VANCOUVER, B.C. – The Green Party of Vancouver’s candidates for school board have announced their commitment to maximizing underutilized school space as part of their 2018 platform.

“We need to use school facilities and grounds to support the local community,” says incumbent Green trustee Estrellita Gonzalez. “We need space for more before and after school care, hubs for artists who struggle finding affordable areas to work, spaces for citizens to learn new skills, and fields for sports teams. This will allow schools to truly be community hubs, and could also help generate needed revenue to support our students.”

If elected all three Vancouver Green trustees are committed to exploring opportunities to work with daycare providers, other levels of government, and partner agencies to expand childcare spaces at school sites. They also commit to support use of school spaces outside school hours by neighbourhood organizations and the community by working closely with the park board and through developing online bookings for school spaces and fields.

During her term as Green trustee Estrellita Gonzalez introduced a motion for staff to develop a Master Joint Use Agreement that would be used to define the terms of use by the City or the Park Board of VSB owned properties and facilities, including, where appropriate, a revenue sharing component. The motion was passed unanimously by the board.

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More information:

District Properties and Facilities used by the City of Vancouver or Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation motion by Estrellita Gonzalez (Page 9)

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