A Message to BCCPAC

June 20, 2014 at 8:15am

As a parent of two children, one who will need extra support in
school, I am extremely disappointed by BCCPAC's lack of
movement when it comes to the dispute between the government
and teachers. This attitude of fence sitting, "both sides are to
blame," is the most ignorant act of complacence. If you can
honestly say that you are okay, as a parent, with below average
funding, with less librarians, with fewer specialist teachers, with old
outdated learning materials, no funding for technology, larger class
sizes, class compositions that make it hard for teachers to give 1-
on-1 time to all students, the elimination of positive teacher
student relationships, the just keep doing what you are doing
BCCPAC. Or... You could do what you have the power to do.
Stand up for YOUR children. As a collective of parents BCCPAC has
a powerful voice, a voice for your children. Not a whiny voice to
say "Kids and parents are caught in the middle!" But a productive
voice to say, YES our kids deserve the BEST. Not $275 million
stripped away each year to help give tax cuts to corporations to
create jobs that never materialized. Not larger classes to give MLAs
18% raises. Not filling classes with students who need extra help in
order to fund LNG projects. If you look at Finland, a country with
arguably the best education system in the world, parents stand
side by side in cooperation with teachers. They tell the
government that as educators they know what is best for children,
together, and that politicians should keep their noses out of it
since they have a different agenda. As taxpayers we owe it to
ourselves to tell the government how we want OUR money spent,
not the other way round. We have the right to demand that our
money be spent on our kids to give them the best education and
opportunities they can get. This is what I want for my kids, I
believe this is what you want for yours, and it should be what
BCCPAC wants for all of them. So it's time they get off the fence
and say so!!