Dear All,
BC public school teachers have voted to back up their democratic rights to fair and free collective bargaining with a full scale strike Friday, October 7, 2005. As a parent in BC with children in our public schools I am very concerned about the situation. The teachers are standing up for our public education system and need our support. Please read the following letter and send me an email (or add a comment to this site) indicating your support. My email is charles.menzies@ubc.ca
In solidarity with our teachers,
Charles
For letter addressed to government officials read extended entry:
Dear Mr. Campbell, Ms. Bond, and Mr. De Jong,
We are parents, students, and community members who share a strong sense of respect and admiration for the hard work and dedication that our teachers in the public school system demonstrate on a daily basis. We are writing to you to express our disappointment in the actions of your government with respect to teachers. We appreciate that you believe you are putting children first in education. But, as parents and others concerned about the welfare of children who have seen the direct effects of your actions in our public schools we would respectfully disagree. Under your administration the situation in schools has gotten worse, not better. Class sizes have increased, support for learning disabilities has declined, and many schools have inadequate resources. Parent Advisory Councils have been compelled to pay for funding gaps while teachers spend more and more of their personal income on needed school resources.
Your government has placed the burden of these problems onto the backs of our teachers. Not surprisingly they have voted overwhelmingly to say No More. We are writing to express our support of the actions being taken by our public school teachers. We also ask that Bill 12 be withdrawn and that the government enter into direct talks to reach a fair, free, and democratic collective agreement with the teachers of BC.
Yours,
Charles Menzies (U. Hill PAC exec and Member at Large, UBC Faculty Association Exec)
Annie Ehman
Charlene Morton
Nancy Langdon
E. Wayne Ross (Professor Department of Curriculum Studies)
Mike Feeley and Linda Quamme
David Green
Teresa Dobson and Thomas Mayson
Sandra Mathison (Professor & Head, Educational and Counselling Psychology & Special Education)
Valerie Pollock
Mari Pighini, MA (The CHILD Project)
Daniel Vokey (Associate Professor Department of Educational Studies)
Danielle M. Law (Developmental Change and Technology Lab)
Rosanne Hood
Kate Trafford, BSc (GIS Technician Human Early Learning Partnership)
Dr. Elizabeth Fendley (Faculty of Medicine UBC, Past Chair, Kitsilano Secondary School Parent Advisory Council)
Laura Neucott
Lynda Prince
Lindsay DuBois (Associate Professor & Undergraduate Coordinator
Sociology and Social Anthropology, Dalhousie University)
Allison McDonald
Gillian Creese
Emily Marshall
Michele Jayasinha
Graham E. Johnson (Professor of Sociology, Department of Anthropology and Sociology University of British Columbia)
Julianne Doctor (Vancouver DPAC Exec rep)
Alannah Young
Jonathan Hanvelt
Elizabeth Johnson (Curator of Ethnology and Associate of the Department of Anthropology UBC Museum of Anthropology)
Amy Hanser (Assistant Professor of Sociology Department of Anthropology and Sociology University of British Columbia)
Marnie Fukushima-Flores
Jennifer Peterson (PhD Candidate UBC Faculty of Education)
Charles Yates
Wendy Nielsen (Department of Curriculum Studies UBC)
Marg Osterreicher
James Hughes
James J. Feng, (Associate Professor Dept. Chemical & Biological Engineering, UBC)
Lianne Britten
Brenda Penton
Sharon Biwer
Steve Baker
Elliott Brunell (Pres. UBC Faculty Association)
Stephen Petrina
Mary MacAulay (David Livingstone Elementary School Parent)
Kathy Whittam
Heather Burpee
Janet McPhee (cochair Jules Quesnel PAC)
Margaret F. Choinski (Clinical Instructor School of Audiology and Speech Sciences Faculty of Medicine, UBC)
Kevin J. Benoy
Rosalind M. Irving
Lisa Agius
Brian Green
Hansen Chou (M.A. Student University of British Columbia)
Susanne Osmond and Glen Hollingshead (parents of Oliver, grade 3, Nootka Elementary, Vancouver)
Cathi Shaw (PhD Student Instructor, Centre for Educational Technology, SFU)
Steve Spencer
Juanita Skinner Nelson BC SD#8
Anna Coffin (parent of Upper Lynn Elementary School)
Laurel Tien (PhD Student University Of British Columbia)
Shauna Halcrow
Jo-Anne Dillabough (Associate Professor, Department of Educational Studies, UBC)
Shelagh Penty (Department Secretary Department of Curriculum Studies)
Jo-Anne Naslund (Instructional Programs Librarian Education Library, UBC)
Rick Archambault (President, Strathcona Community Centre Association)
Heidi Verburg
Rosamel Millaman Reinao
Robin O’Day (PhD Student in Anthropology, UBC)
Sam Heppell (UBC Student)
Wendy Poole (Faculty Member, UBC)
Beatrice Scott
Shelley Hymel, Professor, Faculty of Education, UBC
Anita Schuller
Lena Lew
Jill Lewis UBC Student/Future Teacher
Sharon P. Fraser
Deborah Barton, B. Ed
Thomas Gauthier
Ben Paré
Kit Grauer (Department of Curriculum Studies, University of British Columbia)
Dawn Steele
Lisa Floe
Dr. J. Olivia Scalzo (parent of a special needs child, and former PAC chair in an inner city school).
Lisa Lindal
Linda Riches (Prince George)
Liz Hamel
Aimee Pollard
Leonard Durante
Patti Baccus
Heidi Gonzalez
Marv Westwood
Margaret Giacomello (Library Technician: Interlibrary Loans – Borrowing Kwantlen University College Library )
Dawn Currie (UBC)
Brandy Wiebe (PhD Student Sociology, UBC)
Tanya Stevenson (Parent and Special Education Teacher Mackenzie, BC)
Lorraine Gibson (GIS Technician/EDI-Coordinator Human Early Learning Partnership UBC )
Lisa Johnson (Manager, Community and Strategic Initiatives UBC Campus & Community Planning)
Amanda Marques – UBC Grad Student
Madeleine Macivor (UBC FNHL)
Barbara Wood (CoDevelopment Canada)
Patricia Fahrni
Felice S. Wyndham (Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of British Columbia)
Susan Jaeggle
Hazita Harun
Carolye Kuchta
Mar-y-paz Rivera (IT Coordinator UBC First Nations House of Learning)
Ulrike Radermacher (Co-Chair U. Hill Sec. PAC)
Daryl Sturdy
David Wu
Beverley Gartrell (SFU Sociology/Anthropology, retired)
Soowook Kim (Ph.D Candidate, Dept. of Curriculum Studies, Faculty of Education, UBC)
Louise Lamphere (Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico)
Scott Gray, Salmon Arm, B.C.
Tracey Rabone, Salmon Arm, B.C.
Louise Craig, Lillooet, B.C.
Keith Craig, Lillooet, B.C.
Shannon Craig, Prince George, B.C.
Colleen Craig, Salmon Arm, B.C., who is a public education teacher
Ann Doyle (UBC)
William Narvey (Kistilano PAC exec and SPC member)
Mike Dowler (MA Music Education Student, UBC)
Marilee Roome
Jacqueline Solway, Associate Professor Trent University
Petra Ganzenmueller (Chair, Sessional Faculty Committee, UBC Faculty
Association)
Jill Warland, (Argyle Secondary School, North Vancouver, BC, Teacher and Parent)
Sowgol Torani
Wes Pue, South Delta
Linc Kesler (Associate Professor & Director, First Nations Studies Program UBC)
Sharon Roseman (Memorial University)
Elequently said. Mr. Campbell and his associates continue to put the blame for this situation on the teachers. They have created this mess, and it’s time they took responisibility. These children are our future. Without a quality education, BC has a bleak future. They are abusing their rights as law makers to avoid their elected obligations. The question is, what can we, as individuals do to fight this current, extemely unjust, situation.
Please add my name to your list.
The BC government has broken the law: fundamental common law. A contract is an AGREEMENT between two parties. A contract is NOT enforced legislation. To quote Daryl Sturdy, one of the signees here and whose letter was published in the Now newspaper today, “THIS LAW IS AN ASS.” It is, in itself, undemocratic. It is, in itself, and according to United Nations’ recent declarations as well as basic British Commonwealth law, ILLEGAL.
Charles, I would like to sign this letter. I am a parent of 2 school aged children. I have to say I am unpleasantly surprised (I’m a Canadian
immigrant) what the provincial government can legislate without any conflicts with federal law or lawmakers. It seems a gross lack of checks
and balances. Good work.
Eric Mazzi
PhD Student, University of British Columbia, Canada
I am a fomrer highschool student of Creston, BC. During my years in the BC public school system I have seen the teachers take a lot of crap from the gervnment. They have managed to teach us stedents with textbooks older than what they are, or at least the text books look that way. There have been 40+ kids in some of my classes last year, and yet they managed to teach us each what we needed to know.
I am a proud supporter of the teachers, it is high time that they get thei demands met.
Please add my name to the list 🙂 I am a mother of three children, one of whom has special needs. There are not even services available to adequatley meet my eldest son’s needs. It’s high time the government supports it’s teachers. I have taken this opportunity to explain to my children exactly what is going on and the consequences our teachers may and are facing. Needless to say I wasn’t the only one appauled by Gordon Campbell and friends. Our family supports our BC teachers even though it’s tough having 3 kids out of school like this. We are teaching our children a very important lesson in that we must stand up for what we believe to be right, true and just, even if the government fails to uphold fairness and justice. Sometimes we must face persecution and despite the advantage the government has in this situation we will continue to back the BCTF. And just a suggestion, all you other parents out there..in this terrible weather, my children and I have done a few Tim Horton’s coffee runs for the two different local schools our children attend and it was sure appreciated 🙂 (and I know my kids enjoyed supporting their teachers in this way)
I consider teachers at Ecole Jules Quesnel my colleagues in helping raise 3 heathly, socially aware, bright boys to be contributing citizens. The role teachers play in the lives of each and every one of us is of huge value and we must compensate and resource them appropriately. It is our obligation to ensure that we nurture the very systems that support the health of our Society, not disempower and undermine them.
I have experienced the erosion of the public system over the last few years. We need to make a stance that we cannot take this any longer and will not be bullied.
I support the teachers in securing our childrens’ future.
Thanks for your efforts to counter this insane anti-education thing that keeps coming up in BC politics. I am reminded of a small, angry grade four boy who was in a lot of trouble at school many years ago, who was sent to me for a talk. We had a learning assistance teacher then, who thought a male teacher might be able to help. The boy said that when he “got big” he was going to get even; he was going to beat up little kids, because that’s what big kids did to him. (!) I do not think my efforts helped,to make him see the irrationality of his plan. But, who knows?
I am proud to be a teacher, proud of the teachers today who are standing up to Mr. Campbell. (Did little Gordon have a happy childhood, I wonder?)
Daryl Clayton, BEd