- $3,000 = amount spent on training new teachers since September (9.6 days)
- 4 after school sessions (2 in Fernie, 2 in Parkland) for previously trained teachers wishing refresher time. (37 teachers have taken part)
- Similar sessions in February
- Marks program costs in 2004 (various providers) $24,549 plus support/up-grades, etc.
- Report Writer = $1,500 / year
- BCeSIS costs $10 per FTE, or approximately $52,000 including upgrades per year.
Monday, December 14, 2009
BCeSIS
From the Superintendent's report to the Board of School Trustees (December 8th, 2009).
Friday, December 11, 2009
School Twinning with a School in Namibia
Imagine a classroom where the students sit on a log from a lack of chairs and write using their thighs for support of a notebook. This is the situation of the Omutwewomhedi Primary School (Grades 1 to 7) in the north of Namibia.
Namibia has made significant improvements since it became independent from South Africa in 1989. However, it still has serious problems, some of them carryovers from the apartheid system of segregation imposed by South Africa.
Many of the improvements have been uneven. New facilities in the urban areas are considerably better than those in rural areas. The Omutwewomhedhi school is in one of the isolated rural schools.
Most of the classrooms are still made of sticks with a thatch roof. It is too isolated to have electricity. Some students walk up to 10 km to get to school and many are orphans in a country with high rates of HIV/AIDS.
This school is looking for a twin (or twins) that can help with improving the material resources of the school and make a connection with the students.
If you are interested, you can get more information from Larry Kuehn (lkuehn@bctf.ca).
Namibia has made significant improvements since it became independent from South Africa in 1989. However, it still has serious problems, some of them carryovers from the apartheid system of segregation imposed by South Africa.
Many of the improvements have been uneven. New facilities in the urban areas are considerably better than those in rural areas. The Omutwewomhedhi school is in one of the isolated rural schools.
Most of the classrooms are still made of sticks with a thatch roof. It is too isolated to have electricity. Some students walk up to 10 km to get to school and many are orphans in a country with high rates of HIV/AIDS.
This school is looking for a twin (or twins) that can help with improving the material resources of the school and make a connection with the students.
If you are interested, you can get more information from Larry Kuehn (lkuehn@bctf.ca).
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Online Wellness newsletter - check it out!
Welcome to WELL. Its main goal is a commitment to helping you become well. Wellness, in all its different forms, is a complex topic but at the end of the day we want to be able to join with you, our readers, and say, “Life may not always be easy but it is good and I am joyful in spite of my circumstances, not because of them."
CLICK THIS LINK TO GO TO THIS ISSUE
http://m1e.net/c?80773648-HmBqsMwbyk/TA%404860684-pbVN7jGCptCvM
To subscribe:
http://www.mailermailer.com/x?oid=1006586z
Their address:
1110 Maple Road | North Saanich, British Columbia | Canada | V8L 5P5
CLICK THIS LINK TO GO TO THIS ISSUE
http://m1e.net/c?80773648-HmBqsMwbyk/TA%404860684-pbVN7jGCptCvM
To subscribe:
http://www.mailermailer.com/x?oid=1006586z
Their address:
1110 Maple Road | North Saanich, British Columbia | Canada | V8L 5P5
Health and wellness course....
The Living With Balance program information can now be found on the BCTF website here:
http://www.bctf.ca/SalaryAndBenefits.aspx?id=20266
There is a link to a current schedule of courses booked for January, an online application, as well as the ability to download a print application.
http://www.bctf.ca/SalaryAndBenefits.aspx?id=20266
There is a link to a current schedule of courses booked for January, an online application, as well as the ability to download a print application.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Superintendent Salaries
The Ministry is required to disclose all salaries over $125,000. Can you say "superintendent salaries"?
The district reports are located here (http://www.aved.gov.bc.c/psec/disclosure.htm#education)
Janet Steffenhagen references this data on her blog.
The district reports are located here (http://www.aved.gov.bc.c/psec/disclosure.htm#education)
Janet Steffenhagen references this data on her blog.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Bills 27 and 38 update - our Collective Agreement!
On the morning of Dec ember 3rd, 2009, lawyers for BCTF and Government appeared in BC Supreme Court before Chief Justice Robert J. Bauman for a case management meeting regarding the BCTF Charter Challenge to Bill 27 - Education Services Collective Agreement Act and Bill 28 - Public Education Flexibility and Choice Act - legislation in 2002 that imposed a collective agreement, stripped that agreement of crucial learning and working conditions provisions and severely restricted the scope of bargaining.
The purpose of the appearance was to determine the schedule for exchange of documents, written argument and reply. As well, court dates to actually hear the case were established.
The schedule, as it now stands, is as follows:
· January 29, 2010 - BCTF affidavit evidence to be finalized and submitted.
· February 28, 2010 – Government affidavit evidence to be finalized and submitted.
· March 31, 2010 – BCTF reply to affidavit evidence of Government.
· April 30, 2010 – BCTF written argument submitted.
· May 14, 2010 – Government written argument submitted.
· May 28, 2010 – BCTF reply to written argument of Government.
· June 14 – 18, 2010 – Court dates. (five days currently scheduled).
The purpose of the appearance was to determine the schedule for exchange of documents, written argument and reply. As well, court dates to actually hear the case were established.
The schedule, as it now stands, is as follows:
· January 29, 2010 - BCTF affidavit evidence to be finalized and submitted.
· February 28, 2010 – Government affidavit evidence to be finalized and submitted.
· March 31, 2010 – BCTF reply to affidavit evidence of Government.
· April 30, 2010 – BCTF written argument submitted.
· May 14, 2010 – Government written argument submitted.
· May 28, 2010 – BCTF reply to written argument of Government.
· June 14 – 18, 2010 – Court dates. (five days currently scheduled).
Friday, November 27, 2009
Required H1N1 Exposure Control Plans
All districts and all schools in the province are required to have current and effective Exposure Control Plans (ECP) in place, particularly in light of the H1N1 pandemic. BCPSEA has given direction to school boards regarding what is required by the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation.
For an ECP to be considered effective:
· The ECP must be written and available for review;
· The ECP must be distributed to all staff;
· The ECP must be communicated to all staff;
· Staff must be trained on the requirements and procedures of the ECP; and
· The employer must ensure the ECP is functioning as intended.
The plan has been updated to reflect the current understanding of H1N1 and recommendations by WorkSafeBC.
Facts About H1N1 Influenza
Symptoms
Seasonal flu affects people to varying degrees, with symptoms including headache, fever, fatigue, sore throat, and runny nose. In some cases, secondary infections such as pneumonia may develop. Symptoms of H1N1 influenza are likely to include high fever (higher than 38°C) and a cough.
Transmission
The BC Centre for Disease Control advises that influenza is communicable for 24 hours before the onset of symptoms and 3–5 days afterward (this may be longer in some children and some adults). H1N1 influenza is spread in the same way that seasonal influenza is spread.
Responsibilities (Staff and Students)
Stay home when you’re sick or have influenza symptoms.
Avoid close contact with people who are sick. If you are sick, keep your distance from others to protect them from getting sick.
Wash your hands.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.
Practice other good health habits. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage stress, drink plenty of fluids, eat nutritious foods, and avoid smoking, which may increase the risk of serious consequences if you do contract the flu.
If you have an influenza-like illness, stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them. See a health care provider if your symptoms become worse but call ahead of time to let them know you have an influenza-like illness.
If Staff or Students Show Symptoms of Influenza
If staff or students are ill with influenza, they should stay home. If they develop symptoms of influenza while at school or work, they should leave the school or workplace. Schools should promptly isolate students or staff who become ill with symptoms of influenza while in school in a room/area separate from others with adequate supervision until they can go home.
Schools will follow the protocols in place to notify parents/guardians if their child becomes ill with influenza while at school.
Children who become ill with influenza while at school will be sent home with their parent or guardian and not travel on school buses. If there is no other option and the child must ride a school bus, it is recommended that staff ensure the child sits on a seat by themselves and is able to cover their mouth and nose with a tissue.
Staff and students should only return to school or the workplace once they have recovered from influenza and no longer show symptoms. Staff should inform their manager or supervisor if they are ill with influenza.
Health Monitoring
Staff will promptly report any symptoms of the H1N1 influenza to their manager/supervisor and the first aid attendant.
For an ECP to be considered effective:
· The ECP must be written and available for review;
· The ECP must be distributed to all staff;
· The ECP must be communicated to all staff;
· Staff must be trained on the requirements and procedures of the ECP; and
· The employer must ensure the ECP is functioning as intended.
The plan has been updated to reflect the current understanding of H1N1 and recommendations by WorkSafeBC.
Facts About H1N1 Influenza
Symptoms
Seasonal flu affects people to varying degrees, with symptoms including headache, fever, fatigue, sore throat, and runny nose. In some cases, secondary infections such as pneumonia may develop. Symptoms of H1N1 influenza are likely to include high fever (higher than 38°C) and a cough.
Transmission
The BC Centre for Disease Control advises that influenza is communicable for 24 hours before the onset of symptoms and 3–5 days afterward (this may be longer in some children and some adults). H1N1 influenza is spread in the same way that seasonal influenza is spread.
Responsibilities (Staff and Students)
Stay home when you’re sick or have influenza symptoms.
Avoid close contact with people who are sick. If you are sick, keep your distance from others to protect them from getting sick.
Wash your hands.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.
Practice other good health habits. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage stress, drink plenty of fluids, eat nutritious foods, and avoid smoking, which may increase the risk of serious consequences if you do contract the flu.
If you have an influenza-like illness, stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them. See a health care provider if your symptoms become worse but call ahead of time to let them know you have an influenza-like illness.
If Staff or Students Show Symptoms of Influenza
If staff or students are ill with influenza, they should stay home. If they develop symptoms of influenza while at school or work, they should leave the school or workplace. Schools should promptly isolate students or staff who become ill with symptoms of influenza while in school in a room/area separate from others with adequate supervision until they can go home.
Schools will follow the protocols in place to notify parents/guardians if their child becomes ill with influenza while at school.
Children who become ill with influenza while at school will be sent home with their parent or guardian and not travel on school buses. If there is no other option and the child must ride a school bus, it is recommended that staff ensure the child sits on a seat by themselves and is able to cover their mouth and nose with a tissue.
Staff and students should only return to school or the workplace once they have recovered from influenza and no longer show symptoms. Staff should inform their manager or supervisor if they are ill with influenza.
Health Monitoring
Staff will promptly report any symptoms of the H1N1 influenza to their manager/supervisor and the first aid attendant.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Private control of water....
FLOW: For Love of Water is a new documentary that takes on the global water crisis. (FLOW stands for “For Love of Water.”)
http://www.agreenerindiana.com/video/flow-for-love-of-water
The movie looks at the real costs of bottled water (and the disclosure that a good portion of bottled water is nothing more than TAP WATER).... and how the public access to water is being controlled more and more by private-for-profit companies like Coke and Pepsi.
Ity is more than well worth watching - and showing your students too!
Excerpts from the interview about the movie:
"IRENA SALINA: FLOW. FLOW is a journey. .... “Who owns water?” .... is water going to be the next oil of the twenty-first century? ..... I ... started exploring pollution, the have and the have-not, who owns water around the world, and as well as what I called transparent pollution, which is things in our water that we absolutely have no idea about it, ....."
"MAUDE BARLOW: ...at the recent Olympics ... in China. Coca-Cola was one of the official sponsors, and you couldn’t bring water, even your own bottled water, in. You had to only—you could only get Coca-Cola water. I would love to know how many bottles of Coke water were thrown away and to add to the pollution in China.
...first of all, it’s the corporate takeover of water, and it makes people think that what comes out of their tap doesn’t matter. So you’re not going to be prepared to keep your taxes going for infrastructure repair. And that’s the most important thing, is clean, accessible, safe public water.
http://www.agreenerindiana.com/video/flow-for-love-of-water
The movie looks at the real costs of bottled water (and the disclosure that a good portion of bottled water is nothing more than TAP WATER).... and how the public access to water is being controlled more and more by private-for-profit companies like Coke and Pepsi.
Ity is more than well worth watching - and showing your students too!
Excerpts from the interview about the movie:
"IRENA SALINA: FLOW. FLOW is a journey. .... “Who owns water?” .... is water going to be the next oil of the twenty-first century? ..... I ... started exploring pollution, the have and the have-not, who owns water around the world, and as well as what I called transparent pollution, which is things in our water that we absolutely have no idea about it, ....."
"MAUDE BARLOW: ...at the recent Olympics ... in China. Coca-Cola was one of the official sponsors, and you couldn’t bring water, even your own bottled water, in. You had to only—you could only get Coca-Cola water. I would love to know how many bottles of Coke water were thrown away and to add to the pollution in China.
You know, this is part of what I call the movement towards creating a global cartel of water, kind of like we have a global cartel of energy, where, you know, the day may come ... that every drop of water will be spoken for privately by a corporation, whether it’s bottled water, utilities, you know, the service of, delivery of your water, recycling, desalination ... At every phase, water will be corporately owned, because we are a planet running out of fresh, clean water, ....
...first of all, it’s the corporate takeover of water, and it makes people think that what comes out of their tap doesn’t matter. So you’re not going to be prepared to keep your taxes going for infrastructure repair. And that’s the most important thing, is clean, accessible, safe public water.
Secondly, it’s polluting. Massive amounts of plastic, massive amounts of energy used in the creation and transportation of bottled water, CO2 emissions. And it’s also quite poisonous. I mean, the plastic itself leaks chemicals. People say to me, “Well, I got a great deal at Wal-Mart on my water.” “Why do you think you got a great deal? It’s been sitting there for six months. You should not be drinking it.” ... it’s unregulated. And it’s less safe than your good, clean, safe tap water, which is what needs to be the goal here."
Retiring in December 2009?
All Teachers’ Pension Plan members whose pensions take effect in December 2009. Normally, pension payments are made at the end of each month, but in December this year payments will be processed earlier because of the timing of statutory holidays.
Payments to plan members whose pensions become effective on December 1 this year will be paid on December 23. Therefore, we must receive these members’ completed retirement forms no later than December 14 to allow us time to process their pension payments by December 23. If we receive members’ completed forms after December 14, their first pension payment will be in January at the earliest.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Teachers’ Pension Plan by e-mail at TPP@pensionsbc.ca or by phone at one of the following numbers: 250 953-3022 (in Victoria), 604 660-4088 (in Vancouver) or 1 800 665-6770 (in the rest of BC).
Payments to plan members whose pensions become effective on December 1 this year will be paid on December 23. Therefore, we must receive these members’ completed retirement forms no later than December 14 to allow us time to process their pension payments by December 23. If we receive members’ completed forms after December 14, their first pension payment will be in January at the earliest.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Teachers’ Pension Plan by e-mail at TPP@pensionsbc.ca or by phone at one of the following numbers: 250 953-3022 (in Victoria), 604 660-4088 (in Vancouver) or 1 800 665-6770 (in the rest of BC).
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Employee Family Assistance Program news!
Our Cranbrook-based EFAP provider and the FDTA have reached an agreement whereby they will have access to the FDTA back office (on a confidential basis of course) in order to have a place in the Valley to meet with clients in a quiet confidential setting.
You still need to contact the service provider @ 250-417-7296. Now, you don't have to travel to Cranbrook!
You still need to contact the service provider @ 250-417-7296. Now, you don't have to travel to Cranbrook!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
How much goes to legal fees?
Janet Steffenhagen’s blog talks about how much money school boards spend on legal fees. SD5 is mentioned (Southeast Kootenay, $71,555)!
So, go to her blog and read about school district payments to Harris & Co. You might find it interesting: http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/reportcard/archive/2009/10/27/school-districts-and-the-money-spent-on-harris-amp-co.aspx.
So, go to her blog and read about school district payments to Harris & Co. You might find it interesting: http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/reportcard/archive/2009/10/27/school-districts-and-the-money-spent-on-harris-amp-co.aspx.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Someone to watch out for?
I have never done this before. What if I don't do anything and something happens?
The FDTA office received a fax from the Elk Valley Animal Clinic's fax number.
The fax was a document from the State of Florida's sex offender watch list.
The fax I received states that this man is currently in Fernie, and planning to stay here for the winter season.
Here is the link to the profile that was faxed to this office this morning.
Since it is from a public website, there should not be any issue of privacy. Having said that, this is for member information only.
The FDTA office received a fax from the Elk Valley Animal Clinic's fax number.
The fax was a document from the State of Florida's sex offender watch list.
The fax I received states that this man is currently in Fernie, and planning to stay here for the winter season.
Here is the link to the profile that was faxed to this office this morning.
Since it is from a public website, there should not be any issue of privacy. Having said that, this is for member information only.
Influenza A (H1N1): What you need to know...
October 2009 (thanks to SD6 for this)
• Know Your Level of Risk
• Will Schools Be Closed?
• Protect Yourself and Others
• Know Your Rights to Safe Work
Teachers are expressing concern about the coming flu season and, in particular, the threat of an Influenza A pandemic. Influenza A is a group of influenza viruses including H1N1 and Avian Flu, to name two of the more concerning strains.
This is a somewhat detailed document. However it is not possible to cover all scenarios and situations.
.....
Know Your Level of Risk
Teachers must judge their own vulnerability, and talk to their doctors now about a plan if they have concerns.
There are two specific groups who are at a higher level of risk: people with compromised immune systems and women who are pregnant. If you are at a higher level of risk, make an appointment to see your doctor and, if your doctor believes that you should not be exposed to influenza, get a note to make your administrator aware. Copy the note to [the union] office.
Ask your administrator if there are confirmed cases of Influenza A at your worksite. If so, you have the option of asking for an accommodation to work at another site, or requesting a medical leave until you have been vaccinated.
Teachers teaching on call who are at a higher risk should also seek medical advice and, if your doctor believes that you should not be exposed, ask for a note to have on hand should you be working at a site with reported cases of influenza. TOCs who are at higher risk should ask about numbers of confirmed cases at the school site to which they are being called.
For some, this plan may include refusal of unsafe work as soon as Influenza A is suspected in a school, not when the teacher becomes symptomatic. The union will support this process, which is explained more fully in a following section.
....
Protect Yourself and Others
• Get reliable information on dealing with influenza (www.fightflu.ca for example).
• If you are sick, stay home!
Know Your Rights to Safe Work
The Workers’ Compensation Board (also known as WCB and “WorkSafe BC”) has an Occupational Health and Safety Regulation (3.12.1) that governs unsafe work. It says:
“A person must not carry out or cause to be carried out any work process or operate or cause to be operated any tool, appliance, or equipment if that person has reasonable cause to believe that to do so would create an undue hazard to the health and safety of any person.”
This means that any worker has the right to refuse unsafe work under these terms.
However, keep in mind that the final decision will be made by a WCB Prevention Officer. These officers will treat Influenza A or any communicable disease as one that is a “community spread and acquired infection”. Their interpretation is that, even though schools are identified as “amplification points” for community borne illnesses, you have as much chance of picking up the virus at the grocery store, movie theatre, or from other members of your family as you do at work.
There is no reason that a member cannot exercise this right as each decision is done on a case by case basis. Workers exercising these rights are not subject to discipline during any investigation by WCB. Once a Prevention Officer has made a decision, though, the worker and employer must comply with any order issued.
In summary, members have the right to refuse unsafe work. However we cannot predict any outcomes of exercising this right as WCB Prevention Officers may view Influenza A as a community and not a workplace infection.
• Know Your Level of Risk
• Will Schools Be Closed?
• Protect Yourself and Others
• Know Your Rights to Safe Work
Teachers are expressing concern about the coming flu season and, in particular, the threat of an Influenza A pandemic. Influenza A is a group of influenza viruses including H1N1 and Avian Flu, to name two of the more concerning strains.
This is a somewhat detailed document. However it is not possible to cover all scenarios and situations.
.....
Know Your Level of Risk
Teachers must judge their own vulnerability, and talk to their doctors now about a plan if they have concerns.
There are two specific groups who are at a higher level of risk: people with compromised immune systems and women who are pregnant. If you are at a higher level of risk, make an appointment to see your doctor and, if your doctor believes that you should not be exposed to influenza, get a note to make your administrator aware. Copy the note to [the union] office.
Ask your administrator if there are confirmed cases of Influenza A at your worksite. If so, you have the option of asking for an accommodation to work at another site, or requesting a medical leave until you have been vaccinated.
Teachers teaching on call who are at a higher risk should also seek medical advice and, if your doctor believes that you should not be exposed, ask for a note to have on hand should you be working at a site with reported cases of influenza. TOCs who are at higher risk should ask about numbers of confirmed cases at the school site to which they are being called.
For some, this plan may include refusal of unsafe work as soon as Influenza A is suspected in a school, not when the teacher becomes symptomatic. The union will support this process, which is explained more fully in a following section.
....
Protect Yourself and Others
• Get reliable information on dealing with influenza (www.fightflu.ca for example).
• If you are sick, stay home!
Know Your Rights to Safe Work
The Workers’ Compensation Board (also known as WCB and “WorkSafe BC”) has an Occupational Health and Safety Regulation (3.12.1) that governs unsafe work. It says:
“A person must not carry out or cause to be carried out any work process or operate or cause to be operated any tool, appliance, or equipment if that person has reasonable cause to believe that to do so would create an undue hazard to the health and safety of any person.”
This means that any worker has the right to refuse unsafe work under these terms.
However, keep in mind that the final decision will be made by a WCB Prevention Officer. These officers will treat Influenza A or any communicable disease as one that is a “community spread and acquired infection”. Their interpretation is that, even though schools are identified as “amplification points” for community borne illnesses, you have as much chance of picking up the virus at the grocery store, movie theatre, or from other members of your family as you do at work.
There is no reason that a member cannot exercise this right as each decision is done on a case by case basis. Workers exercising these rights are not subject to discipline during any investigation by WCB. Once a Prevention Officer has made a decision, though, the worker and employer must comply with any order issued.
In summary, members have the right to refuse unsafe work. However we cannot predict any outcomes of exercising this right as WCB Prevention Officers may view Influenza A as a community and not a workplace infection.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Pension contribution rates to increase
It is official! You will be paying more into your pension plan as of July 1st, 2010.
From the TPP website under "whats new" (http://www.pensionsbc.ca):
(excerpts)
Teachers’ Pension Plan member and employer contribution rates will each increase by 1.04 per cent of salary starting July 1, 2010. The Teachers’ Pension Board of Trustees approved this contribution increase after receiving an independent actuarial valuation showing the plan had an unfunded liability for basic pension benefits of $291 million on December 31, 2008......
The primary reasons for the 2008 unfunded liability of $291 million are the assumption of conservative future investment returns, an expectation of a longer life span for our retirees, and salary increases for our members that were higher than previously expected.
....
The new contribution rates (as a percentage of salary):
Member 10.20% (below YMPE), 11.70% (above YMPE)
Employer 13.33 % (below (YMPE) 14.83 % (above YMPE)
* The YMPE is the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for the Canada Pension Plan. The YMPE for 2009 is $46,300.
Complete purchases of service before July 1, 2010 to save Purchase of service costs are based on salary and contribution rates. For more information about purchasing service, please see the plan’s website at tpp.pensionsbc.ca.
From the TPP website under "whats new" (http://www.pensionsbc.ca):
(excerpts)
Teachers’ Pension Plan member and employer contribution rates will each increase by 1.04 per cent of salary starting July 1, 2010. The Teachers’ Pension Board of Trustees approved this contribution increase after receiving an independent actuarial valuation showing the plan had an unfunded liability for basic pension benefits of $291 million on December 31, 2008......
The primary reasons for the 2008 unfunded liability of $291 million are the assumption of conservative future investment returns, an expectation of a longer life span for our retirees, and salary increases for our members that were higher than previously expected.
....
The new contribution rates (as a percentage of salary):
Member 10.20% (below YMPE), 11.70% (above YMPE)
Employer 13.33 % (below (YMPE) 14.83 % (above YMPE)
* The YMPE is the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for the Canada Pension Plan. The YMPE for 2009 is $46,300.
Complete purchases of service before July 1, 2010 to save Purchase of service costs are based on salary and contribution rates. For more information about purchasing service, please see the plan’s website at tpp.pensionsbc.ca.
From the Vancouver sun - can you believe this?
Teachers urged to critique Games; Vancouver BCTF local promotes event called Teaching 2010 Resistance. Vancouver Sun, Thu Oct 15 2009 . Janet Steffenhagen
B.C. teachers are being urged to expand their lessons about the 2010 Olympics beyond government-approved curriculum to teach students about corporate greed, exploitation, misuse of public funds and environmental degradation.
The Vancouver Elementary School Teachers' Association (VESTA) is promoting an event later this month called Teaching 2010 Resistance, which is intended to help teachers raise critical questions about the Olympics.
The event, at Lord Strathmore elementary, is being organized by the Olympic Resistance Network (ORN), which is coordinating anti-Olympic efforts, and Teach 2010, a website that encourages teachers to share resources critical of the Olympics.
The groups say the Games are more than a sporting event.
"The Olympics are not about the human spirit and have little to do with athletic excellence," ORN says on its website. "They are a multi-billion-dollar industry backed by real estate, construction, hotel, tourism and media corporations, and powerful elites working hand in hand with government officials and the International Olympic Committee (IOC)."
VESTA past-president Glen Hansman said his union isn't affiliated with ORN and hasn't taken a position on the Olympics but agreed to advertise the event knowing that teachers have been involved in developing some of the resources. He said the event will be an opportunity for teachers to discuss the Olympics from a different perspective -- considering issues such as homelessness, poverty and the government's decision to spend $500,000 on its 2010 curriculum while also cutting grants for arts groups, school sports programs and school districts.
"I'm glad that there's a group of teachers and community activists who are trying to come up with some [additional] materials that might be useful in a classroom setting," he said in an interview Wednesday.
Patti Bacchus, chair of the Vancouver board of education, said she hopes teachers will take a critical look at the Games and delve into issues such as doping, corporate sponsorship and Olympic-inspired public investments.
Just last week, the Vancouver board discussed the importance of Olympics education rather than boosterism, she said, and decided if students are going to be involved in events, "there has to be an educational component -- it can't just be to provide a cheering section."
Bacchus wouldn't comment on the union's promotion of Teaching 2010 Resistance, saying that's not the board's business. "What they [teachers] do in our classrooms certainly is our business and at this point I've had nothing to indicate they wouldn't do anything but behave as responsible professionals."
Hansman said teachers -- like members of the public -- have mixed views about the Olympics. "Some are very keen on the Olympics being here and the educational opportunities that will create. We have other members who are really concerned about the Olympics . . . and will use this as an educational experience to do some of the critical thinking."
The B.C. Teachers' Federation (BCTF) said it has not taken a position on the Games and is not supporting either pro or anti groups. Unlike its Vancouver local, the BCTF is not promoting the Teaching 2010 Resistance event.
Asked for her response, Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid issued a statement: "Freedom of Speech is a fundamental underpinning of our nation and everyone has the right to voice their opinion -- even about the 2010 Winter Games."
B.C. teachers are being urged to expand their lessons about the 2010 Olympics beyond government-approved curriculum to teach students about corporate greed, exploitation, misuse of public funds and environmental degradation.
The Vancouver Elementary School Teachers' Association (VESTA) is promoting an event later this month called Teaching 2010 Resistance, which is intended to help teachers raise critical questions about the Olympics.
The event, at Lord Strathmore elementary, is being organized by the Olympic Resistance Network (ORN), which is coordinating anti-Olympic efforts, and Teach 2010, a website that encourages teachers to share resources critical of the Olympics.
The groups say the Games are more than a sporting event.
"The Olympics are not about the human spirit and have little to do with athletic excellence," ORN says on its website. "They are a multi-billion-dollar industry backed by real estate, construction, hotel, tourism and media corporations, and powerful elites working hand in hand with government officials and the International Olympic Committee (IOC)."
VESTA past-president Glen Hansman said his union isn't affiliated with ORN and hasn't taken a position on the Olympics but agreed to advertise the event knowing that teachers have been involved in developing some of the resources. He said the event will be an opportunity for teachers to discuss the Olympics from a different perspective -- considering issues such as homelessness, poverty and the government's decision to spend $500,000 on its 2010 curriculum while also cutting grants for arts groups, school sports programs and school districts.
"I'm glad that there's a group of teachers and community activists who are trying to come up with some [additional] materials that might be useful in a classroom setting," he said in an interview Wednesday.
Patti Bacchus, chair of the Vancouver board of education, said she hopes teachers will take a critical look at the Games and delve into issues such as doping, corporate sponsorship and Olympic-inspired public investments.
Just last week, the Vancouver board discussed the importance of Olympics education rather than boosterism, she said, and decided if students are going to be involved in events, "there has to be an educational component -- it can't just be to provide a cheering section."
Bacchus wouldn't comment on the union's promotion of Teaching 2010 Resistance, saying that's not the board's business. "What they [teachers] do in our classrooms certainly is our business and at this point I've had nothing to indicate they wouldn't do anything but behave as responsible professionals."
Hansman said teachers -- like members of the public -- have mixed views about the Olympics. "Some are very keen on the Olympics being here and the educational opportunities that will create. We have other members who are really concerned about the Olympics . . . and will use this as an educational experience to do some of the critical thinking."
The B.C. Teachers' Federation (BCTF) said it has not taken a position on the Games and is not supporting either pro or anti groups. Unlike its Vancouver local, the BCTF is not promoting the Teaching 2010 Resistance event.
Asked for her response, Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid issued a statement: "Freedom of Speech is a fundamental underpinning of our nation and everyone has the right to voice their opinion -- even about the 2010 Winter Games."
Thursday, October 1, 2009
New info on BCTF website!
Have your say on your pension!
Full indexing of your pension is not guaranteed. Decisions will be made after plan members are consulted. Over the next two months, the BCTF is looking for input from you, members of the pension plan, to give the Teachers’ Pension Board of Trustees feedback on options that meet the financial needs of both active and retired members of the pension plan. Complete the online survey and read the supporting documents.
http://www.bctf.ca/SalaryAndBenefits.aspx?id=19748
The BCTF Task Force on TTOC Work in BC is seeking submissions from BCTF members.
Referenced on: http://www.bctf.ca/OpportunitiesForMembers.aspx
http://www.bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/Opportunities/TTOC-call.pdf
Status of Women web page – revised!
The BCTF Status of Women Action Group has developed the content for our revised status of women web page. It includes lesson plans, resources, workshops, and advocacy.
http://www.bctf.ca/SocialJustice.aspx?id=6282
Full indexing of your pension is not guaranteed. Decisions will be made after plan members are consulted. Over the next two months, the BCTF is looking for input from you, members of the pension plan, to give the Teachers’ Pension Board of Trustees feedback on options that meet the financial needs of both active and retired members of the pension plan. Complete the online survey and read the supporting documents.
http://www.bctf.ca/SalaryAndBenefits.aspx?id=19748
The BCTF Task Force on TTOC Work in BC is seeking submissions from BCTF members.
Referenced on: http://www.bctf.ca/OpportunitiesForMembers.aspx
http://www.bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/Opportunities/TTOC-call.pdf
Status of Women web page – revised!
The BCTF Status of Women Action Group has developed the content for our revised status of women web page. It includes lesson plans, resources, workshops, and advocacy.
http://www.bctf.ca/SocialJustice.aspx?id=6282
Wal-Mart breaks the labour code?
Wal-Mart's closing of unionized store breached Labour Code, arbitrator finds
By closing its first unionized outlet in North America in 2005 and throwing some 190 employees out of work less than a year after union certification was granted and before a first contract could be achieved, U.S.-based retail giant Wal-Mart violated a prohibition in the Quebec Labour Code against changing "the conditions of employment" of employees after an application for certification had been filed, a Quebec arbitrator has found. The arbitrator held that it did not suffice for Wal-Mart to invoke unspecified "business reasons" for the store closing and the resulting layoffs, without explaining satisfactorily what those reasons were.
The rest of this report is available at: http://www.lancasterhouse.com/
By closing its first unionized outlet in North America in 2005 and throwing some 190 employees out of work less than a year after union certification was granted and before a first contract could be achieved, U.S.-based retail giant Wal-Mart violated a prohibition in the Quebec Labour Code against changing "the conditions of employment" of employees after an application for certification had been filed, a Quebec arbitrator has found. The arbitrator held that it did not suffice for Wal-Mart to invoke unspecified "business reasons" for the store closing and the resulting layoffs, without explaining satisfactorily what those reasons were.
The rest of this report is available at: http://www.lancasterhouse.com/
World Teacher's Day - October 5th
The joy of teaching, Lake Country Calendar, Tue Sep 29 2009. (Jim Taylor)
Next Monday, October 5, will be World Teachers' Day.
The United Nations launched the first World Teachers' Day October 5, 1994. It has been largely ignored on the same date every year since then.
And that's tragic. Because if our worldwide civilizations are ever going to drag themselves out of the slough of ignorance, prejudice, bigotry, and general incompetence they're mired in, it will only be through education.
The most stupid thing the Campbell government in B.C. has done, in my opinion, was to pinch pennies on education funding. A school, remarked author Lon Watters, "is a building that has four walls, with tomorrow inside."
Or as business consultant Andy McIntyre put it, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!"
(Confession: I filched several of these quotations from Education International, a federation representing 30 million teachers in 172 countries and territories.)
In the explosion of knowledge that has come in the last century, we are increasingly dependent on teachers. Few parents can adequately prepare their children for the modern world. The best that we parents, and grandparents, can do is to foster an attitude towards this mushroom cloud of information. But teaching how to make sense of that cloud, how to sift relevant information from irrelevant, requires professional skills.
Author John Holt - ironically, a proponent of home schooling - commented, "Since we can't know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead, we should try to turn out people who love learning so much that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned."
Good teachers instill that love of learning. Bad teachers destroy it. I'm astonished how many people tell me they can't sing, because their Grade One teacher told them to stand at the back and just move their mouths.
They also learn not to raise their hands, not to volunteer, for fear of ridicule - either from the teacher directly, or indirectly from classmates.
Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton has been often ridiculed for opening a novel with the cliché, "It was a dark and stormy night..." But he suggests wisely, "The best teacher is the one who inspires a listener with the wish to teach himself."
Bad teachers tend to value order and discipline, believing themselves to be in control. Mark Twain famously described a classroom as "trying to hold 35 corks under water at the same time."
Good teachers, on the other hand, revel in the chaos that often accompanies spontaneous discovery.
I know I'm coming close to treading on a landmine here, but our current pre- occupation with healthcare strikes me as a lesser concern. As American educator Ernest Leroy Boyer noted, "A poor surgeon hurts one person at a time. A poor teacher hurts thirty."
One final quotation, this one from Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock, The Third Wave, and Powershift: "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."
Next Monday, October 5, will be World Teachers' Day.
The United Nations launched the first World Teachers' Day October 5, 1994. It has been largely ignored on the same date every year since then.
And that's tragic. Because if our worldwide civilizations are ever going to drag themselves out of the slough of ignorance, prejudice, bigotry, and general incompetence they're mired in, it will only be through education.
The most stupid thing the Campbell government in B.C. has done, in my opinion, was to pinch pennies on education funding. A school, remarked author Lon Watters, "is a building that has four walls, with tomorrow inside."
Or as business consultant Andy McIntyre put it, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!"
(Confession: I filched several of these quotations from Education International, a federation representing 30 million teachers in 172 countries and territories.)
In the explosion of knowledge that has come in the last century, we are increasingly dependent on teachers. Few parents can adequately prepare their children for the modern world. The best that we parents, and grandparents, can do is to foster an attitude towards this mushroom cloud of information. But teaching how to make sense of that cloud, how to sift relevant information from irrelevant, requires professional skills.
Author John Holt - ironically, a proponent of home schooling - commented, "Since we can't know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead, we should try to turn out people who love learning so much that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned."
Good teachers instill that love of learning. Bad teachers destroy it. I'm astonished how many people tell me they can't sing, because their Grade One teacher told them to stand at the back and just move their mouths.
They also learn not to raise their hands, not to volunteer, for fear of ridicule - either from the teacher directly, or indirectly from classmates.
Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton has been often ridiculed for opening a novel with the cliché, "It was a dark and stormy night..." But he suggests wisely, "The best teacher is the one who inspires a listener with the wish to teach himself."
Bad teachers tend to value order and discipline, believing themselves to be in control. Mark Twain famously described a classroom as "trying to hold 35 corks under water at the same time."
Good teachers, on the other hand, revel in the chaos that often accompanies spontaneous discovery.
I know I'm coming close to treading on a landmine here, but our current pre- occupation with healthcare strikes me as a lesser concern. As American educator Ernest Leroy Boyer noted, "A poor surgeon hurts one person at a time. A poor teacher hurts thirty."
One final quotation, this one from Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock, The Third Wave, and Powershift: "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."
Friday, September 25, 2009
Recruitment and Retention Allowance 2010
Members, a friendly reminder that the recruitment and retention allowance has increased for 2009-2010 by 2.5% (as per Provincial CA Article B.1.2.g). The new allowance for this school year will be $2255.
This applies to all teachers in the Elk Valley/South Country.
On your September pay stub, the amount for September should be 10% of this ($225.50) Please check your stub, and if there is a mistake, copy the stub and give it to your staff rep., who will then contact me.
This applies to all teachers in the Elk Valley/South Country.
On your September pay stub, the amount for September should be 10% of this ($225.50) Please check your stub, and if there is a mistake, copy the stub and give it to your staff rep., who will then contact me.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Pension Workshop - Indexing is not guaranteed!
Your pension has the potential to be your greatest financial asset. It will be the major part of your income when you retire. Its spending power through full indexing is not guaranteed. Indexing is an increase applied to pensions to try and maintain the spending power of the pension over time.
Within the next year, the Teachers’ Pension Board of Trustees is making decisions that will allow your pension plan to maintain some measure of indexing into the future. The BCTF is looking for input from you, members of the pension plan, to give the Teachers’ Pension Board of Trustees feedback on options that meet the financial needs of both active and retired members of the pension plan.
Where: Fernie Secondary School library
When: October 26th, 4:30 PM
Who should be attending: Any member of the Teachers’ Pension Plan
Why: To find out why full indexing is not guaranteed for the future and what options may be available to sustain some measure of indexing.
Your opinion is crucial. Your voice is important. Please take the time to attend the meeting.
Within the next year, the Teachers’ Pension Board of Trustees is making decisions that will allow your pension plan to maintain some measure of indexing into the future. The BCTF is looking for input from you, members of the pension plan, to give the Teachers’ Pension Board of Trustees feedback on options that meet the financial needs of both active and retired members of the pension plan.
Where: Fernie Secondary School library
When: October 26th, 4:30 PM
Who should be attending: Any member of the Teachers’ Pension Plan
Why: To find out why full indexing is not guaranteed for the future and what options may be available to sustain some measure of indexing.
Your opinion is crucial. Your voice is important. Please take the time to attend the meeting.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
BCTF 2009-10 Member's Guide is now online
The 2009-10 Members’ Guide to the BCTF is now online at http://www.bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/public/AboutUs/MembersGuide/guide.pdf and accessible from http://www.bctf.ca/AboutUs.aspx?id=4298.
The online version differs a bit from the hard copy. Policy 10.J.04 incorrectly stated that the local minimum fee for 2009-10 is $340, but it was actually changed to $350 (Jan 09 RA).
The online version differs a bit from the hard copy. Policy 10.J.04 incorrectly stated that the local minimum fee for 2009-10 is $340, but it was actually changed to $350 (Jan 09 RA).
Education Minister's words on her cuts...
September 14th's Question Period was devoted entirely to questions about cuts associated with BC public schools.
Watch these two clips with Margaret MacDiarmond attempting to defend her government's cuts to Parent Advisory Councils:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axBTkLkmZco
and to BC School Sports:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCnjBfNjBbU
(if you watch closely, you'll see Bill Bennett's face in the background!)
Watch these two clips with Margaret MacDiarmond attempting to defend her government's cuts to Parent Advisory Councils:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axBTkLkmZco
and to BC School Sports:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCnjBfNjBbU
(if you watch closely, you'll see Bill Bennett's face in the background!)
Monday, September 14, 2009
Bill 33 ruling, and the highlights of the latest BCPSEA response...
(dated September 11th, 2009)
" What is Relevant? Arbitrator Dorsey has indicated that it is the principal’s responsibility to determine what information is relevant. However, Arbitrator Dorsey has ruled that the relevant documents would include:
1. The class list with the identification of students with an IEP
2. Copy of the most recent IEP if it has not already been distributed to the teacher earlier in the current school year.
3. Any other documents that the principal deems to be relevant to his/her proposal for the size and organization of the class.
As noted above, to date no further arbitrable guidance or rulings have been issued that would describe what other, if any, documents would be deemed relevant by the principal. Principals need to determine at the school level which documents and information they feel are relevant to their proposal on an individual class by class basis. If applicable, and not already provided to the teacher earlier in the school year, there should be strong consideration given to the inclusion of student safety and behaviour plans (especially if not detailed in the IEP), and student transition documents prepared by the previous years teacher(s). The principal must also include copies of any additional documents or information that the principal feels is relevant in their initial proposal for the size and organization of the class. This must be considered within the context of each individual class situation. "
I would like to point out this passage from above:
"there should be strong consideration given to the inclusion of student safety and behaviour plans (especially if not detailed in the IEP), and student transition documents prepared by the previous years teacher(s)."
NEXT:
" Clarification: Where the teachers of a single class and the principal agree, a joint consultation involving these teachers and the principal may occur. This does not preclude any teacher of that class from opting for an individual consultation instead. "
NEXT:
" Clarification: While it was acknowledged that, subject to any collective agreement language, there is no requirement under Bill 33 to provide paid release time for attending or preparing for the consultation, the BCTF felt that these guidelines promoted districts scheduling consultations during lunch and recess. It is recommended that consultations only occur during times of the day that permit adequate time for discussion. "
" What is Relevant? Arbitrator Dorsey has indicated that it is the principal’s responsibility to determine what information is relevant. However, Arbitrator Dorsey has ruled that the relevant documents would include:
1. The class list with the identification of students with an IEP
2. Copy of the most recent IEP if it has not already been distributed to the teacher earlier in the current school year.
3. Any other documents that the principal deems to be relevant to his/her proposal for the size and organization of the class.
As noted above, to date no further arbitrable guidance or rulings have been issued that would describe what other, if any, documents would be deemed relevant by the principal. Principals need to determine at the school level which documents and information they feel are relevant to their proposal on an individual class by class basis. If applicable, and not already provided to the teacher earlier in the school year, there should be strong consideration given to the inclusion of student safety and behaviour plans (especially if not detailed in the IEP), and student transition documents prepared by the previous years teacher(s). The principal must also include copies of any additional documents or information that the principal feels is relevant in their initial proposal for the size and organization of the class. This must be considered within the context of each individual class situation. "
I would like to point out this passage from above:
"there should be strong consideration given to the inclusion of student safety and behaviour plans (especially if not detailed in the IEP), and student transition documents prepared by the previous years teacher(s)."
NEXT:
" Clarification: Where the teachers of a single class and the principal agree, a joint consultation involving these teachers and the principal may occur. This does not preclude any teacher of that class from opting for an individual consultation instead. "
NEXT:
" Clarification: While it was acknowledged that, subject to any collective agreement language, there is no requirement under Bill 33 to provide paid release time for attending or preparing for the consultation, the BCTF felt that these guidelines promoted districts scheduling consultations during lunch and recess. It is recommended that consultations only occur during times of the day that permit adequate time for discussion. "
Friday, September 11, 2009
Bill 33 ruling on the provision of relevant materials
Hot off the press from the 28 page ruling that came out today.... and since it is a public document...
Numbers in [square brackets] are the paragraphs from the ruling.
[9] During the legislative debates, concerns were raised about the nature, scope and content of the required consultations that will most frequently have to happen in September, one of the busiest times in the school year. The Minister said the principle was that there is to be consultation about class organization .... The Minister was unequivocal that the expectation and best practice was a conversation between principals and teachers. They meet and talk to each other about the best way possible to meet the students’ needs.
[24] BCPSEA is not a partner organization of the Learning Roundtable, but is responsible to advise its board of education employer members on the implementation of the new regulation.
[69] The striking feature of the definition is that it addresses what principals must do for teachers. They must provide information. They must provide time to consider the information before engaging teachers in consultation. They must consider any teachers’ views that are provided.
[70] Principals must provide “information relevant to a proposal for the size and organization of the class.” This suggests there was a concern with the quality or accessibility of the information base on which principal-teacher consultation dialogues were taking place.
[71] Principals must provide the information at a time that gives teachers two school days to consider the proposal for the size and organization of the class and to provide their views to the principal “before a decision is made respecting the size and organization of the class.”
[73] This context suggests the concern was not with the teacher knowing the proposed size and organization of the class or the names of the students in the class, which might be known as early as June, but with ensuring teachers have adequate access to information and time to reflect before being asked to articulate their views on the proposal. An unprepared consultation can be a hurried consultation that leaves teachers being consulted deciding it was neither a genuine opportunity to express their views nor a sincere effort to seek their views. Conversely, it can be an unfocused, inefficient, perhaps prolonged, search for accurate information that is not productive for either the principal or the teacher. In either scenario, it can be correctly characterized as futile or meaningless .
[74] Principals must consider teachers’ views in making a final decision about the organization of the classes. This reassures teachers their participation and expression of views will be considered.
[84] The requirement for “provision” in the definition of “consult” has two applications. One is to make available to teachers two school days for consideration of proposals for the size and organization of classes and the information relevant to the proposals. The application of “provision” in this context is scheduling, unlike the outcome in British Columbia Public School Employers’ Association [2007] B.C.C.A.A.A. No. 60 (Kinzie) (QL). An integral part of this “provision” is that teachers actually have the relevant information for at least two school days and do not have to spend those days seeking access to the information.
[85] This requirement might be recognition of the many demands on teachers’ time in the first weeks of the school year for individual and collaborative activities. At the same time, it places another burden on principals who must manage the process and have equal or greater demands on their time.
[89] BCPSEA is not correct in advising that instructing teachers how to access relevant information about individual students and having the teachers seek out and perhaps compete with colleagues and administrators for access to that information, with or without the assistance of non-enrolling colleagues who likely have ongoing student service and teacher responsibilities away from their offices or classrooms, is meeting the responsibility to make provision of information relevant to a proposal for the size and organization of the class.
[90] This approach, in effect, continues the status quo before the regulatory amendment and is not consistent with remedying a mischief or establishing a consistent consultation practice as was intended by making the regulatory amendment. Nor is it consistent with effective and timely consultation practice to have multiple users seeking access to a single source at the same time with the accompanying high risk of delay and frustration of the required consultation.
[91] Principals are responsibility to ensure there is a meaningful and effective consultation process, regardless whether teachers choose to take advantage of it. Timely notice, advance disclosure and provision of information that principal s consider relevant, time for teachers to consider the information and open-minded consideration of teachers’ views and whatever information teachers think is relevant and provide to principals are benchmarks or good practices that principals are directed to follow for an effective and meaningful consultation process. Timely provision of relevant information may persuade some teachers they will not disagree with the proposed size and organization of the classes and waive their right to continue with the process.
[94] If copies of the individual education plans for each teacher’s students have not been provided by the time of the notification package, the information in the individual education plans is relevant information. Principals are required to provide this information to teachers either by electronic access or by delivering copies of the documents to the teachers.
[98] In short, principals will not discharge their responsibility to make provision of relevant information to teachers by telling them the nature of the information relevant to the proposed size and organization of the classes assigned to them and saying to them if they want to discuss this information at the scheduled consultation meeting they can get it whenever it might be accessible to them through the custodian of the information.
[100] For the purposes of this dispute, decision and declaration it is not appropriate to comment on any source of potentially relevant information other than individual education plans, which have been determined and agreed to be relevant sources of information. If individual education plans for students in the class have not been distributed to teachers before the consultation notification package and they are not electronically available to the teachers, copies must be included with the materials in the notification package.
Numbers in [square brackets] are the paragraphs from the ruling.
[9] During the legislative debates, concerns were raised about the nature, scope and content of the required consultations that will most frequently have to happen in September, one of the busiest times in the school year. The Minister said the principle was that there is to be consultation about class organization .... The Minister was unequivocal that the expectation and best practice was a conversation between principals and teachers. They meet and talk to each other about the best way possible to meet the students’ needs.
[24] BCPSEA is not a partner organization of the Learning Roundtable, but is responsible to advise its board of education employer members on the implementation of the new regulation.
[69] The striking feature of the definition is that it addresses what principals must do for teachers. They must provide information. They must provide time to consider the information before engaging teachers in consultation. They must consider any teachers’ views that are provided.
[70] Principals must provide “information relevant to a proposal for the size and organization of the class.” This suggests there was a concern with the quality or accessibility of the information base on which principal-teacher consultation dialogues were taking place.
[71] Principals must provide the information at a time that gives teachers two school days to consider the proposal for the size and organization of the class and to provide their views to the principal “before a decision is made respecting the size and organization of the class.”
[73] This context suggests the concern was not with the teacher knowing the proposed size and organization of the class or the names of the students in the class, which might be known as early as June, but with ensuring teachers have adequate access to information and time to reflect before being asked to articulate their views on the proposal. An unprepared consultation can be a hurried consultation that leaves teachers being consulted deciding it was neither a genuine opportunity to express their views nor a sincere effort to seek their views. Conversely, it can be an unfocused, inefficient, perhaps prolonged, search for accurate information that is not productive for either the principal or the teacher. In either scenario, it can be correctly characterized as futile or meaningless .
[74] Principals must consider teachers’ views in making a final decision about the organization of the classes. This reassures teachers their participation and expression of views will be considered.
[84] The requirement for “provision” in the definition of “consult” has two applications. One is to make available to teachers two school days for consideration of proposals for the size and organization of classes and the information relevant to the proposals. The application of “provision” in this context is scheduling, unlike the outcome in British Columbia Public School Employers’ Association [2007] B.C.C.A.A.A. No. 60 (Kinzie) (QL). An integral part of this “provision” is that teachers actually have the relevant information for at least two school days and do not have to spend those days seeking access to the information.
[85] This requirement might be recognition of the many demands on teachers’ time in the first weeks of the school year for individual and collaborative activities. At the same time, it places another burden on principals who must manage the process and have equal or greater demands on their time.
[89] BCPSEA is not correct in advising that instructing teachers how to access relevant information about individual students and having the teachers seek out and perhaps compete with colleagues and administrators for access to that information, with or without the assistance of non-enrolling colleagues who likely have ongoing student service and teacher responsibilities away from their offices or classrooms, is meeting the responsibility to make provision of information relevant to a proposal for the size and organization of the class.
[90] This approach, in effect, continues the status quo before the regulatory amendment and is not consistent with remedying a mischief or establishing a consistent consultation practice as was intended by making the regulatory amendment. Nor is it consistent with effective and timely consultation practice to have multiple users seeking access to a single source at the same time with the accompanying high risk of delay and frustration of the required consultation.
[91] Principals are responsibility to ensure there is a meaningful and effective consultation process, regardless whether teachers choose to take advantage of it. Timely notice, advance disclosure and provision of information that principal s consider relevant, time for teachers to consider the information and open-minded consideration of teachers’ views and whatever information teachers think is relevant and provide to principals are benchmarks or good practices that principals are directed to follow for an effective and meaningful consultation process. Timely provision of relevant information may persuade some teachers they will not disagree with the proposed size and organization of the classes and waive their right to continue with the process.
[94] If copies of the individual education plans for each teacher’s students have not been provided by the time of the notification package, the information in the individual education plans is relevant information. Principals are required to provide this information to teachers either by electronic access or by delivering copies of the documents to the teachers.
[98] In short, principals will not discharge their responsibility to make provision of relevant information to teachers by telling them the nature of the information relevant to the proposed size and organization of the classes assigned to them and saying to them if they want to discuss this information at the scheduled consultation meeting they can get it whenever it might be accessible to them through the custodian of the information.
[100] For the purposes of this dispute, decision and declaration it is not appropriate to comment on any source of potentially relevant information other than individual education plans, which have been determined and agreed to be relevant sources of information. If individual education plans for students in the class have not been distributed to teachers before the consultation notification package and they are not electronically available to the teachers, copies must be included with the materials in the notification package.
Toronto teachers get a new Collective Agreement!
City public high school teachers ratify deal; Union pleased with 4-year pact that gives them 12% hike and 'no significant changes', The Toronto Star, Fri Sep 11 2009. Kristin Rushowy
Toronto's public high school teachers have ratified a four-year contract with the board that allows principals to assign them to cover for absent colleagues if a substitute can't be found.
But what emerged as the key sticking point during negotiations - how much supervision teachers provide in hallways or cafeterias - remains the same, and is still by far the lowest amount of time in the province.
.....
Doug Jolliffe, president of District 12 of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, said 98 per cent of members supported the deal, which also provides a 12.55 per cent wage increase over the next four years, as provided by the provincial government.
......
"It was not an unreasonable request on the part of the board," for principals to call on teachers to fill in for a colleague's full-day absence if a substitute isn't available, Jolliffe said.
The union said all along it would not agree to any "strips," or clawbacks, to supervision. Its members do the lowest amount of supervision anywhere in Ontario.
....
Toronto teachers can do 37 supervision blocks of roughly 40 minutes each, per school year, monitoring hallways or computer rooms or filling in for colleagues who are absent for part of the day. But because of restrictions written into past agreements, they only end up doing about 12.
In the past, principals and vice-principals have had to cover the classes, taking them away from administrative duties also creating safety concerns, Campbell said.
Toronto's public high school teachers have ratified a four-year contract with the board that allows principals to assign them to cover for absent colleagues if a substitute can't be found.
But what emerged as the key sticking point during negotiations - how much supervision teachers provide in hallways or cafeterias - remains the same, and is still by far the lowest amount of time in the province.
.....
Doug Jolliffe, president of District 12 of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, said 98 per cent of members supported the deal, which also provides a 12.55 per cent wage increase over the next four years, as provided by the provincial government.
......
"It was not an unreasonable request on the part of the board," for principals to call on teachers to fill in for a colleague's full-day absence if a substitute isn't available, Jolliffe said.
The union said all along it would not agree to any "strips," or clawbacks, to supervision. Its members do the lowest amount of supervision anywhere in Ontario.
....
Toronto teachers can do 37 supervision blocks of roughly 40 minutes each, per school year, monitoring hallways or computer rooms or filling in for colleagues who are absent for part of the day. But because of restrictions written into past agreements, they only end up doing about 12.
In the past, principals and vice-principals have had to cover the classes, taking them away from administrative duties also creating safety concerns, Campbell said.
From a column by Paul Willcocks... on education cuts
A remarkably bad string of school cuts, Times Colonist (Victoria), Fri Sep 11 2009. Paul Willcocks
....In the last two weeks, the government has announced four cuts to education funding. None seems sensible.
Leave aside the discussion about core school funding and the problems created by per-pupil grants. These are cuts outside of that envelope.
The biggest is the elimination of $110 million in funding that districts had expected for maintaining schools this year. The annual grants provide for upkeep and capital improvements -- wheelchair ramps, classroom renovations and all the standard maintenance needed to keep buildings functional and safe.
Five months into the fiscal year, Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid cancelled the grant program without notice or consultation. Some districts had set aside money each year to build reserves for major projects; they could raid that money to cover needed work, she said.
So prudence is punished. Districts which did maintenance work over the summer, counting on the grants, have to cut spending to balance the budget as required by law. And economic stimulus is abandoned.
Next, MacDiarmid was sent out to defend a decision to eliminate the government's entire $130,000 contribution to B.C. School Sports, almost 30 per cent of its budget. The organization helps support and manage all the regional and provincial sports events for schools in the province.
......
Then came the most perverse cut.
At a staged event to highlight $500,000 being sent to schools for Olympic programming -- about four times the amount saved by cutting the sports funding -- MacDiarmid revealed the grants to parent advisory councils would be cut in half. (Again, without warning or
consultation.)
They had received $20 per student. This year, it would be $10. The government would save $7.6 million, at the expense of parent councils at schools across the province.
....Finally -- at least so far -- the government cut almost $2 million, or about four per cent, from the CommunityLINK program. It provides meals for hungry children and counselling to keep struggling students on track. And it's not a high enough priority to justify consistent funding, in the government's view.
...
....In the last two weeks, the government has announced four cuts to education funding. None seems sensible.
Leave aside the discussion about core school funding and the problems created by per-pupil grants. These are cuts outside of that envelope.
The biggest is the elimination of $110 million in funding that districts had expected for maintaining schools this year. The annual grants provide for upkeep and capital improvements -- wheelchair ramps, classroom renovations and all the standard maintenance needed to keep buildings functional and safe.
Five months into the fiscal year, Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid cancelled the grant program without notice or consultation. Some districts had set aside money each year to build reserves for major projects; they could raid that money to cover needed work, she said.
So prudence is punished. Districts which did maintenance work over the summer, counting on the grants, have to cut spending to balance the budget as required by law. And economic stimulus is abandoned.
Next, MacDiarmid was sent out to defend a decision to eliminate the government's entire $130,000 contribution to B.C. School Sports, almost 30 per cent of its budget. The organization helps support and manage all the regional and provincial sports events for schools in the province.
......
Then came the most perverse cut.
At a staged event to highlight $500,000 being sent to schools for Olympic programming -- about four times the amount saved by cutting the sports funding -- MacDiarmid revealed the grants to parent advisory councils would be cut in half. (Again, without warning or
consultation.)
They had received $20 per student. This year, it would be $10. The government would save $7.6 million, at the expense of parent councils at schools across the province.
....Finally -- at least so far -- the government cut almost $2 million, or about four per cent, from the CommunityLINK program. It provides meals for hungry children and counselling to keep struggling students on track. And it's not a high enough priority to justify consistent funding, in the government's view.
...
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
From your Social Justice Chair
Here is the link to Margaret White's research about poverty.
http://www.bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Publications/Research_reports/2009EI01.pdf
(This is a 22 page pdf file of a research report by Ms. White at the BCTF)
http://www.bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Publications/Research_reports/2009EI01.pdf
(This is a 22 page pdf file of a research report by Ms. White at the BCTF)
What do standardized tests evaluate?
12,000 Teacher Reports, but What to Do?, The New York Times, Wed Sep 9 2009. Jennifer Medina
As the city's students return to school on Wednesday, thousands will enter classrooms led by a teacher that the Department of Education has deemed low performing on internal reports. But in a sign of how complicated and controversial the reports are, many teachers never received them, and there are no plans to release them to parents.
The reports use standardized test scores to monitor how much teachers have helped students improve from one year to the next and whether they are successful with particular groups of children, such as boys or those who have struggled for years.
During the last school year, education officials distributed some 12,000 reports that considered how well teachers did in educating students, producing a report for any teacher who taught fourth through eighth grade for the last two years. The reports put New York at the center of a national debate over ways to measure the effectiveness of individual teachers and the role that test scores should play in the evaluations.
"We've always said that we need to be able to understand where teachers are successful and learn from that," the schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, said in an interview last week. "Nobody thinks you can boil down teacher effectiveness to a single criteria, and we also should not ignore student performance as an important criteria."
Last year, the State Legislature passed a law prohibiting using student test data as a factor in tenure decisions, at the urging of teachers' unions. And in a deal with the United Federation of Teachers, the city agreed not to make the results public.
While Mr. Klein has repeatedly said that the data reports would not be used to shape teacher evaluation and pay, he has also said that he wants to move away from the practice of lockstep pay and salary increases based solely on seniority. He said he would continue to push for such changes in the coming teachers' contract, but it remains unclear if Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg would pursue such changes in the negotiations, particularly in an election year.
President Obama and his education secretary, Arne Duncan, have pushed states to use student performance to evaluate teachers, declaring that states that banned use of student data would be ineligible for billions of dollars in competitive grants from the federal government. Last week, the Gates Foundation announced that it would work with the city and the union to develop a new way to measure teachers by using student performance on tests along with extensive classroom observations and videotaped lessons.
Last week, the school system released another set of marks, letter grades for each school, in which 97 percent received an A or B. In contrast, on the teacher reports, 20 percent earned "low" performance marks, 60 percent were called "middle" performers and 20 percent "high."
While both grading systems were based largely on test scores, schools were able to earn A's and B's if more of their students passed the tests. Teachers were essentially ranked against other teachers, both citywide and those who taught demographically similar classrooms.
For Odelphia Pierre, the principal of Public School 129 in Harlem, the teacher data reports were little more than extra information.
While department officials estimated that 80 percent of principals spoke with their teachers about the reports, several principals said the reports had so many problems that they decided not to give them to teachers.
Ms. Pierre, for example, said that she worried about how the reports would affect morale and decided that she would tell teachers they could see the reports if they wanted. Most of those who did, she said, were among the higher teachers.
"I really didn't see the purpose, because it wasn't very clear what they were supposed to take away, and they might have had questions I would have not been able to answer," she said. "I didn't want them to be distracted in the middle of the year."
Denise Bazemore, who has taught third grade for nearly a decade at P.S. 129, said that while several of her colleagues were not interested, she was eager to see how she compared to her peers around the city.
"I think it was helpful just to know where you stand," said Ms.
Bazemore, a "middle" performer. "I do wish it would tell you where to go from there, but it is what it is."
Ms. Pierre said she did pay closer attention to teachers who ranked in the bottom tier of the reports, stopping in their classrooms to evaluate them more frequently than she might have, though she never told them that directly.
For the last two years, the department created its own report with the help of outside experts, but this year agreed to a $1.1 million contract with a group at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research to produce the reports. The group is expected to spend much of its efforts on making sure that the city's Education Department's data is complete and accurate.
For some principals, the reports are helpful in managing a large staff. Sheldon Benardo, the principal of Public School 86 in the Bronx, said he used them to decide teacher and student placement.
"If it was completely shocking, I would not be doing my job as a principal," he said. "But whenever you have hard data that tells you something, whether it's a weakness somewhere or something else, it only can motivate you to do something better."
Mr. Benardo passed out the report to each of the teachers, having them meet with the assistant principal individually to discuss the report. He said that while the majority of his teachers fell somewhere along the middle, there were several at the top end and a few in the lower ranks
"It's not like anyone was insulted or felt intruded upon -- they know that data is part of the game here," he said. "Like any of us, when we don't perform so well, we are going to attempt to rationalize, to justify and explain. I have a great respect for our classroom teachers, and if they're here it means I selected them for a job, so I am going to pay attention to what they're saying."
As the city's students return to school on Wednesday, thousands will enter classrooms led by a teacher that the Department of Education has deemed low performing on internal reports. But in a sign of how complicated and controversial the reports are, many teachers never received them, and there are no plans to release them to parents.
The reports use standardized test scores to monitor how much teachers have helped students improve from one year to the next and whether they are successful with particular groups of children, such as boys or those who have struggled for years.
During the last school year, education officials distributed some 12,000 reports that considered how well teachers did in educating students, producing a report for any teacher who taught fourth through eighth grade for the last two years. The reports put New York at the center of a national debate over ways to measure the effectiveness of individual teachers and the role that test scores should play in the evaluations.
"We've always said that we need to be able to understand where teachers are successful and learn from that," the schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, said in an interview last week. "Nobody thinks you can boil down teacher effectiveness to a single criteria, and we also should not ignore student performance as an important criteria."
Last year, the State Legislature passed a law prohibiting using student test data as a factor in tenure decisions, at the urging of teachers' unions. And in a deal with the United Federation of Teachers, the city agreed not to make the results public.
While Mr. Klein has repeatedly said that the data reports would not be used to shape teacher evaluation and pay, he has also said that he wants to move away from the practice of lockstep pay and salary increases based solely on seniority. He said he would continue to push for such changes in the coming teachers' contract, but it remains unclear if Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg would pursue such changes in the negotiations, particularly in an election year.
President Obama and his education secretary, Arne Duncan, have pushed states to use student performance to evaluate teachers, declaring that states that banned use of student data would be ineligible for billions of dollars in competitive grants from the federal government. Last week, the Gates Foundation announced that it would work with the city and the union to develop a new way to measure teachers by using student performance on tests along with extensive classroom observations and videotaped lessons.
Last week, the school system released another set of marks, letter grades for each school, in which 97 percent received an A or B. In contrast, on the teacher reports, 20 percent earned "low" performance marks, 60 percent were called "middle" performers and 20 percent "high."
While both grading systems were based largely on test scores, schools were able to earn A's and B's if more of their students passed the tests. Teachers were essentially ranked against other teachers, both citywide and those who taught demographically similar classrooms.
For Odelphia Pierre, the principal of Public School 129 in Harlem, the teacher data reports were little more than extra information.
While department officials estimated that 80 percent of principals spoke with their teachers about the reports, several principals said the reports had so many problems that they decided not to give them to teachers.
Ms. Pierre, for example, said that she worried about how the reports would affect morale and decided that she would tell teachers they could see the reports if they wanted. Most of those who did, she said, were among the higher teachers.
"I really didn't see the purpose, because it wasn't very clear what they were supposed to take away, and they might have had questions I would have not been able to answer," she said. "I didn't want them to be distracted in the middle of the year."
Denise Bazemore, who has taught third grade for nearly a decade at P.S. 129, said that while several of her colleagues were not interested, she was eager to see how she compared to her peers around the city.
"I think it was helpful just to know where you stand," said Ms.
Bazemore, a "middle" performer. "I do wish it would tell you where to go from there, but it is what it is."
Ms. Pierre said she did pay closer attention to teachers who ranked in the bottom tier of the reports, stopping in their classrooms to evaluate them more frequently than she might have, though she never told them that directly.
For the last two years, the department created its own report with the help of outside experts, but this year agreed to a $1.1 million contract with a group at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research to produce the reports. The group is expected to spend much of its efforts on making sure that the city's Education Department's data is complete and accurate.
For some principals, the reports are helpful in managing a large staff. Sheldon Benardo, the principal of Public School 86 in the Bronx, said he used them to decide teacher and student placement.
"If it was completely shocking, I would not be doing my job as a principal," he said. "But whenever you have hard data that tells you something, whether it's a weakness somewhere or something else, it only can motivate you to do something better."
Mr. Benardo passed out the report to each of the teachers, having them meet with the assistant principal individually to discuss the report. He said that while the majority of his teachers fell somewhere along the middle, there were several at the top end and a few in the lower ranks
"It's not like anyone was insulted or felt intruded upon -- they know that data is part of the game here," he said. "Like any of us, when we don't perform so well, we are going to attempt to rationalize, to justify and explain. I have a great respect for our classroom teachers, and if they're here it means I selected them for a job, so I am going to pay attention to what they're saying."
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Lost teaching positions....
The latest information from locals indicates that school districts will be cutting over 580 FTE positions for 2009-2010.
03 Kimberley – down 1
07 Nelson & 86 Creston – down 5.39
10 Arrow Lakes – down 3.5
17 Princeton – down 1
18 Golden – down 3
19 Revelstoke – down 2
20 Kootenay-Columbia – down 9
22 Vernon – down 17
23 Central Okanagan – down 12
27 Cariboo-Chilcotin – down 15
28 Quesnel – down 8
31 Nicola Valley – down 3
33 Chilliwack – down 12.9
34 Abbotsford – down 5
36 Surrey – up 10
37 Delta – down 20
38 Richmond – down 12
39 Vancouver – down 42
40 New Westminster down 19
41 Burnaby – down 7.5
42 Maple Ridge – down 17.9
43 Coquitlam – down 62.55
44 North Vancouver – down 22
45 West Vancouver – down 10
46 Sunshine Coast – down 5
47 Powell River – down 6
49 Central Coast – down 2
50 Haida Gwaii - down 2
51 Boundary – down 4.4
52 Prince Rupert – down 12
53 South Okanagan Similkameen – down 9
55 Burns Lake – down 3
56 Nechako – down 3
57 Prince George – down 32
591 Peace River South – down 6
593 Tumbler Ridge – down 2
61 Victoria – down 5
62 Sooke – up 2
63 Saanich – down 15
64 Gulf Islands – down 2
67 Okanagan Skaha – down 9
68 Nanaimo – down 21.95
69 Mount Arrowsmith – down 4
70 Alberni – down 20
71 Comox – down 15
72 Campbell River – down 8
73 Kamloops – down 31
74 Gold Trail – down 9.5
75 Mission – down 15.5
78 Fraser Cascade – down 8.0
79 Cowichan – down 17.8
81 Fort Nelson –down 1
83 North Okanagan-Shuswap – down 8.91
84 Vancouver Island West – down 4.4
85 Vancouver Island North – down 1.7
87 Stikine – up 1.0
88 Terrace/80 Kitimat/88.2 Upper Skeena – down 13.9
92 Nisgaa – down 1
93 SEPF – up 6
03 Kimberley – down 1
07 Nelson & 86 Creston – down 5.39
10 Arrow Lakes – down 3.5
17 Princeton – down 1
18 Golden – down 3
19 Revelstoke – down 2
20 Kootenay-Columbia – down 9
22 Vernon – down 17
23 Central Okanagan – down 12
27 Cariboo-Chilcotin – down 15
28 Quesnel – down 8
31 Nicola Valley – down 3
33 Chilliwack – down 12.9
34 Abbotsford – down 5
36 Surrey – up 10
37 Delta – down 20
38 Richmond – down 12
39 Vancouver – down 42
40 New Westminster down 19
41 Burnaby – down 7.5
42 Maple Ridge – down 17.9
43 Coquitlam – down 62.55
44 North Vancouver – down 22
45 West Vancouver – down 10
46 Sunshine Coast – down 5
47 Powell River – down 6
49 Central Coast – down 2
50 Haida Gwaii - down 2
51 Boundary – down 4.4
52 Prince Rupert – down 12
53 South Okanagan Similkameen – down 9
55 Burns Lake – down 3
56 Nechako – down 3
57 Prince George – down 32
591 Peace River South – down 6
593 Tumbler Ridge – down 2
61 Victoria – down 5
62 Sooke – up 2
63 Saanich – down 15
64 Gulf Islands – down 2
67 Okanagan Skaha – down 9
68 Nanaimo – down 21.95
69 Mount Arrowsmith – down 4
70 Alberni – down 20
71 Comox – down 15
72 Campbell River – down 8
73 Kamloops – down 31
74 Gold Trail – down 9.5
75 Mission – down 15.5
78 Fraser Cascade – down 8.0
79 Cowichan – down 17.8
81 Fort Nelson –down 1
83 North Okanagan-Shuswap – down 8.91
84 Vancouver Island West – down 4.4
85 Vancouver Island North – down 1.7
87 Stikine – up 1.0
88 Terrace/80 Kitimat/88.2 Upper Skeena – down 13.9
92 Nisgaa – down 1
93 SEPF – up 6
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
If you like statistics,
A decade of statistics release by the Ministry of Education. Despite the iffy FSA, provincial exam, and “satisfaction” data there are a number of other comparisons that you may find interesting.
Compared to a decade ago there are now:
· 159 fewer public schools
· 8 fewer independent schools
· 2660 fewer teachers (-7.3%)
· 75 more administrators (+2.4%)
And, while the percentage of female teachers has increased only slightly from 68% to 71%, the percentage of female administrators has increased from 41% to 52%.
You’ll find lots more at:
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/keyinfo/pdfs/ski09.pdf
Compared to a decade ago there are now:
· 159 fewer public schools
· 8 fewer independent schools
· 2660 fewer teachers (-7.3%)
· 75 more administrators (+2.4%)
And, while the percentage of female teachers has increased only slightly from 68% to 71%, the percentage of female administrators has increased from 41% to 52%.
You’ll find lots more at:
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/keyinfo/pdfs/ski09.pdf
Monday, June 22, 2009
Education Chief to Warn Advocates That Inferior Charter Schools Harm the Effort, The New York Times Mon Jun 22 2009, Sam Dillon [excerpts]
The Obama administration has made opening more charter schools a big part of its plans for improving the nation's education system, but Education Secretary Arne Duncan will warn advocates of the schools on Monday that low- quality institutions are giving their movement a black eye.
…..
Mr. Duncan's speech will come at a pivotal moment for the charter school movement. The Obama administration has been working to persuade state legislatures to lift caps on the number of charter schools.
At the same time, the movement is smarting from the release last week of a report by Stanford University researchers that found that although some charter schools were doing an excellent job, many students in charter schools were not faring as well as students in traditional public schools.
….
Mr. Duncan's speech calls the Stanford report -- which singles out Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas as states that have done little to hold poorly run charter schools accountable -- "a wake-up call."
…..
The Stanford study, by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes, used student achievement data from 15 states and the District of Columbia to gauge whether students who attended charter schools had fared better than they would if they had attended a traditional public school.
"The study reveals that a decent fraction of charter schools, 17 percent, provide superior education opportunities for their students," the report says. "Nearly half of the charter schools nationwide have results that are no different from the local public school options, and over a third, 37 percent, deliver learning results that are significantly worse than their students would have realized had they remained in traditional public schools."
…..
Mr. Duncan has been working to build a national effort to restructure 5,000 chronically failing public schools, which turn out middle school students who cannot read and most of the nation's high school dropouts. In his speech, he will urge states, school districts, nonprofit groups, teachers' unions and charter organizations "to get in the business of turning around our lowest-performing schools."
"Over the coming years," the speech says, "America needs to find 5,000 high-energy, hero principals to take over these struggling schools, and a quarter of a million great teachers who are willing to do the toughest work in public education."
Mr. Smith said he believed that some charter school operators would react favorably to Mr. Duncan's call, but only if they were given flexibility over hiring and firing teachers, structuring student learning time and other issues.
"They have to be able to maintain the integrity of the charter model," Mr. Smith said.
…..
Mr. Duncan's speech will come at a pivotal moment for the charter school movement. The Obama administration has been working to persuade state legislatures to lift caps on the number of charter schools.
At the same time, the movement is smarting from the release last week of a report by Stanford University researchers that found that although some charter schools were doing an excellent job, many students in charter schools were not faring as well as students in traditional public schools.
….
Mr. Duncan's speech calls the Stanford report -- which singles out Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas as states that have done little to hold poorly run charter schools accountable -- "a wake-up call."
…..
The Stanford study, by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes, used student achievement data from 15 states and the District of Columbia to gauge whether students who attended charter schools had fared better than they would if they had attended a traditional public school.
"The study reveals that a decent fraction of charter schools, 17 percent, provide superior education opportunities for their students," the report says. "Nearly half of the charter schools nationwide have results that are no different from the local public school options, and over a third, 37 percent, deliver learning results that are significantly worse than their students would have realized had they remained in traditional public schools."
…..
Mr. Duncan has been working to build a national effort to restructure 5,000 chronically failing public schools, which turn out middle school students who cannot read and most of the nation's high school dropouts. In his speech, he will urge states, school districts, nonprofit groups, teachers' unions and charter organizations "to get in the business of turning around our lowest-performing schools."
"Over the coming years," the speech says, "America needs to find 5,000 high-energy, hero principals to take over these struggling schools, and a quarter of a million great teachers who are willing to do the toughest work in public education."
Mr. Smith said he believed that some charter school operators would react favorably to Mr. Duncan's call, but only if they were given flexibility over hiring and firing teachers, structuring student learning time and other issues.
"They have to be able to maintain the integrity of the charter model," Mr. Smith said.
Painful cuts plague province's school districts, The Globe And Mail Mon Jun 22 2009 Section: B C News. Brennan Clarke [excerpts for space]
VICTORIA -- Students in the Saanich school district will be cleaning out their desks and heading off on vacation this week, but it won't be a carefree summer for the administrators and board members charged with cutting $3.6-million from their budget.
Last month, Saanich trustees approved the 5-per-cent cut to its overall budget, the largest annual reduction in district history.
If nothing changes in the provincial government's updated budget this fall, the district will start the 2009-10 school year with 23.5 fewer full-time teaching positions, only one-third of which can be attributed to declining enrolment.
Deep cuts will also affect clerical workers, education assistants, social workers, career programs, field trips, school supplies and even crossing guards.
…
"But with all the funding challenges the government is facing, our budget is probably not going to change this year. We've made lot of difficult choices. We've pretty much hit the wall." (board chair Mary Lynne Rimer)
That's a widespread sentiment among B.C. school trustees these days. The painful, cost-cutting decisions in Saanich this spring were duplicated to varying degree in dozens of school districts across the province.
Surrey, the province's largest school district, battled a $9.5-million shortfall. In Vancouver, the number was $7.1-million. North Vancouver and Central Okanagan, both medium-sized districts, each had to find $3-million in savings.
Staff at the B.C. Ministry of Education said the government actually increased district funding by $84-million for 2009-10, despite an enrolment decline of about 7,000 students provincewide.
But critics say education costs, driven mainly by built-in wage hikes, are increasing far more quickly than government funding.
Last year, the province topped up school district funding by $122-million, but teachers' wages alone increased by $137-million, said B.C. Teachers' Federation president Irene Lanzinger.
She estimated between 500 and 550 full-time teaching positions will be lost this year, mostly to retirement and attrition.
"What we're seeing is the cumulative effect of underfunding over many years, " Ms. Lanzinger said. "The decline in teachers has certainly outpaced the decline in enrolment."
…..
A Ministry of Education spokesman who declined to be identified suggested many of the districts complaining about shortfalls are actually sitting on substantial reserve funds.
Ms. Rimer called that idea "ridiculous."
….
A survey by the Centre for Civic Governance, a Vancouver-based
social- advocacy group, estimates the cost of operating the province's 60 school districts will exceed government funding by about $132-million this year.
Last month, Saanich trustees approved the 5-per-cent cut to its overall budget, the largest annual reduction in district history.
If nothing changes in the provincial government's updated budget this fall, the district will start the 2009-10 school year with 23.5 fewer full-time teaching positions, only one-third of which can be attributed to declining enrolment.
Deep cuts will also affect clerical workers, education assistants, social workers, career programs, field trips, school supplies and even crossing guards.
…
"But with all the funding challenges the government is facing, our budget is probably not going to change this year. We've made lot of difficult choices. We've pretty much hit the wall." (board chair Mary Lynne Rimer)
That's a widespread sentiment among B.C. school trustees these days. The painful, cost-cutting decisions in Saanich this spring were duplicated to varying degree in dozens of school districts across the province.
Surrey, the province's largest school district, battled a $9.5-million shortfall. In Vancouver, the number was $7.1-million. North Vancouver and Central Okanagan, both medium-sized districts, each had to find $3-million in savings.
Staff at the B.C. Ministry of Education said the government actually increased district funding by $84-million for 2009-10, despite an enrolment decline of about 7,000 students provincewide.
But critics say education costs, driven mainly by built-in wage hikes, are increasing far more quickly than government funding.
Last year, the province topped up school district funding by $122-million, but teachers' wages alone increased by $137-million, said B.C. Teachers' Federation president Irene Lanzinger.
She estimated between 500 and 550 full-time teaching positions will be lost this year, mostly to retirement and attrition.
"What we're seeing is the cumulative effect of underfunding over many years, " Ms. Lanzinger said. "The decline in teachers has certainly outpaced the decline in enrolment."
…..
A Ministry of Education spokesman who declined to be identified suggested many of the districts complaining about shortfalls are actually sitting on substantial reserve funds.
Ms. Rimer called that idea "ridiculous."
….
A survey by the Centre for Civic Governance, a Vancouver-based
social- advocacy group, estimates the cost of operating the province's 60 school districts will exceed government funding by about $132-million this year.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Speaking of our Charter challenge to Bills 27 and 28....
"Unions get $425,000 to settle rights dispute, The Globe And Mail Tue Jun 16 2009
Section: British Columbia News
Four unions have reached a $425,000 deal with the B.C. government over the loss of job security provisions in their contracts.
It's part of the settlement arising out of the Supreme Court of Canada decision that ruled the B.C. government infringed on the rights of unions by enacting Bill 29.
The settlement will be divided among workers of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Hospital Employees Union, the B.C.
Government Employees Union and the Health Sciences Association.
BCGEU president Darryl Walker says the agreement will help union members who filed grievances after Bill 29 was brought in by government."
(Bills 27 and 28 are the ones that 'vapourized' our Collective Agreement and stripped many clauses from the CA we were forced to work under)
Section: British Columbia News
Four unions have reached a $425,000 deal with the B.C. government over the loss of job security provisions in their contracts.
It's part of the settlement arising out of the Supreme Court of Canada decision that ruled the B.C. government infringed on the rights of unions by enacting Bill 29.
The settlement will be divided among workers of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Hospital Employees Union, the B.C.
Government Employees Union and the Health Sciences Association.
BCGEU president Darryl Walker says the agreement will help union members who filed grievances after Bill 29 was brought in by government."
(Bills 27 and 28 are the ones that 'vapourized' our Collective Agreement and stripped many clauses from the CA we were forced to work under)
Thursday, June 11, 2009
June Staff Rep / Exec Meeting
Don't forget Monday is the last meeting of the year - and it includes a thank you meal at the Blue Toque afterward.
The meeting begins at 4:30 @ the FDTA office. See you there.
The meeting begins at 4:30 @ the FDTA office. See you there.
Post and Fill, 2009 edition
Well, SD5 is doing a good job so far on the post and fill process. The postings came out 'clumped' together, allowing members the opportunity to see 'all' the jobs out there, and to apply for as many as they want - all at once, and in the order of priority that they desire.
A few members ended up getting transfers "at the last second" as a result of retirements that were announced. Again, the employer seemed to do this right this year.
Sadly, with fewer dollars and fewer students in the system, there are fewer employment opportunities in the Valley.
Expect the next round of postings in about 2 weeks.
A few members ended up getting transfers "at the last second" as a result of retirements that were announced. Again, the employer seemed to do this right this year.
Sadly, with fewer dollars and fewer students in the system, there are fewer employment opportunities in the Valley.
Expect the next round of postings in about 2 weeks.
From the papers...
Teachers face an uncertain future; Cycle of layoffs and rehiring starts again at the end of June, The Daily News (Nanaimo) Wed Jun 10 2009. Robert Barron (excerpts)
More than 260 of nearly 1,000 teachers currently working in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district have no idea where, or if, they will work this fall.
There are 107 teachers working under temporary contracts (expiring on June 30) and 161 more are being laid off due to complicated wording in their collective agreement.
Drafted in 1990, before declining enrolment started to affect the district, the agreement stipulates that teachers with less than four years and two months seniority lose their jobs at the end of the school year to allow positions to be opened up for full-time staff returning from leave.
While most of the laid-off teachers will be rehired, there's no guarantee that they will return to the same school or know what subjects they will teach.
Kip Wood, president of the Nanaimo District Teachers' Association, …. hopes ongoing discussions with the district might yield a better system.
Donna Allen, chairwoman of the district's board of trustees, agreed that the layoff and recall process doesn't work well and needs improvement.
…..
Wood said most of the laid-off teachers should be informed of their new postings in the first two weeks of July, but some won't know their status until the last weeks in August when school staffing levels are finalized, meaning an unsettled summer for many instructors.
…..
Schwazenegger pushes digital textbook in California, English News Service Tue Jun 9 2009 (excerpts)
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday visited a high school in the state to introduce digital textbooks, which would enable the students not to carry heavy textbooks to school.
The governor launched an initiative in May to make California the first state in the United States to offer schools free, open-source digital textbooks for high school students.
"Kids are very familiar listening to music digitally online,"
Schwarzenegger said, listing some social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.
…
"Textbooks are outdated as far as I'm concerned. How can kids be competitive in this economy when textbooks are stale and outdated?
……
The state education department and educators also will determine whether free educational materials already on the Internet are suitable for school use.
The use of digital textbooks at schools is one way to reduce expenses as California is facing a huge budget deficit. An average traditional textbook costs about 75 to 100 U.S. dollars, but a digital textbook is much cheaper, and many of them are even free, reports said. A digital book reader can hold about 200 books.
It is estimated that for a school district with about 10,000 high school students, the use of free digital textbooks in just science and math classes could save up to 2 million dollars.
…..
Big and bloated are words that come to mind, The Province Thu Jun 11 2009
Michael Smyth (excerpts)
For a cabinet that's supposed to cut the fat out of government, you'd think Premier Gordon Campbell would have led by example yesterday and unveiled a lean, mean A-Team to get the job done.
Instead, Campbell appointed a fatter cabinet -- the club went from
22 members to 24 -- in a hotly anticipated shuffle. He also appointed half-a-dozen "parliamentary secretaries" -- a backbencher perk Campbell used to sneer at -- who each bag nearly $15,000 a year in bonus bucks for doing little work.
By swelling the size of the cabinet ranks by nine per cent, Campbell loaded more costs on to the shoulders of weary taxpayers who will soon be walloped by government service cuts. Every cabinet minister gets a big car, a big office, a big staff and a big travel budget.
This from the same guy who once bragged he could run the province with 12 cabinet ministers. This from the same guy who went completely ballistic when then-NDP-premier Glen Clark added four ministers to his cabinet, for a total of just 19.
"Taxpayers are getting soaked for a bigger cabinet!" Campbell railed back then. If 19 was a soaking, then I guess 24 is a completely water-logged saturation.
The bitter irony here is this fatter cabinet will be charged with cutting nearly $2 billion in spending out of the budget. The recession-driven belt-tightening is already causing pain. The government even pulled the funding for a van that cruised Vancouver streets at night to protect sex-trade workers.
…..
…. Falcon as health minister? …. I suspect this appointment indicates big changes are coming to the ministry -- like the possible amalgamation of health authorities.
One more gripe: Six ministers from Vancouver? That's a quarter of the whole cabinet. So much for Campbell's love affair with the "heartlands."
School boards get two-month reprieve; Province gives budget extensions to rework teacher salary funding, Edmonton Journal Thu Jun 11 2009. Sarah O'Donnell
(excerpts)
Alberta's education minister is giving school boards an extra two months to approve their budgets for the coming school year.
Dave Hancock issued the extension last week as the province continues to wrestle over the budget for teachers' salaries in the coming year.
The teachers' union agreed to a five-year contract in 2007 that awarded teachers an annual pay increase every September, based on Statistics Canada's calculation of Albertans' average weekly earnings over the previous year.
Earlier this year, it appeared teachers would receive a 4.8-per-cent increase based on that calculation.
In March --after the provincial budget was tabled, but before it was approved -- Statistics Canada altered its formula, reporting in a 5.99-per-cent increase in Albertans' average weekly wages the previous year.
That left Alberta Education and school boards that depend on provincial funding $23 million short.
……
More than 260 of nearly 1,000 teachers currently working in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district have no idea where, or if, they will work this fall.
There are 107 teachers working under temporary contracts (expiring on June 30) and 161 more are being laid off due to complicated wording in their collective agreement.
Drafted in 1990, before declining enrolment started to affect the district, the agreement stipulates that teachers with less than four years and two months seniority lose their jobs at the end of the school year to allow positions to be opened up for full-time staff returning from leave.
While most of the laid-off teachers will be rehired, there's no guarantee that they will return to the same school or know what subjects they will teach.
Kip Wood, president of the Nanaimo District Teachers' Association, …. hopes ongoing discussions with the district might yield a better system.
Donna Allen, chairwoman of the district's board of trustees, agreed that the layoff and recall process doesn't work well and needs improvement.
…..
Wood said most of the laid-off teachers should be informed of their new postings in the first two weeks of July, but some won't know their status until the last weeks in August when school staffing levels are finalized, meaning an unsettled summer for many instructors.
…..
Schwazenegger pushes digital textbook in California, English News Service Tue Jun 9 2009 (excerpts)
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday visited a high school in the state to introduce digital textbooks, which would enable the students not to carry heavy textbooks to school.
The governor launched an initiative in May to make California the first state in the United States to offer schools free, open-source digital textbooks for high school students.
"Kids are very familiar listening to music digitally online,"
Schwarzenegger said, listing some social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.
…
"Textbooks are outdated as far as I'm concerned. How can kids be competitive in this economy when textbooks are stale and outdated?
……
The state education department and educators also will determine whether free educational materials already on the Internet are suitable for school use.
The use of digital textbooks at schools is one way to reduce expenses as California is facing a huge budget deficit. An average traditional textbook costs about 75 to 100 U.S. dollars, but a digital textbook is much cheaper, and many of them are even free, reports said. A digital book reader can hold about 200 books.
It is estimated that for a school district with about 10,000 high school students, the use of free digital textbooks in just science and math classes could save up to 2 million dollars.
…..
Big and bloated are words that come to mind, The Province Thu Jun 11 2009
Michael Smyth (excerpts)
For a cabinet that's supposed to cut the fat out of government, you'd think Premier Gordon Campbell would have led by example yesterday and unveiled a lean, mean A-Team to get the job done.
Instead, Campbell appointed a fatter cabinet -- the club went from
22 members to 24 -- in a hotly anticipated shuffle. He also appointed half-a-dozen "parliamentary secretaries" -- a backbencher perk Campbell used to sneer at -- who each bag nearly $15,000 a year in bonus bucks for doing little work.
By swelling the size of the cabinet ranks by nine per cent, Campbell loaded more costs on to the shoulders of weary taxpayers who will soon be walloped by government service cuts. Every cabinet minister gets a big car, a big office, a big staff and a big travel budget.
This from the same guy who once bragged he could run the province with 12 cabinet ministers. This from the same guy who went completely ballistic when then-NDP-premier Glen Clark added four ministers to his cabinet, for a total of just 19.
"Taxpayers are getting soaked for a bigger cabinet!" Campbell railed back then. If 19 was a soaking, then I guess 24 is a completely water-logged saturation.
The bitter irony here is this fatter cabinet will be charged with cutting nearly $2 billion in spending out of the budget. The recession-driven belt-tightening is already causing pain. The government even pulled the funding for a van that cruised Vancouver streets at night to protect sex-trade workers.
…..
…. Falcon as health minister? …. I suspect this appointment indicates big changes are coming to the ministry -- like the possible amalgamation of health authorities.
One more gripe: Six ministers from Vancouver? That's a quarter of the whole cabinet. So much for Campbell's love affair with the "heartlands."
School boards get two-month reprieve; Province gives budget extensions to rework teacher salary funding, Edmonton Journal Thu Jun 11 2009. Sarah O'Donnell
(excerpts)
Alberta's education minister is giving school boards an extra two months to approve their budgets for the coming school year.
Dave Hancock issued the extension last week as the province continues to wrestle over the budget for teachers' salaries in the coming year.
The teachers' union agreed to a five-year contract in 2007 that awarded teachers an annual pay increase every September, based on Statistics Canada's calculation of Albertans' average weekly earnings over the previous year.
Earlier this year, it appeared teachers would receive a 4.8-per-cent increase based on that calculation.
In March --after the provincial budget was tabled, but before it was approved -- Statistics Canada altered its formula, reporting in a 5.99-per-cent increase in Albertans' average weekly wages the previous year.
That left Alberta Education and school boards that depend on provincial funding $23 million short.
……
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
So, what does a teacher do?
These two links are the best reason for a blog ever - and theyare well worth the 8 minutes or so it will take you to view them both:
"What do you make? ..he asked the teacher..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsOVK4syxU
"Miracle workers" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vMHSGmGtuo&feature=related
If these don't make you feel good, you are in the wrong profession!
Here's one to introduce your lesson on sentence types... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCNIBV87wV4&feature=related
"What do you make? ..he asked the teacher..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsOVK4syxU
"Miracle workers" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vMHSGmGtuo&feature=related
If these don't make you feel good, you are in the wrong profession!
Here's one to introduce your lesson on sentence types... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCNIBV87wV4&feature=related
More lay-offs around BC...
Prince Rupert school district sends out layoff notices to teachers, The Canadian Press Tue 26 May 2009. George T. Baker
PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. The Prince Rupert school district has sent out termination notices to dozens of teachers, in anticipation of a smaller enrolment and tighter school budget next year.
School District 52 sent out 80 termination notices on Friday but Dave Stigant, acting superintendent, said he expects that the actual number of layoffs would be less than that.
"We need to reduce our number of teachers but not by anywhere near that number,'' said Stigant. …… As far as why 80 notices were sent out, Stigant said teachers are trained and qualified to do different work, and the district wanted to match staffing levels with the skills needed. …..
Coast Mountain district sends layoff notices to 48 teachers, Terrace Standard, Sun 24 May 2009
On May 14 the Coast Mountain School District sent out 48 layoff notices to teachers throughout the district.
This comes hand in hand with declining student enrollment, and director of human resources for the district Greig Houlden says the layoff notices have been sent out to teachers on the lower end of the seniority list.
In their preliminary budget the district projects a decline of 13 FTE staffing positions compared to the 2008/2009 school year…… But the district is hoping that these layoffs will not follow through with the help of attrition…..
Teachers given layoff notices, Trail Daily Times, Mon 25 May 2009. Colin Payne
Preparations for a student enrollment decline in Kootenay Lake School District has the district handing out layoff notices to some teachers this month. ……
"We'll probably be down about 80 (students), DeBiasio [District director of human resources] said. "Obviously that means there's going to be fewer classrooms. But it's not as significant as it's been in the last bunch of years from that perspective."
While DeBiasio could not give exact numbers for layoffs, he said they won't be significant. "It's not a situation where we're going to have a whole bunch of
teachers out of work," he said. … But he said many of the teachers who get pink slips will likely still have work in the district in the Fall. … "I fully expect many of those people will still end up working next year." …..
WV school board passes $59-million budget, North Shore Outlook, Wed 20 May 2009
Kelly McManus
The West Vancouver school district board of education voted to accept the $59-million draft operating budget for the 2009/2010 school year this week (May 19).
With an initial $1.88-million shortfall and resulting cuts that included 21 full-time staff and the discontinuation of the district's Community Learning program, the budget represented uncharacteristic cutbacks for the district, which has grown staff over the past eight years, according to Superintendent Geoff Jopson. … Those cuts include 4.6 school administration positions, 4.2 teaching jobs and 3.2 administrative assistant roles, among others.
West Van public schools have seen a slight increase in enrolments, from 6, 500 in 2002 to 6,570 in the current school year, Jopson said. …
The board also moved to write a letter to the new education minister next month to discuss Jopson's assertion that West Vancouver school district is the least funded district in B.C. on a per pupil basis. …
PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. The Prince Rupert school district has sent out termination notices to dozens of teachers, in anticipation of a smaller enrolment and tighter school budget next year.
School District 52 sent out 80 termination notices on Friday but Dave Stigant, acting superintendent, said he expects that the actual number of layoffs would be less than that.
"We need to reduce our number of teachers but not by anywhere near that number,'' said Stigant. …… As far as why 80 notices were sent out, Stigant said teachers are trained and qualified to do different work, and the district wanted to match staffing levels with the skills needed. …..
Coast Mountain district sends layoff notices to 48 teachers, Terrace Standard, Sun 24 May 2009
On May 14 the Coast Mountain School District sent out 48 layoff notices to teachers throughout the district.
This comes hand in hand with declining student enrollment, and director of human resources for the district Greig Houlden says the layoff notices have been sent out to teachers on the lower end of the seniority list.
In their preliminary budget the district projects a decline of 13 FTE staffing positions compared to the 2008/2009 school year…… But the district is hoping that these layoffs will not follow through with the help of attrition…..
Teachers given layoff notices, Trail Daily Times, Mon 25 May 2009. Colin Payne
Preparations for a student enrollment decline in Kootenay Lake School District has the district handing out layoff notices to some teachers this month. ……
"We'll probably be down about 80 (students), DeBiasio [District director of human resources] said. "Obviously that means there's going to be fewer classrooms. But it's not as significant as it's been in the last bunch of years from that perspective."
While DeBiasio could not give exact numbers for layoffs, he said they won't be significant. "It's not a situation where we're going to have a whole bunch of
teachers out of work," he said. … But he said many of the teachers who get pink slips will likely still have work in the district in the Fall. … "I fully expect many of those people will still end up working next year." …..
WV school board passes $59-million budget, North Shore Outlook, Wed 20 May 2009
Kelly McManus
The West Vancouver school district board of education voted to accept the $59-million draft operating budget for the 2009/2010 school year this week (May 19).
With an initial $1.88-million shortfall and resulting cuts that included 21 full-time staff and the discontinuation of the district's Community Learning program, the budget represented uncharacteristic cutbacks for the district, which has grown staff over the past eight years, according to Superintendent Geoff Jopson. … Those cuts include 4.6 school administration positions, 4.2 teaching jobs and 3.2 administrative assistant roles, among others.
West Van public schools have seen a slight increase in enrolments, from 6, 500 in 2002 to 6,570 in the current school year, Jopson said. …
The board also moved to write a letter to the new education minister next month to discuss Jopson's assertion that West Vancouver school district is the least funded district in B.C. on a per pupil basis. …
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Summer Conference 2009 (BCTF) - first update
For those who are expected to attend the BCTF summer conference, a letter is coming your way:
Attendance for the 2009 BCTF Summer Leadership Conference:
President, Aboriginal Education contact, Bargaining Chair/Working and Learning Conditions rep, Health and Safety rep, Professional Development rep, Teachers Teaching on Call contact, Social Justice contact, Additional delegate.
LOCATION
The BCTF Summer Leadership Conference 2009 will be held at Hyatt Regency Vancouver Hotel in Vancouver, BC, 655 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC.
PROGRAM OUTLINE
Monday, August 24, 2009
· New presidents
· Social Justice contacts
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
· Aboriginal Education contacts
· Bargaining Chairs/Working and Learning Conditions reps
· Health and Safety reps
· Presidents
· Professional Development Chairs
· Social Justice contacts
· Teachers Teaching on Call contacts
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
· Core program for all delegates
Thursday, August 27, 2009
· Core program for all delegates
W.E. Travel can be reached by phone at 604-253-5585 or toll-free 1-800-663-4703.
A reminder that the BCTF meetings are to be scent-free. Please refrain from wearing perfume, cologne or any scented products.
Summer Conference updates will be posted on the BCTF website at
http://www.bctf.ca/NewsAndEvents.aspx
Confirm with Steve that you are attending – sooner rather than later.
“It’s about teaching and learning”
Attendance for the 2009 BCTF Summer Leadership Conference:
President, Aboriginal Education contact, Bargaining Chair/Working and Learning Conditions rep, Health and Safety rep, Professional Development rep, Teachers Teaching on Call contact, Social Justice contact, Additional delegate.
LOCATION
The BCTF Summer Leadership Conference 2009 will be held at Hyatt Regency Vancouver Hotel in Vancouver, BC, 655 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC.
PROGRAM OUTLINE
Monday, August 24, 2009
· New presidents
· Social Justice contacts
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
· Aboriginal Education contacts
· Bargaining Chairs/Working and Learning Conditions reps
· Health and Safety reps
· Presidents
· Professional Development Chairs
· Social Justice contacts
· Teachers Teaching on Call contacts
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
· Core program for all delegates
Thursday, August 27, 2009
· Core program for all delegates
W.E. Travel can be reached by phone at 604-253-5585 or toll-free 1-800-663-4703.
A reminder that the BCTF meetings are to be scent-free. Please refrain from wearing perfume, cologne or any scented products.
Summer Conference updates will be posted on the BCTF website at
http://www.bctf.ca/NewsAndEvents.aspx
Confirm with Steve that you are attending – sooner rather than later.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Education cuts today....
From: Delta trustees consider education cuts across the board, South Delta Leader, Wed 29 Apr 2009. Kristine Thiessen (excerpts)
Facing a 4.9 million dollar shortfall, Delta's school district budget recommendations leave no area of the education system unscathed. ... Superintendent Steve Cardwell said the shortfall is the result of a number of factors, including a decline in enrollment by 2,300 students over the past 10 years and a projected decline of more than 200 students during the next five years.
Cardwell also said the global economic downturn has meant less revenue from international student and continuing education programs, as well as a decrease in investment income from reduced interest rates.
....
Proposed cuts to special programming total $853,693 and include closing two primary-level resource rooms for children with speech and language disabiilties and one for intermediate students with learning disabilities.
....
Delta, she [Marcia McCafferty, president of REACH Child and Youth Development Society] said, "is coming dangerously close to crossing the line in meeting its obligations to the students in the public education system."
... trustees must also decide whether or not to close two elementary schools to address low enrollment. ....
The district's alternative suggestions to school closures included a reduction in availability of STRETCH programs for gifted students, learning assistance support, teacher librarian time (already facing cuts under the recommendations), and a further increase in class sizes.
Delta Manor PAC chair Julie Sanders said the district should feel ashamed for making the trustees choose between school closures and special learning programs. Instead, she asked them to make further cuts to administration staffing and eliminate expenses like catering.
"It's time we start acting like a district of under 15,000 students and cut administration positions that aren't necessary." .....
Delta Teachers' Association president Val Windsor and Delta PAC chairperson Donna Burke expressed a desire to see the funding per pupil formula revamped. Windsor called for parents to vote for a change in government on election day.
"Since the provincial government now determines how much money will be put into the education costs, the only way to change the education funding, in my opinion, is to change the government," she said. ....
Under the budget recommendations a total of 53.6 full time equivalent (FTE) staff lose their jobs. .....
From: Rising school costs limiting education to the privileged, Sicamous Eagle Valley News Tue 28 Apr 2009. Opinion
....Education is becoming more expensive for British Columbians and Canadians.
Here in School District #83, we see that Education Minister Shirley Bond has pointed out the school district is not bound to provide transportation to students and, if the cost becomes too high, the school district could consider charging students for the privilege. .... despite the rising costs of fuel, the district's transportation budget has remained the same since 2003.
Bond says the province, in partnership with the ministry's Technical Review Committee, reviews the education funding formula annually. However, this district's superintendent, who is part of the Technical Review Committee, was questioned by the local board about the committee at the last board meeting. He said of 22 recommendations the committee has made, only two have been accepted......
Facing a 4.9 million dollar shortfall, Delta's school district budget recommendations leave no area of the education system unscathed. ... Superintendent Steve Cardwell said the shortfall is the result of a number of factors, including a decline in enrollment by 2,300 students over the past 10 years and a projected decline of more than 200 students during the next five years.
Cardwell also said the global economic downturn has meant less revenue from international student and continuing education programs, as well as a decrease in investment income from reduced interest rates.
....
Proposed cuts to special programming total $853,693 and include closing two primary-level resource rooms for children with speech and language disabiilties and one for intermediate students with learning disabilities.
....
Delta, she [Marcia McCafferty, president of REACH Child and Youth Development Society] said, "is coming dangerously close to crossing the line in meeting its obligations to the students in the public education system."
... trustees must also decide whether or not to close two elementary schools to address low enrollment. ....
The district's alternative suggestions to school closures included a reduction in availability of STRETCH programs for gifted students, learning assistance support, teacher librarian time (already facing cuts under the recommendations), and a further increase in class sizes.
Delta Manor PAC chair Julie Sanders said the district should feel ashamed for making the trustees choose between school closures and special learning programs. Instead, she asked them to make further cuts to administration staffing and eliminate expenses like catering.
"It's time we start acting like a district of under 15,000 students and cut administration positions that aren't necessary." .....
Delta Teachers' Association president Val Windsor and Delta PAC chairperson Donna Burke expressed a desire to see the funding per pupil formula revamped. Windsor called for parents to vote for a change in government on election day.
"Since the provincial government now determines how much money will be put into the education costs, the only way to change the education funding, in my opinion, is to change the government," she said. ....
Under the budget recommendations a total of 53.6 full time equivalent (FTE) staff lose their jobs. .....
From: Rising school costs limiting education to the privileged, Sicamous Eagle Valley News Tue 28 Apr 2009. Opinion
....Education is becoming more expensive for British Columbians and Canadians.
Here in School District #83, we see that Education Minister Shirley Bond has pointed out the school district is not bound to provide transportation to students and, if the cost becomes too high, the school district could consider charging students for the privilege. .... despite the rising costs of fuel, the district's transportation budget has remained the same since 2003.
Bond says the province, in partnership with the ministry's Technical Review Committee, reviews the education funding formula annually. However, this district's superintendent, who is part of the Technical Review Committee, was questioned by the local board about the committee at the last board meeting. He said of 22 recommendations the committee has made, only two have been accepted......
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Long term impact of standardized testing on education!
The verdict is in on education reform, The Ottawa Citizen, Thu 30 Apr 2009, Elizabeth
This crop of Ontario students may be the most tested in history, yet some only graduate with the help of a giant safety net that rescues them from failure even if they cheat, plagiarize, fail to show up for tests and don't hand in assignments.
The policies, being dubbed "Johnny can't fail," were aimed at raising high-school graduation rates. And they have outraged the province's high-school teachers, many of whom have spoken out in recent weeks to say the system is broken. Meanwhile, university professors have added to the concern about Ontario high-school graduates, saying they are seeing growing numbers of students who are immature, have weak research skills, are unable to work independently, and have highly developed senses of entitlement.
Weren't the back-to-basics education reforms of the 1990s supposed to fix all this?
That's certainly what we were told when Mike Harris's Common Sense Revolution rolled in with changes that included a much-heralded return to standardized testing and more accountability in education.
To be fair, the education reform movement was not a Tory invention; it was embraced by parties of all political stripes in Ontario and across North America. Although big changes came into effect under the Ontario Conservatives, most of them were recommended by the province's Royal Commission on Learning, appointed by Bob Rae's NDP government. And the current provincial Liberal government has maintained and supported many of the reforms it inherited.
The issues faced by some high school students and recent graduates are telling. The students at the centre of the storm are among the first to have fully experienced education reform -- they have been
tested throughout most of their school careers. Are "Johnny can't fail" and Generation Google products of these "fixes" to the school system?
Given mounting evidence, it is worth asking what happened to the tougher standards the system was supposed to produce and whether the simplistic ideas that typified the education reform movement have done more harm than good to a generation of students.
Alfie Kohn, a vocal education critic and U.S.-based author of The Case Against Standardized Testing and The Schools Our Children Deserve, has many theories about how so-called "rigorous" standards and standardized testing can be hazardous to children's education.
He has been warning audiences in Canada and the U.S. for years about the negative consequences of the education reform movement.
"The dirty little secret of education reform is that standardized exams, like those imposed on Ontario students, tend to measure what matters least," he said in an e-mail interview.
As a result, he said, it is possible to raise students' test scores, yet lower the quality of their learning. "Conversely, some teachers do wonderful lessons that help kids think deeply and get excited about ideas, but those students' test scores don't go up and may even go down."
In other words, in Kohn's view, we have a system that rewards shallow thinking and fails to reward more creative, in-depth learning.
Kohn has called standardized testing "inherently destructive to learning" and has said it squeezes the "intellectual life out of our schools."
On first blush, his criticism may seem overzealous. After all, students are tested just four times during 13 or 14 years of school.
But the tests are just part of the problem, he says. "They're just the enforcement mechanism for a top-down, one-size-fits-all, corporate-style accountability fad that has had schools in its grip under both the Tories and the Liberals (in Ontario) ... a narrow focus on rigour and tougher standards is part of the problem. It reflects a mindless, macho sensibility more commonly found among politicians than among educators in the classroom."
Kohn says the "tougher standards movement" gets a number of things wrong, including, critically, what motivates students. A focus on how well one is doing is very different from a focus on what one is doing, he notes. "A preoccupation with performance often undermines interest in learning, quality of learning and a desire to be challenged."
Kohn also believes the emphasis on testing, and teaching for the test, results in sacrifices in other areas. He says accountability, and mandating a particular type of education and outcomes, has a strangling effect on learning.
It is also worth noting EQAO tests in grades 3, 6 and 9, and the high-school literacy tests, are prepared for, taken and then forgotten. Students get no opportunity to learn from the experiences by discussing their results.
The latest issue to bedevil Ontario's school system -- the "Johnny can't fail" syndrome -- results from the same mindset he believes marked the education reform movement all along, a focus on performance, rather than learning. Raising the graduation rate in Ontario is meaningless if the bar has to be lowered to get some of those graduates through.
From this perspective, education reform looks like a failed experiment. This generation of students deserves an explanation.
Elizabeth Payne is a member of the Citizen's editorial board.
This crop of Ontario students may be the most tested in history, yet some only graduate with the help of a giant safety net that rescues them from failure even if they cheat, plagiarize, fail to show up for tests and don't hand in assignments.
The policies, being dubbed "Johnny can't fail," were aimed at raising high-school graduation rates. And they have outraged the province's high-school teachers, many of whom have spoken out in recent weeks to say the system is broken. Meanwhile, university professors have added to the concern about Ontario high-school graduates, saying they are seeing growing numbers of students who are immature, have weak research skills, are unable to work independently, and have highly developed senses of entitlement.
Weren't the back-to-basics education reforms of the 1990s supposed to fix all this?
That's certainly what we were told when Mike Harris's Common Sense Revolution rolled in with changes that included a much-heralded return to standardized testing and more accountability in education.
To be fair, the education reform movement was not a Tory invention; it was embraced by parties of all political stripes in Ontario and across North America. Although big changes came into effect under the Ontario Conservatives, most of them were recommended by the province's Royal Commission on Learning, appointed by Bob Rae's NDP government. And the current provincial Liberal government has maintained and supported many of the reforms it inherited.
The issues faced by some high school students and recent graduates are telling. The students at the centre of the storm are among the first to have fully experienced education reform -- they have been
tested throughout most of their school careers. Are "Johnny can't fail" and Generation Google products of these "fixes" to the school system?
Given mounting evidence, it is worth asking what happened to the tougher standards the system was supposed to produce and whether the simplistic ideas that typified the education reform movement have done more harm than good to a generation of students.
Alfie Kohn, a vocal education critic and U.S.-based author of The Case Against Standardized Testing and The Schools Our Children Deserve, has many theories about how so-called "rigorous" standards and standardized testing can be hazardous to children's education.
He has been warning audiences in Canada and the U.S. for years about the negative consequences of the education reform movement.
"The dirty little secret of education reform is that standardized exams, like those imposed on Ontario students, tend to measure what matters least," he said in an e-mail interview.
As a result, he said, it is possible to raise students' test scores, yet lower the quality of their learning. "Conversely, some teachers do wonderful lessons that help kids think deeply and get excited about ideas, but those students' test scores don't go up and may even go down."
In other words, in Kohn's view, we have a system that rewards shallow thinking and fails to reward more creative, in-depth learning.
Kohn has called standardized testing "inherently destructive to learning" and has said it squeezes the "intellectual life out of our schools."
On first blush, his criticism may seem overzealous. After all, students are tested just four times during 13 or 14 years of school.
But the tests are just part of the problem, he says. "They're just the enforcement mechanism for a top-down, one-size-fits-all, corporate-style accountability fad that has had schools in its grip under both the Tories and the Liberals (in Ontario) ... a narrow focus on rigour and tougher standards is part of the problem. It reflects a mindless, macho sensibility more commonly found among politicians than among educators in the classroom."
Kohn says the "tougher standards movement" gets a number of things wrong, including, critically, what motivates students. A focus on how well one is doing is very different from a focus on what one is doing, he notes. "A preoccupation with performance often undermines interest in learning, quality of learning and a desire to be challenged."
Kohn also believes the emphasis on testing, and teaching for the test, results in sacrifices in other areas. He says accountability, and mandating a particular type of education and outcomes, has a strangling effect on learning.
It is also worth noting EQAO tests in grades 3, 6 and 9, and the high-school literacy tests, are prepared for, taken and then forgotten. Students get no opportunity to learn from the experiences by discussing their results.
The latest issue to bedevil Ontario's school system -- the "Johnny can't fail" syndrome -- results from the same mindset he believes marked the education reform movement all along, a focus on performance, rather than learning. Raising the graduation rate in Ontario is meaningless if the bar has to be lowered to get some of those graduates through.
From this perspective, education reform looks like a failed experiment. This generation of students deserves an explanation.
Elizabeth Payne is a member of the Citizen's editorial board.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Election updates!
Election race nearly a dead heat: poll; NDP has narrowed gap to three points despite losing ground on some issues, The Vancouver Sun, Wed 29 Apr 2009. Jonathan Fowlie
(excerpts)
The New Democratic Party has narrowed the gap in the provincial election to just three points despite losing ground on key issues such as the economy, an Angus Reid Strategies poll has found.
Done for CTV, the Angus Reid online poll found the B.C. Liberals have 42 per cent support, while the opposition NDP has 39 per cent.
The Green party remains in third place with 13 per cent, and the B.C. Conservatives and independents each have three per cent support.
The poll of 822 people, conducted April 24-26, has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points, 19 times in 20.
....
Van Dongen could have kept post, Campbell says; Liberal Leader stands by disgraced former solicitor-general and is prepared to face criticism over his decision, The Globe and Mail, Wed 29 Apr 2009. Justine Hunter (excerpts)
GOLDEN -- Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell said yesterday he is prepared to be judged for his decision to stand by his disgraced former solicitor-general, saying John van Dongen could have kept the post if he felt he could stay on top of the government's top priorities in the crime-fighting arena.
Mr. van Dongen's resignation on Monday over his driving record has provided the Liberal campaign's first major setback.
In an interview yesterday, Mr. Campbell defended his judgment about who can stay and who must go from his party.
....
Last Friday, Mr. van Dongen revealed he had lost his driver's licence - the result of being caught twice doing more than 40 kilometres an hour over the posted speed limit. He also accrued seven speeding tickets in the four years before he was named solicitor-general.
By contrast, Mr. Campbell's party dumped candidate Joe Cardoso earlier this year because he had once written a letter to the editor in a newspaper that was critical of the Liberal Party Leader.
....
B.C.'s economic situation and the Liberal platform, The Vancouver Sun, Wed 29 Apr 2009. Marc Lee
The B.C. Liberal platform features many feel-good photos and proud statements taking credit for the province's recent boom. But reading between the lines, one realizes that, after eight years in power, the Liberals have effectively run out of ideas.
The platform fails to offer any vision for the future. The Liberals made some progress on climate change over the past couple years, but the platform offers nothing new. Meanwhile, the climate action secretariat, once residing in the premier's office, has been relegated to the Ministry of the Environment, which recently had its budget cut.
.... the government enters the election without a plan in place to get B.C. to its legislated 33-per-cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. And there are some glaring contradictions between the climate plan and other parts of the Liberals' platform.
One of those contradictions is the oil and gas industry. Between 2001 and 2006, oil and gas industry emissions surged by far more than the carbon tax will ever reduce come 2020. Recently, Campbell was in the northeast, promising more new investment in oil and gas extraction, which may make it virtually impossible to reach our targets. And it is not like the oil and gas patch is a huge employer -- about 2,200 direct jobs in 2008 -- for all that pollution.
Highway expansion and the $3.4-billion Port Mann superbridge also go against the climate-action grain. .... No jurisdiction in the world has ever built its way out of congestion.
The Liberal platform offers no real vision for the economy either, now that the great boom is over. Unemployment rose rapidly through early 2009, and with housing starts down 70 per cent, the worst is yet to come, as construction workers finish their projects and head to the back of the unemployment line.
The economic collapse is not the fault of the Liberals, but then neither was the boom their creation. B.C.'s economic fortunes rest on what happens outside our borders, in particular in the export markets of the U.S. and Asia, and in Ottawa, through the Bank of Canada and the federal government.
In February's budget, the Liberals offered little in the way of stimulus, mostly re-announcing projects already underway or relying on federal stimulus dollars.
....
Bad economic times mean that the small deficit projected in the budget will inevitably turn out to be much larger.
The Liberal platform promises that B.C. will "live within its means," but, faced with a $1-billion to $2-billion deficit, will a new Liberal government pile on more spending cuts and risk making the economic picture worse, or will it accommodate a larger deficit?
What does that mean for the few new promises in the platform, like all-day kindergarten ....
.... during the good times, not all British Columbians were part of the boom. Poverty rates did not drop in any meaningful way, homelessness doubled, and inequality worsened with each passing year.
.....
(excerpts)
The New Democratic Party has narrowed the gap in the provincial election to just three points despite losing ground on key issues such as the economy, an Angus Reid Strategies poll has found.
Done for CTV, the Angus Reid online poll found the B.C. Liberals have 42 per cent support, while the opposition NDP has 39 per cent.
The Green party remains in third place with 13 per cent, and the B.C. Conservatives and independents each have three per cent support.
The poll of 822 people, conducted April 24-26, has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points, 19 times in 20.
....
Van Dongen could have kept post, Campbell says; Liberal Leader stands by disgraced former solicitor-general and is prepared to face criticism over his decision, The Globe and Mail, Wed 29 Apr 2009. Justine Hunter (excerpts)
GOLDEN -- Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell said yesterday he is prepared to be judged for his decision to stand by his disgraced former solicitor-general, saying John van Dongen could have kept the post if he felt he could stay on top of the government's top priorities in the crime-fighting arena.
Mr. van Dongen's resignation on Monday over his driving record has provided the Liberal campaign's first major setback.
In an interview yesterday, Mr. Campbell defended his judgment about who can stay and who must go from his party.
....
Last Friday, Mr. van Dongen revealed he had lost his driver's licence - the result of being caught twice doing more than 40 kilometres an hour over the posted speed limit. He also accrued seven speeding tickets in the four years before he was named solicitor-general.
By contrast, Mr. Campbell's party dumped candidate Joe Cardoso earlier this year because he had once written a letter to the editor in a newspaper that was critical of the Liberal Party Leader.
....
B.C.'s economic situation and the Liberal platform, The Vancouver Sun, Wed 29 Apr 2009. Marc Lee
The B.C. Liberal platform features many feel-good photos and proud statements taking credit for the province's recent boom. But reading between the lines, one realizes that, after eight years in power, the Liberals have effectively run out of ideas.
The platform fails to offer any vision for the future. The Liberals made some progress on climate change over the past couple years, but the platform offers nothing new. Meanwhile, the climate action secretariat, once residing in the premier's office, has been relegated to the Ministry of the Environment, which recently had its budget cut.
.... the government enters the election without a plan in place to get B.C. to its legislated 33-per-cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. And there are some glaring contradictions between the climate plan and other parts of the Liberals' platform.
One of those contradictions is the oil and gas industry. Between 2001 and 2006, oil and gas industry emissions surged by far more than the carbon tax will ever reduce come 2020. Recently, Campbell was in the northeast, promising more new investment in oil and gas extraction, which may make it virtually impossible to reach our targets. And it is not like the oil and gas patch is a huge employer -- about 2,200 direct jobs in 2008 -- for all that pollution.
Highway expansion and the $3.4-billion Port Mann superbridge also go against the climate-action grain. .... No jurisdiction in the world has ever built its way out of congestion.
The Liberal platform offers no real vision for the economy either, now that the great boom is over. Unemployment rose rapidly through early 2009, and with housing starts down 70 per cent, the worst is yet to come, as construction workers finish their projects and head to the back of the unemployment line.
The economic collapse is not the fault of the Liberals, but then neither was the boom their creation. B.C.'s economic fortunes rest on what happens outside our borders, in particular in the export markets of the U.S. and Asia, and in Ottawa, through the Bank of Canada and the federal government.
In February's budget, the Liberals offered little in the way of stimulus, mostly re-announcing projects already underway or relying on federal stimulus dollars.
....
Bad economic times mean that the small deficit projected in the budget will inevitably turn out to be much larger.
The Liberal platform promises that B.C. will "live within its means," but, faced with a $1-billion to $2-billion deficit, will a new Liberal government pile on more spending cuts and risk making the economic picture worse, or will it accommodate a larger deficit?
What does that mean for the few new promises in the platform, like all-day kindergarten ....
.... during the good times, not all British Columbians were part of the boom. Poverty rates did not drop in any meaningful way, homelessness doubled, and inequality worsened with each passing year.
.....
In the news today....
School trustees approve budget -- and cuts -- without debate, Coquitlam Now Wed 29 Apr 2009. Jennifer Mcfee (excerpts)
More than 31 full-time positions will be axed from School District 43 after the 2009-10 budget passed April 20 with no comment from trustees.
The district faced a $4.1-million shortfall due to increased costs for negotiated salaries, benefits, pension plans and utilities, as well as the elimination of one-time funds.
To balance the budget, the leadership team came up with a plan to cut the equivalent of 31.25 positions -- including 16.75 teaching positions by increasing student-to-teacher ratios. Other losses will include three custodians, two noon-hour supervisors, two learning support teachers and one delivery person.
At the same time, the district will add 6.6 full-time support positions, including a human resource manager at a cost of $94,500.
.....
School board faces cuts, The Grand Forks Gazette, Wed 29 Apr 2009. Jim Holtz
(excerpts)
.... The programs and services currently offered by the district will cost $910,000 more to deliver in the 2009-10 school year than the Ministry of Education is willing to grant. Although the ministry has announced that they are spending more in 2009-10 than ever before, the increases in costs facing all districts far exceed the amount of money they have been granted.
"I guess it is all in semantics," Superintendent Michael Strukoff said at the April 21 meeting of the district finance committee. "For 2009-2010, on a per student basis, yes, it will be the highest funding ever, but unfortunately since 2008-2009 our costs have gone up substantially higher."
....
Layoffs to impact teachers; Union prez says up to 10 positions threatened in cuts, The Record (New Westminster) Wed 29 Apr 2009. Niki Hope (excerpts)
The New Westminster Teachers' Union president is bracing for layoffs.
Grant Osborne said he's heard that roughly 10 teachers will be cut this year as a part of the district's effort to shave $3 million from the budget.
....
E-mails could cost head of parents' group; Members to consider call for his removal, The Vancouver Sun Wed 29 Apr 2009. Janet Steffenhagen (excerpts)
Ron Broda will learn this weekend if a couple of ill-considered e-mails will cost him the presidency of the B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils (BCCPAC), the group that speaks for parents on education issues.
The government-funded organization has been stumbling for months, ever since Broda accidentally sent an e-mail calling two parents "stupid" to a BCCPAC listserve. He followed it with a second, angry e-mail -- which he titled Stupid Me -- repeating the insults, expanding them to include others and listing everything he dislikes about being president.
"Resign, some of you have said," he wrote in the e-mail. "You have no idea how many times that I have thought of doing just that. But stupid me for thinking that I can make a difference to this organization."
Since he didn't step down, some members have submitted a resolution to the BCCPAC annual general meeting this weekend calling for his removal.
.....
More than 31 full-time positions will be axed from School District 43 after the 2009-10 budget passed April 20 with no comment from trustees.
The district faced a $4.1-million shortfall due to increased costs for negotiated salaries, benefits, pension plans and utilities, as well as the elimination of one-time funds.
To balance the budget, the leadership team came up with a plan to cut the equivalent of 31.25 positions -- including 16.75 teaching positions by increasing student-to-teacher ratios. Other losses will include three custodians, two noon-hour supervisors, two learning support teachers and one delivery person.
At the same time, the district will add 6.6 full-time support positions, including a human resource manager at a cost of $94,500.
.....
School board faces cuts, The Grand Forks Gazette, Wed 29 Apr 2009. Jim Holtz
(excerpts)
.... The programs and services currently offered by the district will cost $910,000 more to deliver in the 2009-10 school year than the Ministry of Education is willing to grant. Although the ministry has announced that they are spending more in 2009-10 than ever before, the increases in costs facing all districts far exceed the amount of money they have been granted.
"I guess it is all in semantics," Superintendent Michael Strukoff said at the April 21 meeting of the district finance committee. "For 2009-2010, on a per student basis, yes, it will be the highest funding ever, but unfortunately since 2008-2009 our costs have gone up substantially higher."
....
Layoffs to impact teachers; Union prez says up to 10 positions threatened in cuts, The Record (New Westminster) Wed 29 Apr 2009. Niki Hope (excerpts)
The New Westminster Teachers' Union president is bracing for layoffs.
Grant Osborne said he's heard that roughly 10 teachers will be cut this year as a part of the district's effort to shave $3 million from the budget.
....
E-mails could cost head of parents' group; Members to consider call for his removal, The Vancouver Sun Wed 29 Apr 2009. Janet Steffenhagen (excerpts)
Ron Broda will learn this weekend if a couple of ill-considered e-mails will cost him the presidency of the B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils (BCCPAC), the group that speaks for parents on education issues.
The government-funded organization has been stumbling for months, ever since Broda accidentally sent an e-mail calling two parents "stupid" to a BCCPAC listserve. He followed it with a second, angry e-mail -- which he titled Stupid Me -- repeating the insults, expanding them to include others and listing everything he dislikes about being president.
"Resign, some of you have said," he wrote in the e-mail. "You have no idea how many times that I have thought of doing just that. But stupid me for thinking that I can make a difference to this organization."
Since he didn't step down, some members have submitted a resolution to the BCCPAC annual general meeting this weekend calling for his removal.
.....
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
SD5 Carbon Tax bill
$10,928.80 is how much money SD5 is paying for fuels purchased between July 1st and December 1st 2008.
This covers 11,692 L of gasoline, 82,008 L of diesel fuel, and 116,862 gigajoules of natural gas......
But no funding or relief from the Government....
This covers 11,692 L of gasoline, 82,008 L of diesel fuel, and 116,862 gigajoules of natural gas......
But no funding or relief from the Government....
Thursday, April 23, 2009
FDTA AGM election results
A great FDTA AGM was held last night - at a 'last minute' changed location.... another story for the history books.
President/Alternate LR: Steve Fairbairn
Vice President:Meghan Culley
LR: Kate Noakes
Sec/Treasurer: Bil Bell
Health and Safety: Bill Bell and Fred Gietz
Ab Ed: Michelle Chechotko
Bargaining: Keith Regular
PD: Cindy Gleb
Member-at-large: Mike Kelly and Mike Tomney
Social Justice: Vacant
Some new and younger faces to keep the creative juices flowing...
Congratulatory emails are coming in from around the province already.
:)
President/Alternate LR: Steve Fairbairn
Vice President:Meghan Culley
LR: Kate Noakes
Sec/Treasurer: Bil Bell
Health and Safety: Bill Bell and Fred Gietz
Ab Ed: Michelle Chechotko
Bargaining: Keith Regular
PD: Cindy Gleb
Member-at-large: Mike Kelly and Mike Tomney
Social Justice: Vacant
Some new and younger faces to keep the creative juices flowing...
Congratulatory emails are coming in from around the province already.
:)
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Letter to the editor - from a Liberal!
Three strikes against Campbell
Gordon Campbell wants my vote for the third time, but I'm not sure he's earned it.
Strike 1 - He lifted the moratorium on salmon farm expansion, threatening B.C.'s wild salmon, ignoring the pulse of the people and the warnings from experts. Please Google Living Oceans Society.
Strike 2 - He gave away our future affordable electrical security by privatizing publicly built generators like Kemano.
Strike 3 - Shortly after promising to keep B.C. Rail public, he sold it to Canadian National Railway; now an off-shore company.
I could go on.
Mr. Campbell's Liberals like to remind us of the NDP's fast ferries fiasco.
That well intentioned but doomed investment was meant to train and provide future jobs in B.C. It was the wrong design - so order the right one from Germany?
At least the mistake had an accountable cost.
Wild salmon - priceless.
Electrical security - priceless.
B.C. Rail - under investigation.
Carbon tax - politically correct name to sneak in another grab.
Respectfully, all politicians enter the ring with a passion to improve the land and people they love. Unfortunately there are a lot of very talented lobbyists along the way. Power corrupts. It is like osmosis; some politicians get more arrogant the longer they are in power.
Personally, I am going to surprise my right wing peers and risk my vote on Carole James, hopefully the first female premier in B.C.'s history.
Do your homework people. Ask the hard questions and be sure to vote. It is the only minute of real time you get to have a say in our children's fishless, inflated future.
Jim Horner
Whistler
piquenewsmagazine
Gordon Campbell wants my vote for the third time, but I'm not sure he's earned it.
Strike 1 - He lifted the moratorium on salmon farm expansion, threatening B.C.'s wild salmon, ignoring the pulse of the people and the warnings from experts. Please Google Living Oceans Society.
Strike 2 - He gave away our future affordable electrical security by privatizing publicly built generators like Kemano.
Strike 3 - Shortly after promising to keep B.C. Rail public, he sold it to Canadian National Railway; now an off-shore company.
I could go on.
Mr. Campbell's Liberals like to remind us of the NDP's fast ferries fiasco.
That well intentioned but doomed investment was meant to train and provide future jobs in B.C. It was the wrong design - so order the right one from Germany?
At least the mistake had an accountable cost.
Wild salmon - priceless.
Electrical security - priceless.
B.C. Rail - under investigation.
Carbon tax - politically correct name to sneak in another grab.
Respectfully, all politicians enter the ring with a passion to improve the land and people they love. Unfortunately there are a lot of very talented lobbyists along the way. Power corrupts. It is like osmosis; some politicians get more arrogant the longer they are in power.
Personally, I am going to surprise my right wing peers and risk my vote on Carole James, hopefully the first female premier in B.C.'s history.
Do your homework people. Ask the hard questions and be sure to vote. It is the only minute of real time you get to have a say in our children's fishless, inflated future.
Jim Horner
Whistler
piquenewsmagazine
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