VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Some teachers are wearing black in the classroom today to mark what their union calls a dark anniversary for public education.
As their current job action continues, teachers are observing the 10th anniversary of the passage of two bills that removed class size and composition provisions from collective agreement and launched what the
BC Teachers' Federation calls a decade of "cutbacks, school closures and untold damage to teaching and learning conditions."
Many parents we spoke to are sympathetic but believe politics should be kept out of the classroom.
"Union issues shouldn't reflect on your work," says one woman. "For teachers, their work is to educate students. Students shouldn't be included in this kind of activity because they don't understand completely what's going on."
"It's kind of hard to to keep politics out of the classroom when those politics involve the teachers," counters one dad. "What else are they going to do? How else can they do it? They can't strike."
Anne Whiteaker with the
BC Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils is disappointed some teachers are choosing to bring the dispute into the classroom. "Children are not to be involved in the politics. It's no different than if you were parents separating; you don't bring your children into your argument."
"Children come to the school every day for six hours. It's part of their lives, it's part of their community. To bring this type of thing into the classroom creates an environment of unease for children," she argues.
The BCTF also plans demonstrations on major bridges in Vancouver and Richmond tomorrow during the noon hour to mark the huge rallies that took place after the Bills 27 and 28 were passed in 2002.
“In declaring today a '
Dark Day for Public Education in BC,' teachers are sending a message to government that it’s time to respect bargaining rights and come to the table to reach a fair and reasonable agreement with teachers,” says BCTF President Susan Lambert.
How job action is affecting school sports
Some basketball tournaments in Lower Mainland schools are cancelled as a result of a lack of teams able to participate. Some teachers aren't able to give up time to coach and bring the kids to games.
Kurt Heinrich with the
Vancouver School Board says he's sorry to see it, but it's happening.
"Extra curricular activities like basketball are terrific and the fact that students aren't able to take part in them is just an unfortunate situation," he explains.
Heinrich adds some teachers are still getting involved. "It really is an individual choice when it comes down to it."
It's not just sports seeing the impact; students are taking provincial exams this week, but those tests won't be marked by their teachers as usual. By the end of next week, those exams will be graded by principals.
"All of our administrators who would be marking any of the exams had to have taught the class at some point in the last eight years. Right now, we feel fairly confident we are going to be able to manage this," explains Heinrich.
Having administrators do this task means less time for other work. "Administrators are doing a ton of things, like supervision -- things that normally would be done by their teachers."
"It's a challenging situation in which we're in. We're really proud of our administrators for all the hard work that they are doing," he adds.
The provincial exams will be marked in the upcoming weeks.