The Burnaby school board has approved its first elementary school rainbow crosswalk.
At a board meeting Tuesday, trustees unanimously approved a request from University Highlands Elementary School on Burnaby Mountain.
Trustee Ryan Stewart, the board liaison for the school, applauded its administration, staff and students, pointing out University Highlands was also the first local elementary school with a gay-straight alliance club (sometimes called a gender-sexuality alliance) and that students there participated in the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia breakfast earlier this year.
“We’ve got incredible things happening at all of our schools, but I just want to single-out University Highlands for their resolution tonight,” Stewart said.
University Highlands’ will be the sixth rainbow cross walk in the district to celebrate LGBTQ diversity and inclusion.
The latest was installed at Byrne Creek Secondary last week, and there’s one in the queue for Burnaby South that could be installed as early as this week, weather permitting.
Cariboo Hill Secondary, meanwhile, opted for a rainbow sidewalk, which was put in before the start of the school year.
Earlier this month, the district’s building and grounds committee got an memo from the provincial SOGI advisory committee requesting the district develop guidelines for schools considering rainbow sidewalks, explore bulk paint purchases to cut costs and allow schools to pick the colours. District staff is working on the request
