Dear Editor:
Re: Teacher ban gets support from B.C. parents, The Record, June 1.
How sad that parents from the B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils want to get rid of teachers from their school boards, the ones with intimate knowledge about education.
Teachers have no monetary conflict of interest by being on a school board in a district where they are not teaching. What could possibly be the conflict?
Perhaps some parent reps don't like the way certain trustees vote. The answer is to not vote for them next time.
Apparently in New Westminster, the public likes their teacher trustees. They keep getting elected over and over again. Perhaps the majority of their public see the value in having trustees who are knowledgeable about what happens in a classroom.
But, just for argument's sake, let's see who else should be banned.
How about Liberal party members. They might influence the board to never disagree with our current government. Oh, but next year we might have an NDP government. Better ban NDP party members too.
What about members of religious groups. Remember the book-banning fiasco in Surrey a few years ago. Should those trustees who caused that have been banned?
Then there are parents of special needs kids. Should we screen them to see if they agree with the B.C. Teachers' Federation or the Victoria DPAC?
Which one should be banned? Why would we choose to ban the most knowledgeable?
There is no reason to ban teachers from being trustees, in fact there is good reason not to ban them.
Kathy Couch, Nelson
