Wednesday - Jan. 15, 2025 - Ombudsperson launches exclusion probe

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Do you want to waste some time this morning? Of course you do. Last week, my kids introduced me to Neal.fun, a website with a handful of games and “other stuff,” perfectly suited to wasting some time. The kids are partial towards Infinite Craft, a game-ish thing in which you combine different elements to make other things. It is addictive, if a little mind-numbing. I may have previously mentioned The Deep Sea, a tour of the ocean’s depths and the things that live there, but I didn’t realize at the time that there was an airborne equivalent, Space Elevator, that allows you to scroll through the sky and learn about what you might find 2,800 or 28,000 metres above the earth.

– Tyler

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FVC Perspectives: A new year dawns with pessimism

As the new year settles in, many FVC readers say they are feeling worse off financially and more concerned about global politics than they were a year ago.

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• Today, we have our readers’ thoughts on 2024, and their prescriptions for what their local municipality should do in the coming year. 

Related

Need to Know

👉 A Langley student says she has faced repeated racist slurs at her school [Global]

🚨 A Mission woman visited the local Urgent and Primary Care Centre only to be told to go to a walk-in clinic; she couldn’t get an appointment and died the next day [Mission Record]

⚖ A trial has begun for a Chilliwack man charged with stabbing a 64-year-old Mission man to death in 2022 [Mission Record]

💰 Langley Township might have to spend more than $5 million to connect a road to a larger thoroughfare in Surrey [Langley Advance Times]

⚽ A Chilliwack Christian school is seeking approval to create a sports field on nearby Agricultural Reserve land [Fraser Valley Today]

⚖ Two men convicted of torturing an Abbotsford man during a 2023 home invasion have been sentenced to three more years of prison time [Abbotsford News]

👟 Chilliwack’s West49 outlet in the Cottonwood Mall will be replaced by a SoftMoc shoe store [Fraser Valley Today]

🐟 A Langley volunteer injured a knee in a local ravine but says helping with the return of fish to Yorkson Creek makes the ordeal worth it [Langley Advance Times]

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The Agenda

Ombudsperson to probe school exclusions

BC’s Ombudsperson has launched an investigation into school exclusions—the practice of telling some students they can’t attend school because of their behaviour or because of a lack of resources.

In recent years, parents have been increasingly raising the alarm that schools are excluding students from school, sometimes with little notice to parents. Last year, The Current reported that a lack of educational assistants in Mission was prompting the district to increasingly tell parents to keep their kids at home rather than sending them to school. Despite the complaints from parents, the Mission school district wasn’t keeping track of the frequency of such exclusions.

Although other school districts were also dealing with shortages in education assistants, the Langley and Chilliwack school boards said they hadn’t had to send students home because of a lack of support workers. However, in 2023, The Current spoke to a Langley parent whose daughter had initially been told she couldn’t take part in a field trip to Cultus Lake Waterpark because of staffing issues.

In a press release announcing the investigation, Ombudsperson Jay Chalke said his office would investigate the depth of the problem across BC.

“Our office has received complaints from across the province about children, including those with disabilities, being excluded from school with little or no instruction,” he said. “Children have limited options to address unfairness in their education and school environments. By examining this issue we can make recommendations to support the ministry and school districts in meeting their inclusive education commitments and obligations to all students.”

Students and caregivers wanting to share their experience can fill out a confidential questionnaire here.

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🗓 Things to do

Lightning musical: The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical comes to Chilliwack's Hub International Theatre from Friday, Jan. 17 to Sunday, Jan. 26. (There is a preview night on Thursday, Jan. 16.) Details and tickets online.

Milli Vanilli: Milli Vanilli and 2 Unlimited perform at Abbotsford Centre next week. Tickets online.

Embroiderers meet: The Fraser Valley Needlearts Guild meets at the Mission Library Thursday at 5:30pm. Details online.

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