Class dismissed: 500,000 students denied 1st day of school by teacher strike

More than half a million B.C. public school students will not be attending what was supposed to be their first day of school today.  Failed teacher strike negotiations since June have left parents scrambling to make last minute daycare and alternate arrangements.

NDP’s Rob Fleming wants the education minister’s head to roll.

“Education Minister Peter Fassbender has utterly failed kids and families in B.C. Either he should admit he is not up to the task and step down, or Premier Clark should remove him,” wrote the MLA from Victoria.

Sensing the tough week ahead, Minister Fassbender said Sunday:

“I am disappointed we find ourselves here.”

Riley Park mother Vicky Ross, worries about her 17-yer-old daughter entering the “crucial university prep” year of grade 12.

“I feel like the Liberal government has been short changing students and public education for years,” said Ross, who is also a university professor.

Parents with children under 12 are entitled to a $40/day childcare subsidy.  Despite glitches with the province’s registration system launched Sunday, the province says parents are signing up.

Parents groups expect strike to drag for weeks

Some worry the strike will last for weeks, altering a basic family ritual: parents go to work; kids go to school.

“As a parent, you really feel a concern over what’s going to happen not only this week, but in the weeks to come,” said parent Marlene Rogers with Protect Public Education Now.

“This could go on for awhile, and I don’t know how parents can manage with that.”

Mediator Vince Ready stepped away from talks this weekend, saying the two sides are very far a part.

Teachers are demanding better salaries and benefits, as well improved class size and more supports for students with special needs.

The battle goes back more than a decade, said Rogers, to 2002 when the province stripped away the teacher’s ability to negotiate class size and composition as part of their working environment.

That was challenged in court, and teachers won – the courts upheld the teacher’s rights, Ross said.

Over the weekend, the BC Teachers Federation said it trimmed its package of demands by $125 million, but the province wouldn’t budge.

“They weren’t prepared or authorized to make the moves necessary to get the deal done,” said the federation’s president Jim Iker.

Minister Fassbender countered $300 million in cuts were needed.

“Who should we take that money from?  Healthcare, other social services in this province?” he asked Sunday.

“We are not going to put our fiscal plan in this province into deficit to meet unrealistic demands from the BCTF.”

As of 2012, there were some 500,000 full time public school students, and 57,000 students with special needs, according to a BCTF study.

Original Article
Source: vancouverobserver.com/
Author: Mychaylo Prystupa