Editor, The News:
I’d like to thank School District No. 42 for releasing its preliminary operating budget. It calls for a reduction of 11.7 elementary school teachers and 9.2 secondary school teachers. What a thankless job.
When the province fails to fund education, teachers get laid off.
It’s the least senior teachers who get axed, and that means the newer programs.
My daughter loves the Montessori program at Hammond elementary, with its integrated grade levels and specially trained teachers. It is a carefully planned program, supported by decades of research and it is blazing a trail for the mainstream program to follow.
All of the Montessori teachers have received lay-off notices. Some may be hired back, but some may be replaced by teachers who have more seniority but no Montessori training. This program has a three-year cycle and kids need stability.
What’s the point of working tirelessly to improve our schools if it’s going to be slashed a few years later?
I’ve just read that Christy Clark says Marc Dalton believes in choices for families. But here we see what happens when you put dollars ahead of families.
Do they think voters will vote for whatever party has a zero at the bottom of the balance sheet, whatever the consequences?
Clark said the Liberals have committed to spending $10 billion on capital infrastructure. What?
How about paying people to educate our kids so that we have a strong human infrastructure?
We have schools, let’s invest in good people to work in them. It’s better – and cheaper – to build children than mend adults.
James Rowley
Maple Ridge