To Students, Parents, Alumni, and Supporters of the University Transition Program (UTP),

We need your help with preserving the UTP, otherwise known as the Transition Program for Gifted Students (TPGS). The VSB has canceled the admissions process for the 2024-2025 school year to conduct a “review” of the program by Deetken Insight, a company with no experience in gifted education or adolescent psychology, without input from all stakeholders.

The UTP is a two-year program which provides academically gifted and neurodiverse adolescents a space to connect with like minded peers, learn from specialized teachers with experience teaching gifted students, and prepare for early entrance to the University of British Columbia. In its 30 years at UBC, the UTP has been a cornerstone in developing methods for gifted education and helping gifted learners to access vital support they cannot receive in a regular school.

The UTP is not a VSB school, it is a Provincial Resource Program run by the BC Ministry of Education to meet the diverse needs of a specific student population.

The VSB’s review is being conducted without input from the UTP community. They are calling this a “review” instead of what it is: shutting down admissions to then close down the program. They are not listening to student and community voices, and are doing this in the name of “educational equity”.

“Educational equity” means giving every student what they need to grow and thrive. Many profoundly gifted students are neurodiverse and need different support academically, socially, mentally, and emotionally. The UTP is a vital resource for a uniquely vulnerable and often overlooked section of the student population. Profoundly gifted students are more likely to drop out of school, experience social isolation, and develop depression and anxiety disorders without proper support. What the VSB is doing does not meet educational equity standards.

The UTP community and the wider gifted community are united in our opposition to the VSB’s actions. By signing this petition, we call on the VSB to restart the admissions process and ensure any actions taken to change the program are done transparently, with input from all stakeholders.

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For those interested, the program website is linked below.

https://universitytransition.ca/

Please also sign this general petition for all honours/enriched programs in Vancouver! We thank you for your support.