Now is the time for parents to make some noise. Education Minister George Abbott needs a wake up call.
As I sat in a meeting this week with teachers from our school, I was appalled to listen to the reality of our current school system crumbling before our eyes.
Any parent with school aged children should be outraged at the lack of understanding our current government has with respect to our teachers being able to provide quality education that is both inclusive and individualized, while repeatedly experiencing extreme budget cuts. Our teachers, administrators and most of all our children are suffering as a result of the loss of crucial supports and ridiculous class size and composition rules imposed by the B.C. government.
The government is ignoring our teachers and this should not be tolerated. Our teachers come to work every day in the best interest of our children and their pursuit of education, despite the hideous mistreatment from our government.
How can our government justify removing $300 million from the education budget and continually eroding educational resources on a yearly basis? They expect our parent community to pick up the slack and we often do so through school fundraising efforts. When parent fundraising is used to purchase books – once viewed as essential items – in order for our children to have enough supplies to learn basic reading skills, this is disgraceful.
Where are the priorities of our government? Certainly not where they should be – supporting our children’s future by ensuring our valued teachers have the resources they need to do their job in the best interest of all of our children.
I encourage you to speak up and let our government know that they need to properly fund our education system, treat teachers fairly and provide them with the supports that not only benefit them, but most of all, benefit our children and their future.
Minister Abbott, wake up and support our education system, our teachers and our children.
K. Mikkelsen
Sidney