Looks like prestigious private schools aren't just for the higher class. I can picture racial tension growing from non asian parents of the school.
source
By Lena Sin, Canwest News ServiceApril 19, 2009 5:04 PMComments (10)
VANCOUVER — Parents and staff at a prestigious Vancouver school were shocked to learn about the criminal activities of a parent who was murdered in Richmond last week.
Betty Tung Sze Yan — whose three children attend West Point Grey Academy — was killed Wednesday in what appears to have been a targeted hit.
The private school is now grappling with both the death and disclosure that Yan had connections to the criminal underworld and a conviction for criminal harassment connected to a loansharking business she operated in B.C. casinos.
Adding to concerns is that this is the second parent at the school with ties to Asian organized crime to be murdered in less than two years.
Helen James, whose son went on playdates with Yan's son, said she was upset to learn how connected Yan was to criminal activity.
James, a lawyer, said she's relieved by her decision to take her son out of the school last year.
"I'm very relieved that I've taken my kid out of that school last September now that this is the second link to gang activity," she said. "I was very upset to learn Betty Yan was so connected (to crime) . . . I was particularly upset when I realized that Betty had hosted the end-of-year party and that all the parents, the children and their siblings had gone."
James said she was among the parents who went to Yan's Richmond home for the end-of-year school party in June 2008 for children in kindergarten.
"We all went and were amazed at how beautiful the house was and how opulent it was," said the mother.
Another parent at the school who did not want to be named said she's scared for her children's safety.
"This is the second time. Don't they investigate people's backgrounds?" asked the parent.
She added that she notified the school about Yan's background last year.
Clive Austin, the headmaster of West Point Grey Academy, said counsellors have been brought in to help students and staff cope.
"Obviously the school has put the concerns of the students first and foremost and the welfare of their safety," said Austin. "We've had counsellors come in for the students and staff as well. Yes, we are taking tremendous responsibility as far as I am concerned in this area and making sure we're putting the welfare of the community first. Obviously we are very concerned for the children and how they feel about it."
Austin would not comment on whether security is being heightened at the school in the wake of Yan's murder.
In November 2007, Hong Chao "Raymond" Huang was shot dead in front of his mansion in Vancouver's Shaughnessy neighbourhood.
Huang, 45, was "well-connected" to the notorious Big Circle Boys, an Asian organized gang, according to a police source.
Huang's daughter, who found her father and called 911, was a student at West Point Grey Academy.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is now investigating Yan's murder.
Cpl. Dale Carr, spokesman for IHIT, said police have spoken to Yan's husband.
West Point Grey Academy has about 900 students, with tuition fees between $8,400 to $12,400 a year. For international students, fees go as high as $21,000.
The prestigious school is routinely ranked by the Fraser Institute, a private think-tank, as one of B.C.'s top performing schools and Justin Trudeau, the eldest son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, is a former teacher.
