (7) to five (5),
as is provided for under Sections 30 and 176 of the School Act.
Shouldn't the question be what's the hidden agenda of the School Board? This is the second time in the past 5 years that the school board has contemplated reconfiguring HDS. They tried to put the fundamental program in Stafford but due to public outcry, the plan was nixed. Now $13 million dollars later, the fundamental program is a money pit and HDS numbers are projected to grow.
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