Fraser Institute results
The Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan research and educational think tank, has recently released their annual elementary school rankings. The rankings provide a “detailed report on how each school is doing in academics compared to other ranked schools,” according to its website.
In 2016, Squamish elementary schools have received an average score of six out of a possible 10. Mamquam Elementary received the lowest score at 4.9 and Garibaldi Highlands Elementary received the highest at 6.5.
All schools, with the exception of Squamish Elementary, which saw an increase to 5.8, saw their ratings decrease from last year.
The Fraser Institute creates their annual report card using data from the Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA), an annual province-wide assessment of British Columbia students› academic skills in Grades 4 and 7.
The FSA looks at foundation skills in reading comprehension, writing and numeracy.
Beautifying Squamish
Public spaces throughout Squamish will soon be transformed into permanent works of art thanks to a new public art project.
The Squamish Murals Project will see installations in four Squamish locations: the BC Hydro box at Loggers Lane and Finch Drive, the pressure reducing valve (PRV) station located at Guilford and Clarke Drive, the Squamish Public Library children’s area walls and three vacant walls at Brennan Park Recreation Centre.
Submissions will be reviewed by members of the public art select committee, a group of local artists and residents, as well as the mayor and District staff. The murals are slated to be complete by May.
Save the date for the BAG
Get a sitter and have a musical night out.
The father of the Sea ‘T’ Sky Big Band, Michael Perkins, is at the Brackendale Art Gallery on Saturday (Feb. 25) with the jazzy Justin Glibbery Quartet.
The toe tapping gets underway at 8 p.m.
Response to EAO on WLNG
The District of Squamish has drafted its response and questions for the Environmental Assessment Office about Woodfibre LNG environmental assessment amendment to change to air-cooling from sea cooling.
The air-cooling apparatus was described by District staff as similar to a giant car-radiator that will sit on the roof of the plant with electric-driven fans.
The response was discussed by council members at the committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday afternoon.
Council members decided to request from Woodfibre LNG a 3D rendering of the air-cooling apparatus to show how visible it will be during the day and at night, a comprehensive visual of the impact of the Woodfibre LNG plant including BC Hydro lines for the plant and the FortisBC pipeline, also associated with the liquefaction and export facility.
Council also requested information on how potential noise from the air cooling apparatus will impact the Little Brown Myotis bat, which is considered a “species at risk” and is apparently present at the Woodfibre LNG site.
New greenhouse gas impacts of air cooling, how that impacts its industrial eDrive tax rate subsidy from the province and its socio-economic impacts were also requested by council members.
Council also wanted the decibel levels predicted by Woodfibre LNG to be set as a limit, as well as more information on the frequency of sounds from the air cooling.
Woodfibre LNG received its provincial Environmental Assessment Certificate in October of 2015. Based on the Squamish Nation Environmental Assessment, the company switched to an air-cooling method rather than the more controversial sea-cooling method, which could have caused damage to marine life in Howe Sound.
The District will have a chance to make further comment to the EAO once the responses to the input from Tuesday are returned, according to District staff.
Contracting for WLNG
A company has been contracted to provide construction-related support to the front-end engineering and design (FEED) services commissioned by Woodfibre LNG, it was announced last week.
The engineering firm, Fluor, was subcontracted by JGC America, which has a FEED contract with Woodfibre LNG.
The work is for design, not construction.
“With our industry-leading modular design and construction approach, Fluor will work closely with JGC to develop a project execution strategy that delivers capital efficiency and schedule certainty to Woodfibre LNG,” said Pierre Bechelany, senior vice-president of pipelines and LNG for Fluor, in a news release.
