Ministry monitoring Greybrook situation
Email
Print
Letter to Editor
Share
Updated: November 19, 2009 4:51 PM
The B.C. Ministry of Education has its eye on Greybrook Academy after parents launched a legal petition against the Pitt Meadows independent school in October.
A spokesperson with the ministry said the Office of the Inspector of Independent Schools is currently monitoring the school.
“Anytime a situation arises that has the potential to affect students learning, it’s a concern to the ministry,” said the ministry spokesperson.
Although the school is independently operated by the Vancouver International Primary and Secondary School Society, it receives close to $300,000 in public money annually in the form of operating grants from the provincial ministry.
The school’s parent advisory council launched a legal petition with the B.C. Supreme Court last month, seeking a hold on the school’s accounts after Greybrook founder Nigel Turner proposed parents pay a $12,000 bond to help keep the school operating, according to Turner’s court affidavit.
In her ruling, Madam Justice S.K. Ballance placed stipulations on the school’s operating accounts, ordered both sides to participate in “good will meetings to discuss the ongoing operation and future of the school.”
The school held a closed meeting with parents on Nov. 12 “to discuss Greybrook’s future,” according to an email sent to the school’s parents.
The school’s administration has refused to divulge details from the meeting.
Since the school opened its doors in 2005, Turner has loaned close to $5 million of his own money to keep the school afloat, according Turner’s court affidavit.
Nicole Roy had to pull her kids from the school after tuition increased by close to a third.
“It’s a great school, with great staff,” she said. “My kids loved it there, but that was significant for us.”
