I wish the Prince George District Teachers and BC Federation of Labour all the best with the rally. The government is playing games with education and students right now, and I think this is in part to do with money and part to do with avoiding the consequences of the Supreme Court case.
As an individual trustee I will continue advocating for sustainable funding for education and better support for complex class composition. Although I usually find myself in a minority on local school district issues and decisions, in general I think our board does a good job advocating at the provincial level. Unfortunately we have little influence over the government, provincial funding or even the BC School Trustees Association. At this point the BCSTA seems to be playing it neutral or even pro-government.
I believe our board of trustees has tried to put forward a more progressive stance that the one generally taken by the BCSTA, including opposition to the $40-a-day scheme and taking strike money out of the education system. Contact board chair Sharel Warrington (swarrington@sd57.bc.ca) for a complete list of the positions we have taken and letters sent.
I believe all partners including trustees, parents, principals, and senior administration should be speaking out about the underfunding in education and impact on schools caused by the bad faith bargaining from the government. Teachers should not be the only ones taking the heat for the state of education, we all share the responsibility to make it better. Being married to a teacher and having children in public elementary school I am directly impacted by the strike. I have also seen this situation from a trustee perspective, knowing and seeing that our schools and staff struggle to meet the needs of students, having to take from one pot to fill another. Special needs students suffer as a result, as do all students in regular classrooms that have to become bigger and more complex to offset services to special needs students because the money is not there for both. Having a band-aid LIF fund to top up school services each year is not a solution and results in quick hires and no training. Principals and teachers need to know from year to year that they have the funding in place to design a whole school program that meets the needs of students.
