Take politics out of it and put our kids and teachers back in the classroom, the New Westminster school board chair wrote in a letter to Education Minister Peter Fassbender and British Columbia Teachers' Federation president Jim Iker.
"There isn't a larger political issue here," says the letter signed by Jonina Campbell, who is also a teacher in the Richmond school district. "This is about our students and the need for our children to continue their education. This is about the need for our teachers to be educating our students. This is about the need for our communities to protect public education."
Public education is suffering and students are anxious about their futures as a result of the ongoing standoff between the provincial government and teachers, she wrote in the condemning letter, which calls for the strike to end and the two sides to begin bargaining on a "daily basis."
"The New Westminster board of education understands that the damage being done to public education will soon become irreversible.
" Every day, we hear stories of our community being fed up and not understanding why you can't negotiate a settlement. Every day, we learn of parents who are leaving the public school system to enrol their students in private or independent schools, not because they are searching for a superior product, but because they simply want their children in school. Every day, our administrators are responding to questions from our students who are in angst regarding their educational program. They worry about how the strike will affect their future."
She urges the two sides to sit down with a mediator to negotiate a settlement and if that doesn't work, to then proceed to binding arbitration.
Here letter ends with the statement: "The harm must end. Enough is enough!"
Meanwhile, Campbell's letter happened to be issued on the same day that the two sides are meeting for the first time in weeks, according to reports. Senior negotiators for the B.C. Teachers' Federation and the government will meet in Victoria with Education Minister Peter Fassbender.
The meeting comes as the teachers' union increases pressure for mediated talks by taking to picket lines across the province, including at a small number of schools in New Westminster.
