North and West Vancouver school boards could be sued for roughly $2 million combined if a North Vancouver lawyer succeeds in launching a class action over summer school fees paid in B.C. since 2004.

James Poyner said the province deemed the fees illegal in 2007. At that time former education minister Shirley Bond cited the School Act, stipulating B.C. students must not be charged for courses essential to graduation.

Bond ordered the return of summer school fees paid in B.C. that year.

Poyner has said the 2007 refund is not enough and that school districts should refund families for any illegal fees paid since 2004 under a six-year limitation.

Currently Poyner represents one North Vancouver family in a civil action filed in B.C. Supreme Court against the Vancouver board of education.

According to court documents Sarah and Ali Agha Riazi were informed their son, identified only as “KR,” needed remedial science and English summer courses before advancing past Grade 9 at Lord Byng secondary.

The Riazis paid $274 for each course and Poyner is seeking the return of those fees. Poyner also hopes to see the case certified as a class action some time this fall.

That means he may also take on North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Coquitlam, Richmond, Surrey, Burnaby and Abbotsford school boards, he said.

“We say that it (any summer fees dating back to 2004) is contrary to the provisions of the School Act . . . which provides that courses and materials charged for graduation must be provided for free of charge by the school district,” Poyner said.

According to Poyner, the North Shore school boards could owe over $2 million combined if a class action succeeds.

Amended budgets for the period in question show that the summer school fees collected by North Vancouver school board totalled roughly $1.9 million.

In West Vancouver that number was about $388,000 according to budget information.

A representative from the North Vancouver school district was unavailable for comment by Outlook press time, but West Vancouver superintendent Geoff Jopson said his district will keep tabs on the Riazi suit.

“I think all school districts will be (watching the suit),” he added. “But it’s really hard to speculate on what (the implications for West Vancouver schools) might be.” He said it would be “premature” to comment further “other than to say that when the Supreme Court judgement came down with regard to school fees, districts began to comply immediately and continued to do so.”

On top of expanding the suit to encompass other districts, lawyer Poyner also told The Outlook that he may try to attack other fees charged by public schools.

“There’s a lot of them (fees) and a lot of them are unlawful. Eventually we may go after those as well.”

A website for Poyner’s firm, Poyner Baxter LLP, lists class actions against Sun Life Assurance Company, Bausch & Lomb, Canada Life and Manulife Financial “on behalf of tens of thousands of class member clients.”

In 2006, Poyner sought a class action suit against the provincial government over fees, but the court ruled it was the responsibility of school districts and not the province to charge school fees.

Poyner said of his plan to launch the class actions, “We’re taking a different approach now and we’re suing the various school districts where summer school fees have been charged.”

A representative for the Vancouver school board said the board couldn’t comment as the matter is currently before the courts.

kmcmanus@northshoreoutlook.com