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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 worry about this first week, but now … I feel threatened by you.  Personally.  I however seemed to have retained some logic.

If you have no scheduled meetings, how do you get a settlement?

The E80 clause, and all items in your proposal that has anything to do with the court case should be immediately removed so that proper financial arguments for the term of the agreement can be negotiated.  I suspect you are so scared at the potential cost that, if the ruling goes against you, you plan to mitigate the risk here.  This is not the place when so many children are being affected.  (We big people can take a hit.)

Try a yoga class or meditation or something and re-think this.

– Rob.

P.S. I found this link.
Whack Up Side the Head

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 cat every day.

And I will let King Julien say how I feel on timing.

King Julien

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 material and published a chart like this.

This should be limited to one or two pages.

The only recommendations I want you guys to give is for further meetings to resolve this.

I must remind both of you are Canadian elected officials that British Columbia is in violation of the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child.  Please look at Article 28.

Perhaps this is not a common practice, but this is so serious a situation for the children, I expect you to rise above your normal partisan behaviours.

– Rob.

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