Both Langley Township council and the Langley School Board are taking a lot of flak from parents in the Routley neighbourhood, but only one of those groups really deserves the vitriol.

The Township, in this case, did exactly what it was supposed to do. It put aside a site for a future elementary school in the middle of a fast-developing residential area. It offered it to the school district.

The school board looked at the land and said, "No thanks, we'll swap it for something else."

Routley is sandwiched between the border of Surrey and 200th Street, between 72nd Avenue and the Willowbrook area. It has significant natural and artificial geographic boundaries that make getting kids in and out, especially on foot or bicycle, a challenge. It's packed with hundreds of new residents, and more are on the way. A few housing developments are still to break ground there.

In Willoughby east of 200th Street, the issues of traffic are still present, but they're less urgent.

Routley needs a new school, if not now, then in the near future.

The school board should admit that it didn't take certain important factors into account when it arranged the land swap.

Of course, even if it does that immediately, there are a number of other hurdles to leap.

First, the district has to go cap in hand to the province every time it wants to build a new school or buy some land. The district's recent and ongoing financial woes also probably aren't helping.

Routley parents should keep pushing, but they should target their anger. Focus on the school board and on the provincial Ministry of Education. Only those bodies can push forward plans for a new school.