The statistics are startling.

The number of vulnerable Tri-Cities students is on the rise and climbing quickly.

The social service index shows a 19-per-cent jump in the number of children and youth who were in care or whose families were on income assistance between 2007 and 2009.

Similarly, a 2010 study of local kindergarten students shows a 43-per-cent increase in neighbourhood vulnerability rates since 2004. Likewise, in a 2010 study of Tri-Cities Grade 4 students, 27 per cent reported low health and well-being.

School District 43 assistant superintendent Julie Pearce said the 2011 Child Poverty Report Card, produced by youth advocacy coalition First Call, also mirrors what's happening in the district.

"B.C. has the highest rate of working poor - that's poor children living in families where one parent does work full time," Pearce said at Tuesday's school board meeting.

"You've got mom and dad . They're doing the very best they can and they're not able to make it above that poverty line."

The highest-risk families, Pearce said, are recent immigrants. According to the report, the poverty rate is nearly 50 per cent for families that arrived in Canada between 2001 and 2006.

"Even though they're skilled workers coming from their country, there's no jobs here for them. They're living with relatives," Pearce said.

"It's a different picture . The face of the Tri-Cities is changing."

These changes are reflected in the increasing demands for School District 43's youth workers. In the past three years, youth workers have provided direct service to 23 per cent more students and indirect service to 29 per cent more students.

"When you look at that increase . it says something about the changes we're seeing in our community," Pearce said.

To help address the issue, Pearce hopes to see increased CommunityLINK grants, provided annually by the Ministry of Education. School District 43 uses these funds to support community schools, youth workers, after-school programs, targeted social programs and academic initiatives. The grant money also pays for meal programs at 30 elementary schools.

"I believe that you have placed these funds in the right place for the right reasons for the right kids. I see no waste of money. I see people working hard," Pearce said.

"But it's the same old story that you would see at the [Ministry of Children and Family Development], mental health and public education - there's just not enough to go around."

Trustee Judy Shirra said more and more Tri-Cities residents are now without work.

"How many times do we have to stress that it's our schools that see that first and foremost?" Shirra asked. "Is part of what we're seeing here the downturn in the economy where there's only one person working right now, as opposed to where it was [two people], two or three years ago? . Where it's coming from is indicative of where our economy is right now as well."

Trustee Gerri Wallis suggested sharing the school district's data with Tri-Cities municipalities so they can work together to seek solutions.

"I was shocked," Wallis said.

"And the people I was talking to, they had no idea that Coquitlam had that need and that there was that low income right here in our own community."

The school board decided to write a letter to the provincial government about the situation and about what it calls inequitable funding. Copies will also be sent to city officials, local MLAs and the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce.

jmcfee@thenownews.com

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