Friday - Jan. 26, 2024 - Chilliwack's new school

🌧 High 9C

Good morning!

I’m not the world’s biggest podcast lover but I do have a favourite podcast, and I think you might have heard me mention it before. It’s Ologies, a show where the host interviews different scientists about their unusual and/or niche specialities. Most of the scientists are American but one recent and really cool episode examined ethnobotany, or native plants, and featured Leigh Joseph, an ethnobotanist and Squamish First Nation member. Find it here.

– Grace

Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

NEWS

Chilliwack's new school will be
at capacity on opening day

If you build a new school, the students will come.

In fact, they’re already here—often studying in portables stacked outside existing overcrowded schools.

In 2026, when a shiny new three-storey elementary school will open in the outlying Chilliwack community of Rosedale, school officials expect to immediately fill the new building to the brim with 500 students. And within a couple years, schools in its neighbourhood will be just as overcrowded as they are today, according to figures from the school district.

The school is a case study of how the region’s growing population is exceeding the ability of school officials and the province to keep up with growth in the Fraser Valley.

• Today, Tyler writes about how one school shows the challenge of meeting increasing enrolment demand.

Related

Need to Know

⚠ A floodwatch has been issued for the northern part of the Fraser Valley; a high streamflow advisory is in effect for the southern part of the valley [CTV] / You can see a map here [BC River Forecast Centre] / The Nooksack is expected to rise but not flood [NOAA]

💰️ A Langley man has been accused of stealing millions from his employer [Langley Advance Times]

🌬️ The FVRD will hold a public hearing Feb. 6 about cannabis production rules in the district [Abbotsford News]

👉️ A notorious gangster wanted for a Langley murder dropped his appeal of his extradition from the US [Vancouver Sun]

🏘️ Mission has restarted its secondary suite program [Mission Record]

⏰ The Aldergrove border crossing’s shift to round-the-clock operations has the support of local businesses [Langley Advance Times]

➗ About 40% of Chilliwack students are having trouble with math [Fraser Valley Today]; but they’re not alone—math and reading scores are dropping across the country [CBC]

➡️ A delegation asked Mission city council to call for a ceasefire in Gaza [Mission Record]

🥒 The second phase of a food recycling program will run in the District of Kent [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

🌴 Escape to Thailand and leave the cold weather behind, with non-stop travel from YVR.*

*Sponsored listing

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The Agenda

Long-term plans for new Langley City buildings begin

Langley City has started planning for two very different buildings: one a new building for the RCMP department, the other a new performing arts centre.

The RCMP building became a priority last year after Langley Township announced that it wanted to split the jointly run detachment that also serves Langley City (we reported on that decision here). The current RCMP detachment is located in the Township and non-Mountie staff are employed by the township, though Langley City pays a share of their costs.

But although the police split must still gain provincial approval and take years to finalize, Langley City is planning to buy land for the building next year, according to new budget documents.

Meanwhile, the city’s new financial plans confirms that land behind city hall is slated for a new performing arts and cultural centre—an amenity that community groups have been advocating for for at least a decade. 

After buying the land recently, buildings on the lots were demolished a few weeks ago.

But actually building the centre, though, could take even longer.

“While this dream may not come to fruition for a decade or more securing the land was important,” a note attached to the financial plan said. Four years ago, Langley City staff said that finding land for the centre within the city limits was one of the hardest parts of the project.

The plans for a performing arts centre aren’t off the ground yet. The land behind City Hall will be used for parking (and, potentially, recreation opportunities) in the meantime. 

💾 Flashback Friday

Building schools was a much simpler process in the early days of the province—but the schools themselves were a lot simpler, too. Pictured above is the first Peardonville School in 1897, one year after it opened. The school was small and rebuilt only 10 years later into a larger one-room schoolhouse. The funding for the construction came mostly from fundraising dances and concerts held by the community.

🗓 Things to do

🎵 Folk concert: Musician John Bowman and special guests will play a show in Mission’s Coffee House Concert Series on Saturday, Jan. 27 at the Clarke Theatre. Details online.

🌃 Twelfth Night: Bard in the Valley presents Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at the Fort Langley Community Hall from Jan. 25 to Feb. 4. Details online.

📚️ Literacy Day: The Clearbrook Library and The Reach Gallery Museum are celebrating Family Literacy Day in Abbotsford with free activities, treats and prizes on Saturday, Jan. 27. Details online.

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Catch up

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