I was assigned by the Chair as Board representative to BCPSEA, the Bargaining Team for GVTA local issues, the Healthy Saanich Advisory Committee, and Success by Six. I was initially assigned as well to the Victoria Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Advisory, but the committee has not been in existence for four years as of my January inquiry to the City. I was informed by city officials at that time that it has not been replaced by an equivalent committee. This is regrettable on a few levels. It would have been an interesting liaison.

Attended:

• Healthy Saanich Advisory Committee April 19: the agenda included the Healthy Families BC consultation process, presented by Steve Meikle (who is also co-chair of Success By Six); presentations on the Saanich Strawberry Festival, and Open Government and Open Data, and the Saanich Food Festival. The was a lot of interet n this event and discussion included zoning issues and variety of foods, including vegan food education and options. Updates came in from from from the Saanich Community Association Network and from the Chair, Councillor Dean Murdock on grants; no one attended from the Saanich Youth Council. An update from the Director of Parks and Recreation, Doug Henderson, will be circulated later. Cycling and the Cedar ill Art gallery and studio space were mentioned.
• BCPSEA Representative Council, April 25: Pete Williams, BCPSEA Director and Gulf Islands trustee, is the SD61 BCPSEA liaison. At the Representative Council in Vancouver, one motion was submitted from SD39 Vancouver : That in order to support the success of mediation, that BCPSEA… set aside issues and proposals relating to teacher qualifications / suitability, control of professional development, and evaluation of teachers. The motion was defeated with 3 votes in favour.

Other liaison:

• Success By Six has not met recently. It is an umbrella organization I understand and funds many initiatives such as the 1000×5 Book Recycling Project, Accessible Options: Supporting Pregnant Teens, Books for Breakfast, Galiano Preschool Music Program, Local Early Years Networks, Moms and Mentors Program, Municipality of Saanich Early Childhood Development Strategy, Parent Mother Goose – Neighbourhood Houses, Parent-Child Play Group for Young Parent Families, Pender Island Child Care Hub , Saanich Peninsula On-Line Directory, Sooke Prenatal Program , UVIC Family Place, Victoria Conservatory Music Outreach Program , Victoria Good Food Box Program , and the Westshore Family Literacy Workshop Series .
• The last GVTA-Board bargaining session was held when I could not attend. I look forward to continuing on that team

School visits and events:

• Craigflower Friday parent socials, and school visit

• Shoreline Middle School Just Desserts music evening and silent auction: My bid on the Fender acoustic guitar was topped so I did not come away with this awesome guitar. Thank you to Shoreline organizers for the vegan dessert! Students presented a largely self-managed program of musical contributions to the evening. .
• Attended an event with Saanich News April 19 at Reynolds Secondary. A Saanich News reporter and photographer came to the school to interview Annelise, a student who in Paul Jung’s art class, who created a surreal and poetic pencil crayon work that I bought. I saw it when I came out from an Education Policy meeting at Reynolds. Sometimes art just calls to you and this creation called to me because of my long interest in cetaceans, and because of the extraordinary composition. It was Annelise’s first sale.

• James Bay Community School Art Gala, May 3

• View Royal School for informal visit and to learn more about Smart Boards, May 10

• Esquimalt PAC May 9. A busy PAC with many initiatives!

• McKenzie School Centennial Open House May 11.

BCSTA

• BCSTA AGM: The pre-conference workshop with BCSTA Parliamentarian John Noonan was valuable. It seems there is always more to learn about Robert’s Rules. The Aboriginal “Honouring Traditional learning” theme was notably successful and engaging. The opening Grand Entry was affecting, featuring students and several speakers, including a memorable address by His Honour Steven Point, Lieutenant-Governor. The Plenary speech by Dr. Evan Adams had everyone engaged, and was another unforgettable feature of the is exceptional AGM. Informative workshops, presentations, BCSTA elections and the business of the meeting followed over the next two days. Congratulations to Michael McEvoy, re-elected as President. The disposition of motions is available from me and will be on the BCSTA website soon

Other initiatives / Community:

• Attended the Cowichan School District 79 Board Meetings April 18, May 2 and May 16. It’s always instructive to attend other Board meetings, and Cowichan’s meetings are always interesting and informative. The May 16 major agenda item (meeting held at Mt Prevost Middle School) was the third reading of and vote (successful) on their Restoration Budget motion that has since received much media attention.

• Reading all BC School District websites. Now at District 38, Richmond. Districts and Board provide varying information. Some Boards have a page for press releases, and advocacy work. Some have public question periods on their agendas, for example Qualicum and Cowichan.
• Reading archived  minutes of SD61 Board meetings. Now at 2006, going back in time.
• Informal liaison with members of Victoria City Council with a focus on transparency and accountability to citizens.
• Jane’s Walk in Vic West May 6 (I have been assigned to the Esquimalt Group of Schools)

• Vic West Fest May 12

Thank you to the citizens of School District 61 electoral area for these opportunities!

The In Camera Meeting Bylaw (9360.1) states “Any matter brought to the public from an in-camera meeting will be done upon an approved motion of the Board.” Following that meeting a Committee of the Whole meeting took place.

That’s the report from those two meetings.

The regular OPPS meeting is chaired by Trustee Elaine Leonard, and  was attended by senior District staff as usual, and all trustees except for Trustee McEvoy who was absent. The meeting was audio-recorded. By whom and and for what purpose was not stated.  Two members of the public attended. At the Standing Committees, there is opportunity for questions from the public and dialogue with trustees. There is no provision for public questions at regular Board meetings.  Cowichan SD79 Board meeting agendas have a time for questions. I’ve seen it in action and it works very well.  Victoria City Council has an opportunity for public questions at “J” on every agenda.

Victoria City council also moves into “in camera” sessions or “Committee of the Whole” sessions as needed, by motion in the public meeting, as required by the Community Charter.

Councillor Ben Isitt has an interesting blog entry on increasing transparency at City Hall.

The OPPS agenda for May 14 is online. The minutes will be approved at the Board meeting on May 22.

There was no “Business Arising From Minutes”. Rob Paynter, who resides in School District 61, made two presentations to the Board about parent involvement in extracurricular activities, and class size and composition.

The ensuing extracurricular activities-related discussion touched on the possibility of parents organizing clubs completely outside schools as an alternative to school-connected clubs; whether or not a “sponsor teacher” is required on site, or a “sponsor teacher” is required at all, for a school-affiliated club to carry on activities; what liability issues might arise; whether or not VCPAC is the only “approved” channel for parent presentations of policy ideas to the Board ( a startling concept in democracy); that the Greater Victoria Elementary School Sports Association’s (hard to find website – never did find it) requirements that a teacher be present.

The class size and composition presentation was received, after Mr. Paynter made a verbal presentation. The proposal suggested that the Board “ …establish a policy of requiring class size and composition reporting, to include the distribution of students by grade level as well as those identified as ESL, International students, students with IEPs including gifted designations and the FTE (full time equivalent) allocation of educational assistants. Reporting to the Board would occur when student population changes result in class sizes exceeding legislated caps and at the beginning of each semester.” The verbal presentation touched on Bill 22 and the removal of requirements for such reporting.

Mr. Paynter also directed the Board in his written presentation to the Auditor General’s Guide for Boards . A pertinent quote from the Report: “Board members should not passively wait for management to supply information to them. Rather, they should work proactively to obtain the information they need to fulfil their responsibilities.”

Under “Finance and Legal Affairs”, there were 4 motions and an update.

Motion 1, Needs Budget, “recommended motion” from the budget committee (including Trustees Alpha, Horsman and and Orcherton) , carried unanimously. I voted for this, as my motion to submit only a needs budget failed. This was better than not submitting one at all, though what effect it will have is fairly predictable. The motion will go to the next Board meeting for final approval. (The Cowichan School District 79 Board will have third and final reading of their needs budget, the only budget they are submitting, on Wednesday, May 16.) [Note:It carried, 5-4.]

Motion 2, three readings of the Capital Bylaw in order to access provincial funds for maintenance and repairs was discussed as notice of motion for the next Board meeting, from Debra Laser, the Associate Secretary-Treasurer.

Motion 3, from Associate Superintendent Pat Duncan, part of the ongoing senior administration “policy housekeeping” effort, to delete a reference to Executive Council, which hasn’t existed for decades, in Bylaw 9221 Board Administration Relationships, carried unanimously.

Motion 4, from Pat Duncan, to delete Policy 2123.042 Supervisor of Accounting (last review of policy in 1982), and 2123.043 Supervisor of Personnel/Payroll (1980), carried unanimously as the positions no longer exist.

Superintendent / Secretary-Treasurer Gaiptman gave a verbal update on funding. Holdback money  from the province (about $280,000) was received earlier than expected this year. The bulk of money “saved” from the teachers’ strike went into the rather cynically named provincial Learning I Improvement Fund . SD61 Greater Victoria SD saved approximately $125,000 at the District level.

Under New Business, disappointingly, 3 of Trustee Loring-Kuhanga’s 4 motions failed, with one (#4) tabled for consideration  to the next Board meeting.

# 1 recommended establishment of a working committee to review policies and regulations that are seen to be contentious in discussion, , and to report back to OPPS. Currently contentious policy changes go back to senior administration, who recommended the changes. I voted in support.(It was difficult to get the vote count as votes are not recorded in the two standing committees.)

# 2 recommended provision of two opportunities on every Board meeting agenda for public questions. Wouldn’t you like to be able to ask questions of the people you pay, as a citizen? The Board is the  final place for motions to pass or fail, and not everyone can come out to two meetings a month – child care may be problematic, as well as other commitments. So although questions are a feature of the two Standing Committees, Ed Policy and OPPS, the Board meetings are much more rigidly managed.  Trustee Loring-Kuhanga’s motion failed as a tie vote , in this case 4/4, is an automatic fail (the chair voted and Trustee McEvoy was absent). For: McNally, Alpha, Nohr, Kuhanga. Against: Ferris, Horsman, Leonard, Orcherton.

# 3 recommended that the Board Chair and Vice-Chair change annually, and was ruled out of order by Chairperson Leonard, after objections to the motion by Trustees Leonard, Orcherton and Horsman, using reference to the School Act and objecting to “directing votes”.  Many organizations require term limits for an office, apart from an annual vote, and this is accepted by the membership as a desirable structure for ensuring distribution of responsibility. Section 67 of the School Act says that a majority trustees a can elect a new chair or vice chair at any time, but says nothing about establishing a policy regarding a compulsory rotation that could be provided for in policy. The motion failed 4/4, with the same vote as Motion 2.

# 4 recommended that the Board write a letter to the Minister of Education requesting restoration of special needs funding as per the BC Supreme Court ruling on Bills 27 and 28. Trustee Nohr clarified on request, and stated the amount was approximately $275 million{Correction, May 21: Trustee Alpha moved that this motion be tabled to the next Board meeting. That motion was carried.}

The meeting was adjourned. Next meeting is a regular meeting of the Board, Tuesday May 22, 7:30 pm. An in camera meeting will begin at 6:16 pm. 

The Record, Off the Record, is my voice, not the voice of the Board. Official minutes will be posted on the SD61 website after approval at the Board meeting.

“The Greater Victoria Board of Education met last night at a Special In-Camera meeting and  decided that they would ask their Superintendent, Mr. John Gaiptman, to also take on the dual role of Superintendent/Secretary Treasurer.  Mr. Gaiptman has been asked to provide the Board with regular reports regarding his assessment of the administrative needs of the School District.Mr. Ambeault will continue in an advisory capacity until mid to late June when his resignation comes into effect.”

After the in camera meeting, Trustees and senior administration who were present got a really wonderful, educational tour of the new Vic High tech education facility , the Fairey Tech Building.The old building was a warren of dark spaces. This new facility is light filled and supremely functional. Students from hairdressing, fashion design, autobody, metal , and electrical gave the tour, and they were articulate and confident guides. Principal Randi Falls listed the recent significant  awards the students won at the South Island Skills Canada Completion.

The Education Policy meeting agenda is online. Official minutes will  be posted after approval at the next Board meeting. This meeting is chaired by Trustee Catherine Alpha.

During approval of last meeting’s minutes, Trustee Loring-Kuhanga asked for an update on Associate Superintendent Sheri Bell’s statement that she would meet with Middle School Exploratory teachers, after hearing their detailed presentation at the last Ed policy meeting. Trying to make sure “exploratory” isn’t a part time mostly female employment ghetto is something this District has to address as it has been a very poor situation for those teachers sine the “Exemplary Middle School Model” was instituted here.  The situation is a “bargaining issue”, Board Chair Orcherton said, and shut down discussion.

The next business portion of the meeting consisted of 7 Policy and Regulation changes proposed by senior administration. Six Polices and Regulations were deleted with unanimous vote as the positions no longer exist. I always ask  for a history of the deleted positions as the history of the District is being erased with these Policy and Regulation deletions, to a great extent.

It was the revision to Policy 2120.030, to become “District Principal of Learning Initiatives” that was the impetus for intense discussion. Learning Initiatives consists of  four teachers seconded from the classroom full time, to present workshops. A District principal, Janine Roy, supervises them. The wording of the explanation and function of the position was seen to be seriously problematic by several Trustees. Associate Superintendent Bell described the offerings from Learning Initiatives  as “professional learning opportunities”, but the text of the policy and the Regulation referred to “professional development” connected to “educational change”.

The ensuring discussion was interesting and heated, with the Board Chair accusing Trustees McNally, Alpha, Loring-Kuhunga and Nohr of being overly focussed on one employee group, the teachers. That was  possibly because this policy only addresses teachers (and principals).

It is hard to believe after all the representations from the District’s teachers that past Boards have heard on the importance of maintaining a distinction between “professional development”  and “inservice’ – and Trustees Horsman, Ferris, McEvoy, and Orcherton were there for all of them over many years) that anyone would say the argument to replace “professional development” with “professional learning opportunities” was “just semantics” or “wordsmithing” and not a substantive argument. But those evaluations were made.

My  motion to repalce all “professional development” references with “professional learning opportunities” did not reach the table as the Committee Chair did not realize it was a motion to amend – my bad, as I was not clear about that, and it appeared to the Chair to be a new motion, while a motion was still on the table.Not allowed in Robert’s Rules.

Trustee Bev Horsman moved to refer the issue back to senior administration, who will bring it back to another meeting for further discussion.

It was an intense meeting. You had to be there. I hope you will be. Next meeting is OPPS, Monday, May 14, 7:30 pm. There will be an in camera meeting at 6 pm, before that.

As always, in The Record, Off The Record , I speak for myself, not the Board;   the conclusions are my own, and reports of votes are unofficial.

As a school trustee for School District 61, Greater Victoria, I was present at the recent BCSTA AGM, and voted with the majority of trustees to recommend administration of the FSA tests on a randomized basis (Times Colonist, May 2: “Student testing a useful measure”).

This test is described  as a “snapshot” of student achievement at a point in time in the school year. For this snapshot,students may be tested  on curriculum content they have not yet studied.This could  remedied by teachers “teaching to the test” as a friend related to me is the case in the classrooms of her niece  and nephew in New Jersey, but we have not got there in BC. Yet.Testing students on material they have not studied yet seems questionable practice.

Making inferences about a school’s “performance” on the basis of a statistically invalid sample size,for example a class of 34 in Grade 4, which can be heavily skewed
by the very high or very low scores of one or two  students each year, is also a  a questionable practice.Each year’s cohort of grade fours or sevens will be very different.
Ask any classroom teacher.

As for randomization doing away with access to the  the Fraser Institute’s school rankings, all one has to do to make a very good assessment of how a school is “doing” is to check the socioeconomic status of the families whose children  make up the majority of the students.Point variations from one year to the next in the Fraser Institute rankings are due to statistical variations that are invalid given the very small sample sizes in any one school. It is impossible to do a credible trend analysis with tiny sample sizes and with the samples uncontrollable for attributes.

Randomization of the FSA will not prevent parents from knowing about their child’s progressin a timely way. The yearly fall report card showing a “not meeting expectations” grade ora low letter grade is a clue. It’s also a call to parents to follow up with the teacher.  Teachers assess continually.

It’s hard to know what to make of the assertion that “It will also be impossible to follow individual pupils as they move through the early grades”. Parents will follow their child’s progress; teachers in the school will follow; principals will follow; student records will be sent to the new school if the child moves. It’s unclear how a one-time snapshot would make it possible to “follow individual pupils as they move though the early grades”.

Troubled and struggling children are followed by counsellors and school based teams that
often have regular liaison with outside agencies.the FSA test results mean about 1% in the big picture of a child’s life.

The FSA tests were never intended to identify “struggling teachers”. Principals in any
school know which teachers could benefit from  expert peer support available
through the BCTF, or other peer support resources.

Public school districts  have seen budgets cut by  millions of dollars over the last twelve years, while public tax dollars areincreasingly used to subsidize private schools’ small classes and exclusionary student selection practices.

Labelling any public school as “underperforming” is the result of a simplistic view  of the variables that create difficulty for the students in terms of academic achievement in that school. A more accurate term for such such a school would likely be “under-resourced”, since smaller classes and more learning support, with targeted intervention programs for struggling students especially in early years  could well turn things around.

But it’s easier to blame than to help, I suppose. Certainly it’s cheaper.

Of course, I am forbidden to report on anything that takes place in a secret “in camera“meeting. Some institutions, in the interest of transparency,  move items from the public meeting agenda where the topic is  stated in general terms, to an in camera meeting by a motion of the whole Board. SD61 has  in camera meetings set by the Chair before most open meetings.In camera items are generally limited to issues of land, legal, and personnel. SD61 policy stated in  Bylaw (9360.1) states these matters as “legal, property, personnel and privacy matters as defined by provincial legislation“. If I hadn’t already written a Master’s thesis I could probably get one out of exploring the current implications of and issues relating to  that statement.

But then I’d probably need to do a law degree. Hmmm. I did get accepted at that school in the NE US…

You can find the agendas on the SD61 website. Minutes aren’t put up on the SD61 page until they are approved at the next Board meeting. Thus, this account is  “Off the Record”.

(Motions had the name of the mover and seconder attached until c 2007. then that just stopped. No idea why. Didn’t  find any motion to that effect  as I read old hard copies of minutes pre-2008.)

Board Meeting April 16, 2012:

Recommended from Ed Policy: That the Board of Education School district 61 (Greater Victoria) adopts [sic] the revised Policy 6141.1, Board Authority Authorized courses.
Carried unanimously.

Recommended from OPPS: That the following Professional Development dates for the 2012-2013 School Year be approved: 1. Monday September 17, 2012   2. Friday, October 19, 2012 (Province Wide)  3. Friday, November 23, 2012   4. Friday, February 15, 2013   5. Friday, May 17, 2013   6. To Be Chosen By Each School    and further, the VPVPA, Exempt Staff, ASA, CUPE 947, CUPE 382 and VCPAC agreed that the dates for the Two-Week Spring Break be approved as March 11th to March 22nd, 2013.
Carried unanimously.

Under Secretary-Treasurer’s Report: Recommended motion: That the Board of Education of School District No. 61 (Greater Victoria) apply the $349,541 projected surplus to class size and composition. This motion was amended as I recall by Trustee Horsman, who specified amounts to be used for additional psychologist time to assist with the significant backlog in assessments for students who have been wait-listed, amounts for speech and language pathologist service, and additional EAs. Trustee Alpha had a similar motion on the agenda, which was rendered moot by Trustee Horsman’s amendment to Trustee Leonard’s motion (as were Trustee Horsman’s three motions that originally followed Trustee Alpha’s motion o the agenda. Trustee Horsman moved her three motions in effect ahead of Trustee Alpha’s by stating them as an amendment to Trustee Leonard’s motion  as I recall. (Trustee Alpha’s motion that did not get moved: That the Board of Education of School District No. 61 (Greater Victoria) use the $350,000 surplus to support classroom needs in September and October 2012, as follows: $100,000 for psychologist time to provide psycho-educational assessments for students in Grades K-3, and $250,000 for additional educational assistants, speech and language pathologists, and teachers of the hearing impaired.)
The motion was carried as amended, after discussion. You will have to wait for the published minutes for the exact motion. I’ll take better notes from here on! And let’s talk about how there can be a “surplus” while carrying an $8.5 million structural deficit.)

2012/2013 Annual Budget Bylaw: Upon completion of the budget deliberations, in order to pass the Annual Budget Bylaw at one reading, the Board must unanimously agree to give the Bylaw all three readings at one sitting. It is therefore recommended: That the 2012/2013 Annual Budget Bylaw be given all three readings at the Board meeting on April 16, 2012. (Motion to be carried unanimously).
The motion failed as I cast a negative vote, in order to allow my motion further along in the agenda to be considered: that the Board submit only a restoration / needs budget. (Update: The Cowichan Board has passed two of three readings to do exactly this. The  third and final reading and vote will take place on  May 16.) Because the vote was not unanimous, the third vote would  be taken as an email “poll vote”. The third vote was put out in email that same night and passed with a majority.

Budget motion: That the Board of School District no. 61 (Greater Victoria) 2012 / 2013 Annual Budget Bylaw in the amount of $194,366,227 be: Read a first time the 16 day of April, 2012; Read a second time time the 16 day of April, 2012.
Carried.
(The remainder of the motion came into effect when the third vote passed by email poll vote: And that the Secretary-Treasurer be directed to place the 2012-2013 annual budget in the format prescribed by the Ministry of Education and to submit all forms required.)

Needs Budget Proposal- Moved Trustee McNally: That the Board of Education of School District 61 (Greater Victoria) submit only a needs budget reflecting remedies for the ongoing structural deficit, and reflecting the costs for restoration of all service levels to the levels of service that existed in 2001.
Defeated: In favour: McNally, Alpha, Nohr, Loring-Kuhanga
Against: Ferris, Leonard, Horsman, McEvoy, Orcherton

Letter to the Minister of Education – Moved Trustee Nohr: That the Board of Education of School District 61 (Greater Victoria) write a letter to the Minister of Education calling on the Government to repeal Bill 22, and instead, have an independent mediator appointed through the Labour Relations Board.
Defeated: In favour: Nohr, McNally, Loring-Kuhanga, Alpha.
Against: Ferris, Leonard, Horsman, McEvoy, Orcherton.

Motion to adjourn: Trustee Ferris.Carried unanimously.

That’s understandable, in the current situation.

The vote to withdraw volunteer services that everybody takes for granted and expects to go on forever, is taking place in the context of ten years of frustration, knowing that Bills 27 and 28 (2002) would be found illegal and unconstitutional, but having had to live and work as if they were laws based on justice.

And after ten years of waiting for justice, Bills 27 and 28 were indeed found by the British Columbia Supreme Court to be unconstitutional and illegal. Teachers and citizens are well beyond frustration with a government that breaks its own laws to pass new expedient laws designed to specifically target public school teachers and union principles. The British Columbia Supreme Court gave this government until April to come up with a remedy for the destruction to public education created by Bills 27 and 28. What was the remedy this government chose? Bill 22, yet another ad hoc law further targeting union principles of fairness in hiring and transfer, further eroding the status of teachers as professionals and enshrining the complete dismissal of provisions for class size and composition. And in this context teachers are expected to happily continue to put in an astonishing number of volunteer hours every week while quietly waiting another ten years for Bill 22 to be found illegal and unconstitutional.

Principles of social justice are at stake. Principles of decent learning conditions for your children and grandchildren in classrooms, wood and metal shops, and labs are at stake. Teachers are trying to get your attention, and the reaction is condemnation for not continuing to provide free services.

Fundamental principles of justice are being attacked by a government that passes illegal laws, and knows it can wait for ten years for the courts to sort that out, and then will simply pass another potentially illegal and unconstitutional “law”. It’s a sad day when the law has to appear in quotation marks, but here we are. Teachers are the canary in this coal mine right now. It takes courage to put oneself in the way of so much disapproval and misunderstanding.

Public school teachers are standing in the front lines of the fight against erosion of rights and justice for all of us, and need citizen support, not criticism that relies on choosing to see only part of the picture, and that ignores the fact that with Bill 22, this government is thumbing its nose at justice in British Columbia.

Let’s re-write the title of his article: how about “School System Relies on Unpaid Volunteer Work By Teachers”, or “Teachers Expected By Everybody to Work for Free”?

This withdrawal of volunteer services that everybody takes for granted and expects to go on forever, because teachers have freely given uncounted hours of unpaid time to before school, noon hour, and after school activities for students, is taking place in the context of ten years of frustration, knowing that Bills 27 and 28 (2002) would be found illegal and unconstitutional, but having had to live and work as if they were laws based on justice.

And after ten years of waiting for justice, Bills 27 and 28 were indeed found by the British Columbia Supreme Court to be unconstitutional and illegal in a ruling on April 13, 2011. Teachers and citizens are well beyond frustration with a government that breaks its own laws to pass new expedient laws designed to specifically target public school teachers and union principles. The British Columbia Supreme Court gave this government until April to come up with a remedy for the destruction to public education created by Bills 27 and 28. What was the remedy this government chose? Bill 22, yet another ad hoc law further targeting union principles of fairness in hiring and transfer, further eroding the status of teachers as professionals and enshrining the complete dismissal of provisions for class size and composition.

And in this context Mr. Johnson expects teachers to happily continue to put in an astonishing number of volunteer hours every week while quietly waiting another ten years for Bill 22 to be found illegal and unconstitutional.

Principles of social justice are at stake. Principles of decent learning conditions for your children and grandchildren in classrooms, wood and metal shops, and labs are at stake. Teachers are trying to get your attention, and the reaction is condemnation for not continuing to provide free services

Fundamental principles of justice are being attacked by a government that passes illegal laws, and knows it can wait for ten years for the courts to sort that out, and then will simply pass another potentially illegal and unconstitutional “law”. It’s a sad day when the law has to appear in quotation marks, but here we are.

Teachers are the canary in this coal mine right now. It takes courage to put oneself in the way of so much disapproval and misunderstanding. Public school teachers are standing in the front lines of the fight against erosion of rights and justice for all of us, and need citizen support, not criticism like that from Mr. Jones that relies on choosing to see only part of the picture,  ignoring the fact that with Bill 22, this government is thumbing its nose at justice in British Columbia.

One of the most powerful ideas I took away was Joel Bakan’s statement in his plenary speech (made in the context of municipalities rejecting the Enbridge pipeline) that there is a legislated mandate for local governments, and there is a democratic mandate which addresses bigger picture questions and decisions that affect us all locally. (I was inspired to finally watch The Corporation, the dvd version of Bakan’s book of the same name. If you’ve somehow escaped seeing it, as I had until this week, it’s powerful and essential viewing, or reading if you prefer a book. After finishing The Shock Doctrine, I had to take a break from dense reading for a while! Back on track now with Tony Judt’s Ill Fares The Land.) I will be drawing on this concept as the budget process goes forward in School District 61. The vote on the 2012-13 budget is set for April 16.

The other major concept that ran through all presentations is the power and importance of everything local. That means you.

The first event on Friday March 30 was a tour of some of the sacred and ancient places of major significance to the Chehalis First Nation. We heard engaging stories meant to make us think about moral choices and behaviour, and instilling respect for all beings, while travelling the lake on the comfortable Sasquatch Toursboat. Yes, the owl rock looks like an owl! But I could not see the bear in the rock, who was an important figure in the story. We were told a highway is going to run along the lake making a one hour trip to and from Whistler, and a development will come up over the hill and right down to the lake. As “progress” encroaches, the people of the Chehalis First Nation are defending their territory’s important and sacred places by making them known through these excellent tours.

I didn’t attend the evening screening of the movie version of Sherman Alexie’s (Sherman’s own website is sparse so here’s the wikipdia version) Smoke Signals  as I saw it many years ago, but if you haven’t seen it, it’s a compelling stereotype buster. And funny. And heartbreaking.

During any one time frame over these two extraordinary days there was always a choice of workshops. After the lake tour, I attended former Saanich School District Secretary – Treasurer Joan Axford‘s clear presentation that explained how the Ministry of Education’s covert policies of strategic underfunding of public education and ad hoc, capricious funding announcements that don’t make up for cuts and losses work to undermine our public  schools. (Meanwhile, public tax dollar subsidies for private schools increase.) The “public bad, private good” mindset is obvious. Ministry of Education “Factsheets” feature graphs presented in such a way that you’d think funding is through the roof. Looking at school district budgets, not the pretty graphs, you will see the real story: structural deficits in many districts, because of the Ministry of Education’s chronic underfunding. (School District 61 has carried a multimillion dollar structural deficit for several years in an effort to maintain services to children with special needs, and has reached the end of one-time cuts as a temporary offset.)

I attended Making Schools Safer for the second half of the afternoon, in the aptly chosen Rainbow Room.  Why isn’t it enough to have a generic anti-discrimination policy? This presentation from Larry Hayes, Christopher Spencer, and Sarah Hoffman  made the answer clear. Larry Hayes took us through the process of anti-homophobia policy development in Burnaby. A death threat to the Chair of the Board was part of the very intense process. Christopher Spencer’s first motion after his election to the Edmonton Public School Board was a motion to create an anti-homophobia policy, which is now in place. Greater Victoria benefits from the long-term work of former SD61 Trustee and Columbia Institute Executive Director Charley Beresford’s work on Safe Schools and the development of Policy 4303, Discrimination. Its title is not  indicative of a specific  anti-homophobia policy, but the associated Regulation  has attached an extensive addendum of Recommendations in regard to addressing homophobia.

And later that afternoon, my first sort-of Pecha Kucha! I love this format! Gaetan Royer spoke  with passion about parks and community; Alice Finall spoke about local agricultural initiatives in North Saanich (sadly, the Sandown initiative recently failed in a council vote) ; Lisa Helps (Victoria City Councillor)  explained how microfinance can contribute to community connections; Sarah Blyth  presented a very affecting review of the development of a Downtown East Side  Women’s Homeless Soccer team and the community that developed.

Joel Bakan inspired us with his dinner plenary speech – Joel is the first speaker I’ve listened to who didn’t speak nearly as long as I wished he had. Others echoed that thought. Then a short time in the Harrison pools in a light rain, steamy fog rising from the pool, the moon above, and vital ideas and energy all around.

Saturday began with a breakfast plenary. Betty Baxter was an Olympic level athlete and coach who was fired in 1982 for her sexual orientation. Betty is now a Board of Education Trustee for the Sunshine Coast District 46. Her story links to the lives of those all around us who lived though those days, and for those of a new generation who still live with the effects of subtle or not so subtle bigotry. Betty wore her mother’s yellow spring jacket, and left me remembering the strength of that colour on her, her own personal strength, like warm light.

I attended the Participatory Budgeting presentation after the plenary. This workshop was targeted at municipal councillors and examined community group participation in specific sections of municipal council budgeting, with Guelph as an example of the 1200 cities worldwide that are attempting this. There are possible applications for increased citizen engagement in school district budgeting. In West Vancouver SD Vancouver SD45, students at Ridgeview Elementary participated in school level budgeting in 2005. This was Canada’s third experiment in participatory budgeting.  I was somewhat disappointed as the huge amount of community work around participation seemed to me to be confined within very narrow parameters of budgeting, but it’s a start and the education and organization component is significant and complex. The phrase “the tyranny of the majority”  came up; in decision making it is essential to have mechanisms to ensure minority views are not ignored or devalued. (If you’ve ever participated in consensus based decision making, you might have some strong reactions, as I do, about the tyranny of consensus, too. It can happen.) This is an exciting area and I have a lot to learn about it.

Later that morning (the schedule could be said to be brutal, but I’ll call it “exhilarating” really, it was ) an Emerging Issues Panel featured Amber Hockin (CLC) , George Heyman (Sierra Club) , David Fleming, and Taylor Bachrach, who introduced himself as “Boy Mayor of Smithers: The Same as a Mayor Only Younger”. Taylor stood out with his good humour and sharp political focus. Smithers council passed a motion  to oppose the Enbridge pipeline, an example of Joel Bakan’s broader democratic mandate.

For the last part of the afternoon, I attended Case Studies in Trustee Advocacy. “Building from a well-established district culture of public engagement, some trustees have effectively stood their ground on budget needs despite pressure from the province. How do trustees nurture that culture and how does that culture nurture their advocacy?” MaryLynne Rimer, former Saanich Trustee,  was an excellent facilitator and presenter, as was Trina Ayling  I was left with the questions and concerns I had going in: What does a culture of public engagement look like, and do we have that in SD61? What does “effective” look like, in this context – getting a bit more of not enough? And what is considered “advocacy” in this context – another polite letter to a bureaucrat? I didn’t encounter as much boldness as I had hoped for.

The closing plenary brought together Seth Klein, Joel Bakan, Amy Robinson, and Tyee founder David Beers. The discussion touched again on the democratic mandate of local governance, one that goes beyond the local mandate.

There is a larger responsibility for all of us, a democratic mandate requiring courage, clarity  and commitment, and these two intense days at Harrison inspired me to keep that precept close as School District 61 approaches this year’s vote on the 2012-13 budget, with the draconian  Bill 22 in the background.

When the Law and Ethics Collide

Geoff Johnson’s writing on public education always stops me in my mental tracks, but not for the right reasons.

Johnson (who refers to himself as a “retired superintendent of schools”, but of which schools remains a mystery), in “Illegal school board budgets an ethical issue” (Times Colonist March 21) turns his selective attention to the possible rejection by some school trustees of annual School District budgets.

These budgets are crafted by school district senior administration who put significant effort into complying with the inadequate, unpredictable, inconsistent and capricious funding given to School Boards by the Ministry of Education via the Treasury Board. These budgets are presented to School Trustees, the representatives of partner groups and the few members of the public who attend a few meetings to discuss and analyze them to the best of our collective ability. Complete understanding of a School District line item budget requires financial understanding beyond what most citizens have.

Trustees have at least a big picture understanding of the general financial status of their school district, but in many school districts trustees do not have access to the entire line item budget without employing notable insistence. Once received, the line item budget is a convoluted document that requires a great deal of explanation by financial experts, which again is not in all districts easily accessed. Certainly, the time constraints on staff is one reason.

Working in the general understanding arena, what I know as a trustee from reading the line item budget, the general statement budget, the audited budget, asking uncounted questions, reading every comment made by any participant in a recent survey of partner groups for School District 61, and taking into account the comments from the few citizens who attended round table meetings (equivalent events are scheduled by School Districts all across the province), is that in the words of one representative participant, “There is nothing left to cut”.

Johnson has conveniently narrowed his attention by making no reference to the International Labour Organization’s (a UN body) 2003 citing of the BC Liberal government for repeatedly violating the rights of thousands of public sector employees by refusing to negotiate contracts and by using legislation to arbitrarily enforce its will. (Sound familiar?)

Johnson also neglects to mention that in 2001, this government arbitrarily designated public education an essential service under the Labour Relations Code. Critically important, yes. Essential service like emergency health care or policing, no. Also unmentioned is the April 13, 2011 Supreme Court of British Columbia ruling in regard to Bills 27 and 28 (enacted in 2002): that those laws that took away collective bargaining rights from teachers were unconstitutional – unconstitutional! – and in breach of the CanadianCharter of Rights and Freedoms.

Understandably, the BCTF will be mounting a legal challenge to Bill 22, passed on March 14 with considerable opposition, and certain to be found to be illegal as were Bills 27 and 28.

Citizens expect legislation to be based on more than the exercise of raw power, and to be enacted for better reasons than expedience. The laws enacted by this government in regard to public education have the worst of motivations.

Martin Luther King Jr. said “ An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law. “

If I have to choose between standing with the makers of unjust laws, or with Martin Luther King Jr, you know where you can find me.

Solutions for Our Public Education System

Our public education system is on the brink of destruction and turmoil. I could tell you about how this Liberal government has demoralized, devalued and disrespected teachers in our province, but I am sure that, by now, you are aware of this. So, I would like to focus on the positive point that there are solutions to this severe problem. There are, in fact, 7 solutions that could take place right away to solve this dispute and put money into education.

1) Positive leadership by the Liberals – I would like to propose that the Liberals focus on positive leadership versus bullying tactics. Here is the difference.

Bully equals:

Belittles
Undermines Teachers
Legislates Contracts & Concessions
Lies to make themselves sound good
Youth damaged as a result

Leader equals:

Listens
Effective
Attitude of Positive Change
Difference made (positive)
Efficient
Reasonable & fair deals for all

Bullying brings upon negative results and Leadership has positive results. So, what choice will our government continue to make? Will they continue down the same path of destruction? As we know, there are always consequences for our poor choices.

I came across Christy Clark’s speech on Anti-Bullying day as I was watching my son in the flash mob his school participated in. She stated, “If we stand up to bullies, we make a difference”. I am wondering what difference she is meaning – a positive one that evokes change or a confrontational one that evokes hostility? We, the teachers, are taking Christy Clark’s advice and are standing up to the bullies of the Liberal government and we will do so in solidarity as she has asked us to do.

Christy Clark then went on to say that the most important thing to do if you see bullying is “step in because bullies don’t exist if no one is watching them. They need attention. They need people to support them to keep doing it and they will not be able to bully if you stand up when you see someone being bullied. You say, ‘I am not for that, that is not okay with me and you have to stop it right now’.” So, I will try to take Premier Clark’s advice and stand up in solidarity to the Liberal government and I would like to ask her to listen to her own words and demonstrate being a good role model to the youth she explained this to. My son is very confused that Premier Clark told him what to do with bullies, but then turns around and acts like a bully to teachers. I told him that perhaps we should take her advice and see if it works. So, I challenge Christy Clark to take her own advice and make a positive difference because I am telling you “I am NOT for that, that is NOT okay with me and you have to stop it right NOW!” Are you listening??? It is very ironic that she stands up in front of our students to protest how to deal with bullies and then she turns around and tries to bully the teachers into a legislated contract while tying their hands so that they are not able to negotiate. What message are you trying to send??? We are all very confused. Bill 22 will cause more money to be lost in courts to only be found as yet another illegal action by our government. The positive leader position would have had an independent mediator appointed, but instead we get negative leadership with Bill 22. Life is all about choices!

2) Be truthful with regards to the HST transition fund – Yes, let’s be truthful in the BC 2012 Budget. Don’t mislead the public by overstating the budget to get yourselves re-elected. I understand the need to balance the books, but to lie to the public to make yourselves look good in election year is appalling. Did you know that the government has 5 years to pay off the HST transition fund with no interest? So, they claim that they are paying off 1.6 billion (the total amount) in the 2012 year when it really is $320 million that should be claimed for the 2012 year. So, the real budget shortfall is only 1.2 billion instead of the 2.5 billion the government claims. But won’t they look good when they come out of this year with an extra 1.3 billion!

3) $33 million saved from teacher’s strike – Use the $33 million that teachers have given up to stand in solidarity and support education ($11 million is saved each day of strike action). Again, let’s be truthful…Bill 22 could’ve been passed by Sunday, March 4th if the Liberals wanted to. The Liberals have the majority of seats and the question could have been called to vote on the Bill once the debate time was concluded. But, the Liberals chose to not sit in the legislature to debate the Bill over the weekend and in all honesty, are simply waiting for teachers to give up their wages once again for education (we gave up 10 days of wages in the last strike = $110 million). Yes, another cost savings that can be used to support public education.

4) Cut expense accounts or limit them for government employees – I have just learned that not every BC government employee is at Net-Zero. Deputy Minister of Education, James Gorman’s salary in 2006 was $164,085. He received a raise of 40% in just 5 years for a salary of $228,942 in 2011. That is not actually the shocker… during that period, Gorman’s expenses were $136,616!! That is more than I make in a year. I can’t even fathom spending that much of tax payers’ money on meals, hotels, etc. Apparently, James Gorman wasn’t as big of a spender as Rick Davis, the Education Ministry’s Superintendent of Achievement who spent $432, 234 from 2006 to 2011!!! A Bill should be passed to limit the amount of spending one can do with tax payers’ money and then use the savings to support our children. What would our children think if they learned that a government employee spent all of the money for education on taking others out for lunch? It is time to brown bag your lunch in “tough economic times”. It is time to show what this government is made of and look for solutions. Why are there 40-48% raises given out for the rich in government, but others have to go by the “net-zero mandate”???

5) Stop using taxpayers’ dollars to fund private schools. Did you know that 85% of private and independent schools are partially funded by the BC government? They receive between 35-50% of public school per-pupil grant, depending on the category of the school. Why does the government fund private schools when private schools are a choice? There is a public school available for every student in our province, but some parents choose to send their children to private school (actually about 65,000 students). So, independent and private schools receive more than $150 million annually! I wonder if the number of students attending private schools has risen in the last 10 years of destruction of the public system…my guess is that it has! That is a parent’s choice to send their child to private school, but that doesn’t mean that we should fund both systems with tax payers’ money. If you choose to go to a more expensive school then that is your choice, but you always have the choice to go to a public school at no cost. Now, with Christy Clark’s child in private school, I realize that this idea of cutting funding to private schools is not on her top list of priorities, but she is one example of someone who can afford to fully fund her child’s education if she chooses to send her child to private school. So, let’s stop funding two systems of education which creates a tiered system of education.

6) Stop using education money to administer FSA assessments. Did you know that this costs $20 per student at 4th and 7th grades every year? This is money that could be directly put into our classrooms. The FSA testing is not accurate and the results are misused.

7) Stop the radio and T.V. ads – Let’s save the huge amounts of money being spent on the ads for education. Instead, let’s see the money go straight into education.

What we have lost from education over the last 10 years is approximately 3.3 billion with all the cuts the Liberals have made. I ask the question – where did all of this money go? Was it to pay for the Olympics? Is that why this money had to be cut from our schools? The BC Supreme Court has found the government’s actions to be unconstitutional and illegal. So, the Liberals decide that they will save face by implementing a $165 million Learning Improvement Plan. Are you kidding me! Let me do the math: $165 million does NOT equal $3.3 billion.

Our government owes it to us to be fair and govern truthfully. It is time to value public education and look for solutions…there are many to choose from. I can find 1.3 billion from the HST transition fund claim; $33 million savings from the teacher’s strike; millions from reducing expense funds for government employees; $150 million put into private schools and I am sure there are many more solutions out there. It is all about the choices we make and what we value in our society. So, don’t tell me that there is no hope in a negotiated settlement. We need an independent mediator to bring both sides together and find some solutions. Let’s get to the real issue here. We need more money for education and we need to find it somewhere. We need a restraint-style budget for our government employees. So, there are solutions for funding even under the “net-zero mandate”.

Written by:
Miila Pullan
Teacher in Greater Victoria District