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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2010
W E S T M I N S T E R
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◗ EDUCATION
◗ SAFETY IN THE CITY
BY NIKI HOPE REPORTER
Walk this way
Schools in the black nhope@royalcityrecord.com
The New Westminster school district seems to be clawing its way out of an almost $1 million deficit left over from the 2008/09 school year. According to the school district’s 2009/10 audited financial statements, the district has a $337,700 surplus from last year’s budget, though it won’t reap the benefits of that surplus because it must be put toward what’s remaining on an $889,300 deficit. The Ministry of Education allowed the district to run the deficit under the condition that it be paid back in three years. The district also put last year’s $200,000 surplus toward the deficit. But it hasn’t been easy to get to the point where it’s in the black. The district had to cut $3.1 million in jobs and services in order to achieve this year’s budget. “Everybody worked hard,” said secretary-treasurer Brian Sommerfeldt. “Dealing with the structural deficit was difficult for the board. It was difficult for the community. It was difficult for staff, who had to implement the budget.” The district’s other bottom-line boost comes from a surprising source – the school district’s controversial business company, which oversees a school in China. According to the business company’s audited financial statements, the overseas operation netted $347,000 last year – a more than 50 per cent increase over the previous year’s $157,365 profit. A ◗Surplus Page 8
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City charts the safest routes to schools BY NIKI HOPE REPORTER
nhope@royalcityrecord.com
Larry Wright/THE RECORD
Doing the legwork: Jenyfer Neumann is working on a map which will show safe routes to each elementary and middle school in the city. Here she checks out one route with her own children, Kale Neumann Dar, being carried, and Asha Newmann Dar, walking.
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What’s the safest way to walk to school? It’s a question the City of New Westminster wants to answer for residents with maps that outline the least-risky routes students can take to their local school under the Active and Safe Routes to School Program. “This was initiated by the city because its clients are everyone in the city, and that includes school kids,” said Coun. Bob Osterman, who chairs the city’s neighbourhood traffic advisory committee. The tragic death of an 11year-old sixth grader from École Glenbrook Middle School “reenforced” the need for maps, Osterman said. Christian Mesa was killed last spring on his bike while crossing the busy intersection at Sixth Avenue and McBride Boulevard on his way to school. The incident rocked the school, and, as a result, parents from Glenbrook had been calling on the city and the school district to undertake a review of traffic safety. The city started planning the safe-walking route maps a year ago, working with consultants from the non-profit organization, Hub for Action on School ◗Maps Page 8