Local laid-off teachers’ rally to look more like a funeral than a protest
Posted May 12, 2014 8:01 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
COQUITLAM (NEWS1130) – “It’s time for change.”
That’s the call from one of the hundreds of teachers laid off in Coquitlam last week, who now wants to send a message to the government about what she calls chronic underfunding in the education system.
A rally is being held tomorrow, called the “March to Mourn BC Ed.” Kara Obojski, who is set to lose her job, has organized the demonstration. She says cuts are getting deeper, and the impact goes beyond teachers and students, to entire communities.
“We aren’t going to understand, probably, just how deep those impacts might be until we get into the school year next year,” says Obojski.
The rally will look more like a funeral than a traditional protest. Everyone is being asked to dress in black and teachers who are losing their jobs have been asked to wear bibs, displaying their layoff numbers.
Obojski says this rally will include teachers, kids, parents, and members of the community.
“It’s to humanize the numbers,” she explains. “We hear a lot of numbers. We hear 13.4, we hear 632, and these aren’t just numbers but faces of people, of kids, of families that are going to be hurt.”
The district is trying to make up a $13-million deficit.
More than 630 teachers in Coquitlam have received layoff notices. Most will be recalled, but almost 100 may not be.
The rally will be at Como Lake and Thermal at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow.
