Mediator Vince Ready threw up his hands yesterday and declared the teachers and the province are “just too far apart to come to a facilitated agreement or any kind of a negotiated agreement.” He cancelled discussions and made non-binding recommendations to both parties.

For the full story click here.

BCCPAC Press Conference
by Judith Ince

BCCPAC’s president, Kim Howland told a press conference today that, “BCCPAC members strongly agree that there was no crisis in public education until teachers went on strike. ” She said that because BC’s students continue to score highly on international tests, get into prestigious universities and graduate in increasing numbers, there is clearly no other crisis.

Moreover, she said, teachers are striking illegally and defying court orders; they should get back to work post-haste.The government’s responsiblity is to provide adequate resources for funding.

She reiterated BCCPAC’s opposition to class sizes being a part of the teachers’ contract.

A parent from Coquitlam said there has been violence against a teacher who does not support the strike; when pressed, however, he could give no details.

A student said because of the strike, she is missing her chance to apply to Harvard, Acadia, Oxford and Cambridge because she doesn’t have marks to submit.

Reporters asked the group some tough questions. Mike Bothwell (Citytv) said that although BCCPAC says it’s not choosing sides in this fight, Howland’s press release (not distributed to parents) echoed all the government’s main
points. Howland denied this.

Another reporter asked what BCCPAC has been doing for the past three years about growing class sizes and underfunding . Howland said the group has been “talking” about it to the government. I think it was this same reporter who suggested that her group seems to have been unsuccessful in persuading the government to give enough resources for, say, smaller classes. Howland said there is “no data” on the effects of underfunding.

Bothwell asked whether BCCPAC has been polling parents to find out their views. Howland said no, but she’s in “constant communication” with parents.

Howland said 40% of BCCPAC’s budget comes from the provincial government, but the rest rest comes from memberships.

As most of you can tell, there were some unfortunate errors and omissions in today’s press conference. The number of resolutions passed at BCCPAC AGMs urging the government to adequately fund education suggests that parents perceive a worsening financial crisis in education. BCCPAC laments the lack of “hard data” showing the effects of underfunding, but had it acted on a resolution passed in 2003 to track deficits in resources, it would now have two years of data on hand.

As to the funding of BCCPAC, the last Annual Report posted on its website says that 8%–not 60%–comes from membership fees. The Ministry of Education provides the larges chunk of funding (63%) as core and project-based funding. See Annual Report 2004 for details.

As a matter of interest, BCCPAC’s annual budget has jumped from $665,285 in
2001 2001 Annual Report to $853,361 in 2004, an increase of 28%.

More than 500 people rallied on the steps of the Scarfe Building/Faculty of Education UBC at noon today in a show of support for BC’s public school teachers. Speakers from student, faculty, staff unions spoke out in support of the teachers. Vancouver teacher, Paul Orlowski, echoed many speakers when he called attention to the vested interest of Campbell and his business buddies. Teachers are standing up for a civil society in which opposition to an unjust law is a just action, Orlowski commented. The leaders of the three UBC CUPE locals spoke strongly in support of the teachers. They reminded the university that there are over 5,000 CUPE workers at UBC.

For pictures and additional info click here.

Parents and students in Premier Campbell’s riding joined teachers on the picket line Tuesday

Parents, students and neighbours from Queen Mary Elementary School, in Premier Gordon Campbell’s Point Grey riding joined teachers on the picket line on Tuesday, October.

The families made signs and walked the picket line to show community support for the teachers.

Queen Mary School is located at 2000 Trimble Street, in Vancouver. View map here.

Oct. 19/05Thank you to everyone who participated in the show of support for Queen Mary teachers yesterday. We had a great response and lots of media coverage. In addition to the CKNW. CBC TV, City TV coverage yesterday, and a nice photo in The Province this morning, these are some links to the media coverage from yesterday’s QM rally. I also think the Courier has something coming out today. It is my hope that strong shows of support for teachers will encourage the government to work with them to reach a speedy and fair resolution to the current crisis. I am also pleased to report that some parents at Kit Secondary and holding their a rally tomorrow. – Patti

The Globe and Mail

Metro Vancouver

Vancouver 24 hrs

Capturing the essence of the moment . . .”
Source The Tyee (read the article “Why the ‘No Pay’ Ruling may Boomerang.”)

Now that our online journal presence is up and running (go to newproposals.ca) we have changed the name of our blog site to In Support of Public Education. This blog will continue as a forum of discussion and news related to supporting public education such as the 2005 BC Teachers’ Strike as well as our ongoing web publishing project.

The BC government has pushed debate into the evening to rush passage of Bill 12. You can read and view live the proceedings at the following link: Hansard Record. The members of the opposition are doing an amazing job raising points against this bill.

Dear All,

For the moment this blog is being temporarily dedicated in support of the BC Teachers Strike. We will return to ‘normal’ after Bill 12, which imposes a contract on teachers, has been withdrawn

In solidarity,

Charles

PS: A combination of factors came together and the blog never returned to it’s original purpose. It remains a blog in support of public edcuation. The journal is on a separate site www.newproposals.ca.
crm, may 7, 2007

UBC Library has agreed to host our journal, New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Anthropoogy, on their web server! We will be one of a growing num ber of online journals featured by UBC in their new electronic library.

We are currently working on the style and format of our on-line journal. To take a look, click on New Proposals Journal
.

New Proposals will be published online using the Open Journal System.

More news to follow.

This is an experiment in setting up and developing a fully online journal of marxist anthropology that will be called ‘New Proposals.’ Eventually the journal will be published online at New Proposals.

The day to day management of the journal will be operated by an Editorial Collective (see N.P. Project Team on side bar). An international panel of scholars and activists will provide advice, guidance, and support and will form our Advisory Panel.