Starting next week, the public will be able to share its vision for May Day with the New Westminster school district.
Trustees approved a motion at the school board’s education policy and planning committee meeting Tuesday night to circulate a questionnaire asking the community for its thoughts on the three recommendations made by the May Day task force in October.
The recommendations are as follows:
- For 2018 and 2019, May Day celebrations be school-based celebrations and the school district support the 150th anniversary of May Day in 2020.
- The district should discontinue the practice of selecting a Royal Suite. The board should support transferring responsibility for the Royal Suite to a community organization.
- The board should endeavour to transfer responsibility for organizing the May Day celebration in Queen’s Park outside of school hours to a community organization that could then decide how best to continue the tradition. In this way, for example, those community members who are particularly keen to keep alive the institutions of the May Queen and Royal Suite could formulate their own selection methods, costume requirements and ceremonial duties.
“What we are doing and what I have been tasked with is to go out and share the task force’s recommendations with the public,” New Westminster school district superintendent Pat Duncan told the Record.
“The intent is that the board will get the consultation surveys back and go from there.”
As it stands now, there have been no decisions made on the future of May Day. The status quo will remain for the 2018 ceremony until the school board makes a decision, but it won’t be making a decision until after the results of the community questionnaires are presented, Duncan said.
“There’s been no secret meetings; there was no decision to end May Day, anything like that – that’s not on the table,” he added.
The surveys will be sent home with every student in the district next week and will be available online at newwestschools.ca starting Monday, Nov. 13.
The questionnaires are open to anyone – no matter if you have a child in school or if you live in New Westminster.
