North Vancouver School District officials told parents angry at the prospect of an elite hockey academy being established at Seycove Secondary in Deep Cove that plans for the hockey academy aren’t a done deal.
“It’s not a done deal. We haven’t signed any papers,” said Christie Sacré, chair of the North Vancouver Board of Education, this week.
Sacré said the school district will continue to consult with parents and seek information before finalizing any agreement with Spartan Sports Group, which runs the West Van Warriors elite hockey academy, currently based at Sentinel Secondary in West Vancouver.
Sacré said school district officials will have another face-to-face meeting with parents at Seycove April 1 to share information and hear concerns.
She added it’s likely school district staff will make a recommendation about whether to go ahead with the hockey academy at a public meeting after that, “and we’ll have a discussion at the board table.”
Earlier this month, more than 100 parents turned out to a parent advisory council meeting to voice concerns about the prospect of the elite hockey academy moving to Seycove.
Since then, the school district has set up an online portal for parents to register their comments and has pledged further consultation.
But a number of Seycove parents say they’re worried the consultation process is just window dressing.
“We’re still concerned,” said Tree Cleland, a parent at the school.
“It seems like they just want to rush this in.”
Cleland said her fear is the message to parents on April 1 will be, “Yes, we listened to your concerns. Yes, we’re going forward.”
North Vancouver school trustees endorsed the plan to take on the elite hockey academy “in principle” at their regular board meeting Feb. 25.
The program would add 76 elite hockey players aged 13 to 17 to the school’s current enrolment of 521 and with that an estimated $700,000 in provincial funding into school district coffers. Students – who come from all over the Lower Mainland – would attend classes at Seycove in the morning and do on-ice training in the afternoon.
But Seycove parents say they’re worried about that many out-of-district students overwhelming the small school and are concerned that problems which led to the West Vancouver school district opting not to renew the hockey academy could be repeated at Seycove.
Parent Paul Kevener, whose son is due to start at Seycove in September, told the board he is concerned about the academy being elitist in terms of who is admitted into the program, the cost of the program and the fact girls can’t take part. Those are all “legitimate concerns regarding this academy,” he told the board.
Parent Craig Lundy said his son was kicked out of the hockey academy for complaining about bullying. “The problem isn’t the kids, it’s the culture from the people running the program,” he said.
Nathan Fischer, director of the hockey academy, did not reply to a request for comment by press time.
Last week, Fischer stated in an email there is “a lot of untrue misinformation and untrue comments” being spread about the hockey players.
Seycove parent Tiffany Britton told the board the consultation process so far has left parents feeling powerless to convey their concerns.
Robin Deleurme, president of the North Vancouver Teachers Association, said teachers also aren’t happy they weren’t told about the plan to endorse the academy in principle ahead of time.
“There are a lot of unknowns,” he said.
On its website, the North Vancouver School District stated it hasn’t been provided with information about any concerns stemming from the hockey academy’s tenure in West Vancouver’s school district, adding “There were no serious behaviour incidents reported in the five years that the hockey academy was at Sentinel Secondary school.”
The school district added there are currently 55 students at Seycove who don’t live in the catchment area.
If a final agreement is reached between Spartan and the North Vancouver School District, the program could start at Seycove in September.
