The Editor,
Re. "For sale: school land" (The Tri-City News, Sept. 13).
I feel compelled to write regarding School District 43's recent proposal to sell off some property at Parkland and Porter Street elementary schools. I feel such a strategy is shortsighted.
I have three children enrolled in Porter Street elementary and cannot say enough of how positive the experience has been for my children, both educationally and socially.
Putting private homes directly onto school grounds would drastically alter the character of Porter Street. Such a proposal is alarming because it exposes an attitude within School District 43 that school property is merely a commodity with purely monetary value and nothing more. It is ironic that the school board chose to call this the "land disposal" proposal. "Disposal" has connotations of waste, of choosing to use something once rather than enabling something to be of use to future generations.
This proposal also raises concerns of what will be the next item to be parcelled off and sold? Naturally, developing school property, once enacted, is irreversible. I believe future Porter students and their families would regret such a move if it were allowed to occur.
In light of the current epidemic of childhood obesity, we should not be reducing the amount of land our children have available to them for exercise and/or activities, whether during school or after, organized or otherwise.
As a concerned parent, taxpayer and Coquitlam resident, I implore everyone to do all hey can to prevent this proposal from coming destroying school property.
Philip von Stefenelli, Coquitlam
