FOR PARENTS AND KIDS, NO SCHOOL IS NO FUN

Children and their parents rally for Back To School for both teachers and students in Kensington, Vancouver

For months now striking teachers on the streets were and still is a common sight in Greater Vancouver.

But when I got off the bus in my neighborhood at the corner of Kingsway and Knight Street, I saw elementary age kids holding placards with words like “Teachers” and “School” and Parents”.  It turns out the adults with them were their moms (mostly) and dads.

Petrice Brett who has daughter going into Grade 4 said, “Our community is very close knit, so we are  very familiar with one another, but we are not an organized group, just disheartened parents ready for change.”

“We got sick of talking and decided to take action the best way we can.”

So how did passersby and drivers responded on that sunny September 3rd afternoon?  For some reason, plenty of honks sounded cheery, and people said “Thank you”.

Petrice’s daughter who was there said, "it was fun and I like rallying for the teachers".

For the more than 40,000 public school teachers who went on full strike last June 17, a few weeks before classes were to end, the holdout goes on as of the first week of September when the new school term was supposed to have started.

Parent Deb Copland said, “The teachers are striking for better classroom sizes and more support for kids like mine (dyslexic and written output).”

“The teachers need to see support from parents and we need to show the government we want kids back in our public schools. Writing letters is great but sometimes actions speak louder than words. We felt it was time to act.”

The teachers’ walkout and the government lockout, at first had a soft impact, arriving at the onset of the summer break.  But when private schools and higher institutions were normally opening their classrooms the first days of September, the fun of days off for onlookers from public schools was wearying off.

“Everyone is scrambling. Some have family support, some are relying on communities to help and some are involving their kids in camp programs,”  according to Ms. Brett.

 IMPORTANT NOTE:

 

The BC Ministry of Education has opened an online registration for parents of public school students 12 years old and under to receive $40 per student for each day school is not in session due to the ongoing BC Federation of Teachers’ strike.  You can register at http://bcparentinfo.ca/.