This is a rare blog entry not relating to diet and fitness. I had a light bulb go off on my ongoing discussion with the Vancouver School Board regarding the lack of music in the schools. Here’s what I wrote on July 1. Hi Trustees and Superintendent, Happy Canada Day! Due to the holiday I finally managed to get to some of my to do list! I’ve been having a lot of trouble with the…
During the recent fundraising work done by BC political parties, I started an exchange with the NDP. I said I’d donate if they told me, if elected, to what level they would put per student K-12 funding in BC – when compared to other provinces. In the end they would not commit saying it’s not close enough to the election. I did not donate to them in the end because in the middle of all…
This post covers an email exchange between me, private citizen and parent, and Patti Bacchus of the VSB and Mike Bernier, Minister of Education (BC) ————————– To: Patti Bacchus VSB Trustee Honourable Mike Bernier Minister of Education From: Robert Ford Re: Addition of new classroom to Henry Hudson Elementary in Vancouver Date: December 7, 2015 I am writing as an individual parent even though my background with the PAC (past chair and current co-treasurer) has…
To: The Honourable Christy Clark Premier of British Columbia Box 9041, Station Prov Govt Victoria, BC V8W 9E1 Honourable Peter Fassbender Minister of Education PO Box 9045, Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, BC V8W 9E2 Jim Iker BCTF President 100 – 550 West 6th Ave Vancouver, BC V5Z 4P2 From: Robert Ford Cc: My blog – www.robertfordfiction.com/blog Re: Children’s Rights Date: October 27, 2014 Now that school is underway and my two children are settled I…
Here’s my latest email to the Premier and the Minister of Education Everywhere in the mainstream press I’m reading that your arguments for how you are dealing with arbitration are wrong. You have unethically kept children out of school. Read the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Read the Charter of Rights for this country. I understand that you want a handle on expenses. I ardently appreciate financial difficulties. However, you had sufficient…
Dear Mr Heyman and Mr Eby, Many thanks for hosting last night’s community meeting. I called Mr. Sullivan’s office this morning and left a message at how disappointed I was that he did not show. Without representation by people in the party that’s at the head of this mess, it’s more difficult to get the word out about how unacceptable this is. I was the one who exhorted you to oppose more. I thought I’d…
This email exchange was just had. I’m not sure why Star Trek references work for this mess, but they work for me. Hi, I appreciate you keeping me in the loop. However, I really think that Mr. Fassbender should stay above the fray through his choice of words. For example, “another empty effort to give parents and teachers a false hope that there is a simple way to resolve the dispute” is highly emotionally charged…
Fassbender, Clark and Sullivan, To say that I was disappointed to read the news article below is as much as an understatement as to say that un-anesthetized knee surgery does not hurt. www.news1130.com/2014/09/06/education-minister-rejects-binding-arbitration/ I can’t decide if your ardent desire to crush the BCTF or your paternalistic “I’m the Education Minister you have to do what I want” attitude has clouded your judgement. I am deeply worried for my children’s education. I kind of didn’t…
I happened to receive via email this from the BCTF. They had seen my wish in an earlier blog post and reached out to me and have provided comparisons as shown in the PDF below. I have some views on this but frankly, but I’d rather just be presenting information at this point because I’m tickled pink just to have something fairly simple. BCTF Proposals However, I have to admit I feel more like this…
Mr Sullivan and Mr Eby, I call upon both of you to team up and form a bi-party team to do only one thing. Bring clarity to the dispute. I call upon you two as your riding connect and you are both close to Hudson Elementary where I am PAC Chair. Specifically I can’t get a handle on what’s separating the BCTF and the government. If you two sat down and went through the existing…