Help at the Highschool

In Aug 2011 the people living off the laneway above Argyle High school hosted a meeting in the school library to discuss some of the challenges faced by the neighbours. Since the students can no longer smoke on school property groups of youth have been congregating in the nearby laneways. These groups can become rowdy and sometime the behavior is disruptive. Drug deals and fights have been observed and sometimes the smoke has a rather odd smell. For families with young kids this is even more of a concern. Other issues raised we the amount of litter and the crowds of students spilling onto the roadways and blocking sidewalks. Several people raised concerns about the elementary students being forced on the road son their way to Lynn valley School

The meeting was well attended by our local MLA, the 3 school administrators, several school board members, the RCMP and several folks from North Vancouver district. After discussing the challenges faced by everyone involved ( funding, staff availabily etc...) several actions were agreed upon: The RCMP would observe the crowd and develop a plan to deal with the drug sales. The School administration would stress the need for student leadership and more neighborly behavior. The administration would spend more of their supervisory time in this laneway area during problem times. The District would examine opportunities to clean up the laneway and make is less "private' they would also look at the pedestrian safety issue. The neighbour agreed to try to build positive relations with the students involve and would organize a clean-up/face lift of the laneways to demonstrate their care for the local environment.


Most of these action have been taken or are underway. I was really impressed with the response of the school adminstrators who not only had to take o these action but also start this school year with the labour dispute. To me this whole event was an example of the type type of partnership we want to see across the community.

As these type of issues are a regular part of living next to a high school more ideas are needed to help improve the situation. if other parents have ideas or experience please let us know.