Words cannot describe how screwed BC education is because of this government. I lay blame at the feet of Clark and Fassbender. I have worked in a rat infested portable where it took three months of complaining to the admin that there was a stench of death, decay, feces, and urine on a regular basis. It took me having to leave work (because I was going to throw up) to get an independent maintenance crew out to check on the problem. When the district maintenance the first go around showed up they checked the vents (nothing), the furnace (nothing). They pulled me aside and told me that it didnt smell like animal to them (to which they looked around to see if there were any students nearby). To him it smelled like one of the students had pooed in the classroom. Yes. He was blaming it on one of my 13 year old grade 7s. I told him: Well, *I* didnt poo him here, and I dont think we could have missed if one of my kiddos had dropped trou and taken a dump in the corner. I am a farm girl - I know what death, piss and shit smell like. Something is DEAD in here. Then a couple days later I left the school. Once the independent contractors were in to check, they found an entire rats nest - over a dozen critters in various stages of the life cycle IN our floors tucked in beside the heat ducts. Our room was evacuated for a week (we went to the library where our learning was interrupted every 15-30 minutes for the other 22 divisions coming in to check out books). We were not allowed to go back into the portable until the week was up and they went in and vented as the chemical cleaners they were using would do permanent damage to our lungs if we breathed it in. Then we went back for the rest of the year. The following year, I heard scratching in the floors again. I have taught computer classes to groups of 31 students with only 28 computers available (all of which were at least 8 years old). What do we do if theres only 28 computers, Ms. H? Get here on time. I dont even know HOW many IEPs I had in the classroom, as that was never disclosed to me by the admin or the resource team. Though, this was the position I had my life threatened by a student and I was told to not bother filing a violent incident report - its not the first time hes done it and it wont be the last. I have slogged through meeting after meeting for IEP students because I had more than my allowable 3 - I had 5 IEPs last year with another 7 waiting for a psych ed. I have at least 6 this year in a class of 24 - each IEP student counts as 2 because of the extra attention they should be getting, so I essentially have a full class. I KNEW we were getting a raw deal when we agreed to go back to work. It was crap. Yeah, hold the line, but I was a week away from not being able to pay my mortgage. It gets pretty tiring to tow the line like that for so long and just be told to bend over and take it after all that. Im only in my 5th year of teaching, and just starting my 3 pay scale. I figured I lost over $8500 from the strike (I was also scheduled to teach summer school). I UNDERSTAND that we are fighting for the future of BCs education. I really do. And it was AMAZING that we were supported so strongly by other unions with their hardship fund contributions. But I cant help but think that if there had actually BEEN a general strike - hit Clark in the ONLY place she gives a crap about, her wallet - and shut the province down for a couple of days to affect her bottom line, that BCs education system...that we would have been better off. Teachers wouldnt have taken such a huge financial hit, the government would have taken the situation more seriously (as opposed to sitting on their asses for three months), and the STUDENTS would have some HOPE for a better future. This all makes me sick.
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 06:27:21 +0000
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