Category: Parenting Issue

Here is my most recent email to Iker, Fassbender and Clark.

Mr. Iker, Mr. Fassbender,

So, it’s begun. Educational Erosion. A family of my acquaintance has sent their children to independent school so that their children can go to school at all. They were walking distance to school, but now have to drive. But with no school on, what does distance matter? I am disheartened because they were an active part of the school community.

So, Mr. Fassbender, if as many say that your big secret vision is to privatize education, you are on the right track. However, you have not done your homework. There isn’t the capacity in the private/independent system to handle the volume.

So, Mr, Iker, if you win this battle with the government you will be standing on the remnants of an education system. Your teachers will be debt-ridden and impoverished and stressed out. The remaining students will be even more difficult to handle. Your crusade to save public education will be a hollow, ash-filled victory.

The better solution is for you two to drop the rhetoric, schedule meetings and sort this out. The damage you are causing is undermining your goals. You are on the path to shared mutual destruction and you are taking my children with you.

Ms Clark … where are you?????????

– Rob.

While on the way back from Qualicum Beach yesterday I was called by CTV. They wanted to do an in home interview. We managed to catch the correct ferry and get home in time to make the news. This was September 1, 2014.

bc.ctvnews.ca/2.1141/ctv-news-at-six

To find the video segement, look for “CTV News at Six for Sep. 1: Teachers” in their section on the right. The segment I’m in starts at 5:26 minutes into the video.

I’m also quoted here. www.timescolonist.com/news/b-c/educational-banana-republic-b-c-s-teachers-feud-dates-back-decades-1.1336899

This was written by the Canadian Press and went national, apparently.

Sigh. I’d rather have my kids in school and doing real work.

A mother of two and teacher of many and volunteer extraordinaire wrote this letter to the premier. Please people, whether you are taking sides or not, the thought of refusing school to kids this September is unacceptable at many levels. Write, tweet or email your MLA.

Dear Premier Clark, Minister Fassbender and Minister De Jong,

I was outraged to hear of your proposal of paying parents of school-aged children $40 per day should the strike proceed into the start of the school year. How dare you put your energies into strategies that plan to extend the strike when it is wholly your responsibility to negotiate a contract with the BCTF?

Your excuse for not meeting the demands of the union is that this is an uncertain economical reality and time for fiscal restraint. This logic is nonsensical. It begs the question, do you think your citizenry is ignorant of the facts?

The reality is that we can afford to fund public education

1. You subsidized private education for $227 million last year.
2. You have saved $178 million on the backs of teachers during the last weeks of the school year.

Obviously I could also list your disregard for the two court rulings on class composition and size as well as your reluctance to participate in mediation. Further, I could underscore the reality that BC teacher salary increases do not keep up with inflation which is one of the many ways that teachers are subsidizing the public education system. I could mention that Manitoba, a province less wealthy than BC, gave its teachers 9.32% over four years in their contract this year.

But I digress, the key issue is that there is no question that as a province we can afford to fund a healthy public education system. So this leads to the question who is it that has given you a mandate to promote the privatization of education?

Thomas Jefferson wrote “When people fear their government, it is tyranny, when government fear it’s people, it is liberty”. You are my government representing the values of the society of which I am a citizen. It is time for your to remember to fear your people and represent the priorities of your citizens.

To conclude, my questions are as follows…

1. How dare you put your energies into strategies
   that plan to extend the strike when it is wholly your responsibility to negotiate a contract with the BCTF?
2. Do you think your citizenry is ignorant of the facts?
3. Who is it that has given you a mandate to promote the privatization of education?

I look forward to you developing dedication to public education and to resolving this conflict, to date your performance is unacceptable.

If you have an opinion, send it to them here:

premier@gov.bc.ca
peter.fassbender.mla@leg.bc.ca
FIN.Minister@gov.bc.ca
educ.minister@gov.bc.ca

To Ms Clark, Mr. Fassbender and Mr. de Jong,

I am writing to say I am disgusted with the way you three have handled the teacher’s strike. The $40-a-day plan that was announced yesterday was so distressing that I had to write to you again.

Apart from the blatant practical issues with the plan (negative tax impact, cost of setting up a site, potential for fraud, utter lack of day care capacity, etc.), the plan sends the wrong signal. It tells me, and most of the parents I know, that you all personally perceive Education to be the same value as child-minding.

Parents want their kids educated. Child care during school hours is a natural side-effect of operating a school system.

It seems the three of you have such a hatred for the BCTF that you have lost sight of your responsibilities. I.e. provide Education for the children of BC. Perhaps the BCTF is the most annoying and difficult union in the province. However, don’t use the BCTF as an excuse for not getting the job done.

Stop messing around and do a deal. Negotiate, mediate, arbitrate or legislate. I don’t care how.

At this time I perceive you three as having no clue as to the value of Education.

Prove me wrong. By August 15.

Robert Ford
PAC Chair
Hudson Elementary

I just emailed back (see previous post) on the response from the Premier’s Office. Please everyone … we have to keep asking that the strike is fixed by Aug 15!

Hi,

Thanks very much for replying. It makes a difference to know that a single voice can be heard.

I’ve been thinking more about the situation and before I prattle on, I want to let you know that my intent is always for a practical solution keeping the views and feelings of all people involved in a zone of mutual respect.

My baseline attitude is that it’s unacceptable to keep children from school. It’s bad for the kids and it’s bad for the economy, due to the disruption of parents’ working hours.

If the BCPSEA is ready to negotiate, I suggest having a door that’s publicly open so that the negotiators are available core business hours. It is my understanding that no meetings are scheduled. Forget scheduling a meeting, just work at an open door office!

This leads to another concern. To use a hockey metaphor, do we need the “second line” of negotiators to go in? I’m not sure if the BCTF is able to change faces at the table, but perhaps the BCSPEA can. Due to the length of time the negotiations have gone on, are we not in the range with this famous Einstein quote applies? “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

In my work I’m a project manager and basics of work planning says that if you don’t have an agreement by August 15, you won’t start school on time.

Please, be creative. Time is running out.

Thanks,

– Rob.

I was in Ontario and Quebec for family vacation for two weeks. The objective was visiting distant family and friends and exposing my recently-graduated-grade-7 daughter to French outside the classroom. (It was a huge success for her; pity the parents and administration failed to set up a proper FI cultural exchange during the school year. It would have been better.)

Naturally during out visit, the topic of the teachers’ strike arose. As I tried to explain the situation (court case, legislated agreements, etc.) the looks on their faces were fairly animated. “You might not have school starting in September?!?” The expressions on their faces indicated they thought people from BC regularly snort live hamsters into their noses and enjoy it.

We’d be the laughing stock of Canada if it weren’t for that dumb mayor of Toronto who has my name. (I wish he’d change his name to Slartibartfast or something.) Even Quebeckers think our provincial government is dysfunctional.

It is totally unacceptable to not start school on time. The BCTF cannot unilaterally create an agreement. Only the Provincial government has that power. Therefore the Provincial government must take a fresh approach.

The pending appeal to the court ruling on class size and composition is the single largest barrier to an agreement. My thinking is that a temporary agreement needs to be in place until that ruling has gone through all appeals.

SUGGESTION

Put down a proposed contract that has the same raise for teachers that is as good as the best other public sector deal in the last year. Add resources for special needs, but word it so that the resources do not indicate you agree in anyway with the court ruling that’s currently being appealed.

The timing of the agreement should be 6 months with an auto-renewal with the same terms until the court ruling has finished. Once the court work is done, the real bargaining can begin.

If by July 31, you don’t have a signed agreement, either go to binding arbitration or legislate the temporary agreement.

On Wed June 25, my daughter’s class had a grad ceremony at Kits Community Centre, instead of Hudson, due to the strike/lockout. This turned out to be quite the adventure because the ceremony was basically cancelled and I had not worried too much because I felt there was little I could do. Then I got a call from a dad, who I’ve know since my daughter was 3, who said, “I have a contact with Kits Community Centre and we can hold the grad there. You know lots of the parents and I need your help.” Like any good project manager I said, “confirm the date and time 100% and then I’ll act.” So the date was confirmed and there was a mad scramble to get the event put together.

Part of what pushed me to make all the effort was speaking to my daughter. I asked her if this was important to the kids. She said casually, “Oh yeah; some of the girls bought their dresses months ago.” Gasp, I thought. Here we go. That was Wednesday June 18. By Friday I had asked for a special day off from work that allowed for family obligations too complicated to do from your desk. This turned out to be a brilliant act of intuition.

You see, on the Monday June 23, one of the parent organizers, who is a Canadian Press writer/reporter, said to me in email “were the teachers invited?” She thought it reasonable they could go as it was not on school property. “I invited them,” I replied, “but they said the union would not let them go.”

The Mom/Reporter wrote this to me in email. “WHAT!?! I’m totally making that a story. I’m putting the Hudson ceremony on the calendar to alert the media, So they might show up, if that’s okay.”

What was I going to say? I told her to make it a story.

On Tuesday received calls from the CBC Producer of The Early Show as well as calls from a different Canadian Press reporter. I did over the phone interviews. The CBC asks me to come down Wednesday morning for an on air interview. Next they asked for a child’s view. I made my daughter call the producer and they chat. Next thing I know both of us were scheduled for an on air interview.

Wednesday morning at 7 AM we’re downtown (easy parking, mind you) and at 7:12 we’re on the air. My daughter spoke so well I figured I could have stayed home in bed. My son and wife were on the other side of the booth cheering us on. Rick Cluff, the show’s host, was tickled pink with the material.

At 7:25 AM I get an email from local CTV personality/reporter Mi Jung Lee asking if it’s OK if cameras come to the ceremony. (She and I had talked in the past about the strike and prior to that fundraising for playgrounds.) What was I going to say? Sure, bring the cameras. It’s at this point that I realize wearing my good suit that I got for my sister’s wedding was a good idea.

But, we had to get the amp and keyboard for the accompanist, set up and receive parents and the kids all in a 45 minute window. All the parent helpers appeared doing tasks I assigned and the ceremony was great. I chatted with the Asian media outlets, was hooked up we started the 1 PM ceremony at 1:08. My wife (the choir director) sang with her handful of choristers and one song was called The Show, by Lenka. Check out the lyrics here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHKDCqnH_7M
By sheer luck, the lyrics were totally appropriate and amused the reporters.

We got out of there by 2 PM and took the equipment back. At 3:30 we took the grads to Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. That had been planned since May and was supposed to be the only parent event. Gasp.

As we were changing out of our good clothes into park clothes, my daughter said, “Now, I feel ready for High School.”

So, I guess that was the point, eh?

Links:
CBC Podcast. Slide to 1:22 on the file
http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Local+Shows/British+Columbia/The+Early+Edition/ID/2467810524/

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/2.1141/ctv-news-at-six
You have to Find “CTV News at Six for June 25: Hit and run part one” It’s at about 6:30 on the file.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/henry-hudson-elementary-parents-save-grade-7-graduation-1.2686475

http://globalnews.ca/news/1413260/parents-try-to-save-b-c-grad-ceremonies/

http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=1e53b6b6-df78-49aa-9388-52d32853ecba

To Clark, Fassbender, Iker, Bacchus and those in your employ.

• When you increase the MSP rates and cause budget shortfalls, you attack my children.
• When you deny a French Immersion spot at my local school for my son, you attack my child.
• When you call a strike, you attack my children.
• When you slow down the rate of seismic upgrading to schools, especially my child’s school, you attack my child.
• When your toxic negotiations rub off on my children leaving them cynical, you attack my children.
• When you attack my children in these ways, you attack me.

And I am not alone in this feeling. You attack us all.

Stop it.

I just emailed the text below to the Premier, Minister of Education, the head of the BCTF and the BCSPEA.

—————
There’s a straightforward way to solve the dispute between teachers and government. This solution has the benefit of actually helping children, meeting basic goals of both the government and the union.

I suspect that the government is being so weird about pay because paying the teachers more does not guarantee better results in the classroom. If a teacher receives an x% raise, it does not improve the classroom outcomes (e.g. numeracy and literacy) without other support.

No one who’s paid attention to an elementary school’s student population has missed the fact that there’s a problem with special needs and behaviour issues. Solving the special needs problem and general behaviour issues would benefit all students. When I asked my own child why she was having trouble with percentages, she blamed herself for not asking enough questions and then cited classroom distractions. Logically, fewer distractions lead to better learning with the same teachers.

Contract Solution

Enshrine funding to handle Special Needs (i.e. double the staff asap and then study how to assess true resource requirements needs based on case loads). Do not let the Boards of Education use the money for anything else.

Give the teachers a raise that’s a slight tick above what the best deal to other unions was. (No employer is going to bump one unionized group higher without serious justification.)

Goals Met

• Teachers’ work lives improve
• All kids’ learning improves
• Special Needs kids receive more help and are less disruptive
• The government looks like they care about all the kids and holds the raises to something defensible.

What are you waiting for?

I always knew I’d learn a lot being a parent, but this is ridiculous.

At time of writing there’s a labour dispute between the BCTF (teacher’s union) and the BC Provincial government (employer). Representatives from each side of the dispute have said their actions are “for the children.” I’m not sure to which children they are referring, but it sure can’t be the ones currently attending school. Maybe it’s some theoretical bunch of children they expect to serve in the future.

So, stop saying you’re doing it for the children.

Field trips, particularly those at the end of the year, are of serious interest to the students. The rotating strikes, work to rule and a partial lockout is a cluster-f that has left these field trips in serious jeopardy of happening.

It would be reasonable for parents to step in to handle supervision of field trips (assuming enough of us could get time off and juggle schedules). This would help keep the dreck of this labour dispute from the kids. Due to impact on our work life, it keeps the parents inconvenienced, raising awareness of the dispute to voters and taxpayers.

However, once you dive into the world of liability and regulations and union rules and so forth, there are only a couple of conclusions one can make.

1. Parents are irresponsible, criminal-minded, cannibalistic baby-eating creatures from 9 AM to 3 PM. No board of education will entrust students to parents during school hours without a school board employee present. Of course after 3 PM we parents are back to our normal selves.

2. None of the regulations allow for the normalization of child experiences at school during a labour dispute. If the Ministry of Ed and the BCTF were really interested in the kids, they’d force the parents to cover curriculum at home, but retain the experiences we can’t replicate. I can teach my daughter fractions, but I can’t simulate the shared learning experience of a field trip with her class.

If the government and union can make up rules regarding lockouts and strikes on the fly, could they please let parents take the kids on field trips?

This is a labour dispute. Plain and simple. The provincial government has an obligation to educate children. They need teachers to do it. Teachers have a union. It is entrusted by its members to obtain the best benefits and salaries possible for its members. The government wants to obtain the required services of teachers for the lowest overall cost possible. See Unifor for auto workers, CUPW for the posties and BCTF for the teachers. Same problem, different alphabet soup.

However, the product is the development and education of children. This is not a negatively impacted EBT (Earnings Before Taxes) or ROI (Return on Investment) situation.

Some of these children will be managing and operating the health care system of the future — a system we’ll all need.