As our teachers’ strike drags on into its 5th week, I’ve never felt more proud to call myself a “BC Teacher”! What teachers are fighting for in this round of bargaining, and every round since I became a public school educator, is precisely why I entered the K to 12 system, and why I steadfastly hold the line in this dispute – and that’s to ensure that every child in British Columbia gets a fair and best shot at reaching their potentials, touching the stars, and developing into the best global citizens possible. This dream, however, has been becoming ever more impossible since I entered teaching with ever-growing underfunding, overcrowded classrooms, very limited resources, and the needs of our students soaring to new heights every year with dwindling supports to help them achieve. I am extremely proud of my colleagues throughout the province, for the line in the sand they have drawn this round of bargaining – in spite of the deep and drastic personal and financial costs to themselves and their families. I consider it an honor to count myself among them, and to hold the line beside them. But I also can’t help but feel saddened and disappointed about all the voices that should be standing along side teachers on our lines, and are absent. Our support staff colleagues, for the most part, have been wonderful, and fully understand what we have withdrawn our labour for, but I feel dismayed and distraught about where the voices and the bodies of our administrators, our school trustees and our superintendents are. Do they not feel the same concerns and desperation about the students and system they are charged with representing and advocating on behalf of as teachers do? And although parents, by the thousands, have joined our lines, brought limitless amounts of food and coffee, organized and attended rallies, and provided critical and immense support with their honks and waves, I can’t help but feel a strong sense of abandonment about the lack of voice of their representative body, the BC Confederation of Parent Advisory Committees (BCCPAC), and the absence of stand they have chosen to take while teachers fight for their children. Does the parent representative body care less about the public school children of BC than their teachers do? I was astonished to hear Nicole Makohoniuk, the president of BCCPAC state in the media that she didn’t want to take one side or the other in this dispute. I would have to ask Ms. Makohoniuk, as the voice of BC parents, if she actually understands what teachers are presently striking for, and I would plead with her that at the very least, BCCPAC should be outspoken to take the side of her own and the rest of the students of British Columbia. I also can’t help but be disappointed in the very faint and very late responses of both the broader labour movement and NDP in our dispute. I’m thrilled and very thankful for the generous contributions of the Nurses’ Union and several other representative labour bodies to this critical fight, but where is the much-needed coordination and support of all labour and organizations to ensure that we have a BC public education system that truly meets the needs of children and society? This strike and the battle teachers continue to wage for the students of BC is a fight we cannot afford to lose! This Liberal government is solely focussed on privatizing the system as much as possible, and crushing teachers’ will and ability to save and enhance it. What we need is for all invested parties to work cooperatively and with a single voice to ensure that this provincial government and corporate education agenda be put out of business, and much needed investment go into ensuring that ALL BC students have their educational needs met. Our children, their futures and this society are depending on it! Tina Anderson Burnaby Teachers Associaiton
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 19:51:01 +0000
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