Thousands Rallied in Victoria today demanding the recall of Bill 12 and a return to democratic rights. For coverage of the event visit Wayne Ross’ blog.
As grassroots support builds across BC a recent Ipsos-Reid poll finds that the majority of BC’ers back the teachers. And, BCCPAC take note, if you have a child in public schools you are way more likely to be supporting the teachers!
A group of UBC faculty members are organizing a Support Our Teachers-Defend Public Education Teach-In and Rally.
WHEN (TODAY!) Wednesday. Teach-in 12-1. Rally at 11:30.
WHERE at the Scarfe Building, UBC (click for map).
SPEAKERS representing the university community will address the issues of the strike, how we can help as individuals and community members, and the implications of the government actions for all of us.
PDF poster for Teach-In. Download file.
Click here for more info.UBC attempts to silence dissent and the right to free assembly. Download the UBC memo.
BC Teachers’ Federation Rally and March on the Legislature Grounds
WHEN 11:00 – 2:45. Monday, October 17, 2005
DETAILSGather between 11:00 a.m. and 12:15 pm at Centennial Square. March down Government Street to the Legislature. Rally from 1:30 – 2:45 p.m.
Parents, Trustees, Union Sisters and Brothers and community groups are all invited to join in.
Download a poster for this event click here.
Location
11:00 AM -12:15 PM – Centennial Square
1:30 PM – 2:45 PM – Rally at the LegislatureLetter from sos-talk, the email list that originated in the Save Our School movement in 2002
We invite families to join us in our plans to march and rally at the Legislature on Monday – it will be the first Social Studies field trip of the year for our two sons. This is an excellent “first-hand” learning opportunity/teaching moment! In fact, we will join my parents and will represent three generations fighting for a quality public education system.
We originally grappled with the inconvenience, cost, time, etc. involved in making this trip, but concluded that after witnessing the steady erosion of services and opportunities for all students, and investing heavily personally in time and effort to fight for improved conditions and funding, if not now, when?
And, to all of you who are showing support for the teachers in myriad ways, thank you. I know the teachers on our school’s picket line are most appreciative and are bolstered by all of you!
Debbie Broadley
Support our Teachers Demo @ UBC!
Attention UBC Faculty, Staff, Students.
A support demo is being organized for Thursday, October 13, at 9:00 am on the ‘grassy knoll just to the east of the Asian Centre and immediately below the Music Building (West Mall and Memorial Road).
This is a Vancouver School Site (The University Transition Program) and has an active picket line.
Click here for map.
Pass the word!
Tell the government your priorities for using B.C.’s huge budget surplus
A legislative committee is asking the public to tell them online how to spend the extra $1.3 billion. The choices are tax cuts, more public services, salaries of public sector workers, or paying down the deficit. It takes five minutes to fill out their questionnaire.
See budget consultations.
Join the picket line with other parents and community members 7:30 am Wed.! Bring an apple to show you care!
WHERE: U. Hill Secondary.
WHEN: 7:30 am Wed. October 12.
WHAT TO BRING: Good cheer and an apple for our teachers!
Regular brigades of parents are joining picket lines across Vancouver and the province. This is only one of many such visits. Let’s show we care: Join a picket line near you!Parents and local UBC union members joined teachers on the picket line this morning at University Hill Secondary School. Parents from the U. Hill PAC Executive and other community schools joined with CUPE members to show our support for the teachers’ strike.
BCTF President, Jinny Sims and representatives of the Canadian Federation of Teachers Associations, walked the picket line with the local teachers. A gathered crowd os journalaists asked questions about the legaility of the strike, the extent of support, and the key issues in the dispute.
As parents we appreciate how hard the teachers work and what a major and significant step this strike is. We are with you!
For another view plus pictures of the picket line click here.
Rally in support of teachers at the BC Liberal Cabinet Offices, Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre, 999 Canada Place, Vancouver.
Date: Tuesday, October 12.
Time: 5:30 pm.
Organized by the BC Federation of Labour
Simultaneous rallies planned throughout the province on Tuesday. For details see BC Fed ‘Coming Events’ page.
This morning one of my sons and I visited a number of Vancouver teacher picket lines. Our first stop was our neighbourhood school, U. Hill. Secondary, to distribute the message of support from the U. Hill PAC. We also took the opportunity to hand out copies of the support letter being circulated through this blog. From there we visited teachers at U. Hill Elementary, Queen Mary, Kitsilano Secondary, Lord Bing Secondary, Jules Quesnel, and Queen Elizabeth before returning home.
At each stop teachers expressed warmth and appreciation for all of the support that we are providing. Teachers from all of the areas reported strong moral support from passing drivers and others, like my son and I who stopped to talk. At Queen Mary a local parent and her children were serving coffee to the dozen or so teachers on the picket line. At Kitsilano a student teacher dropped by to give his support. VSB school trustee Noel Herron was also making his rounds listening to the concerns of teachers on the line.
While Ms. Bond may feel that a day out of school is a learning opportunity lost, my son and I have a different opinion. We learned a lot from the teachers we spoke with and I am pretty sure that My son has gained a very important lesson about the willingness of working people to stand up for their rights and the willingness of our teachers to stand up for public education!
In Solidarity,
Charles Menzies
Hello All,
Vancouver DPAC would like to thank you Charles for setting up this weblog! We need a way to collect parent input during this strike and would like to ask you to collect some info. for us on this blog. Since we’re going to be supporting our kids leaning at home for the next while (hopefully a short while), we’d like to trade coping strategies and hear what is going on with parents. We met with our BCTF reps. this morning and will pass any information on to them, and they will try to help – grade 12 students are worried about entrance requirements and the BCTF is working this out with the universities. The BCTF conveyed that they want to go to the bargaining table, and ask that we encourage the government to join them there.
Vancouver DPAC acknowledges that, in our district, learning conditions have been deteriorating and everyone should get back to the table and improve them.
Thanks!
Claudia Ferris Vancouver DPAC
[Please post comments related to this posting. thanks weblog ed]