With two weeks left before kids are supposed to end their summer break and head back to the classrooms in British Columbia, parents and students still don’t know if the provincial government and teachers will be able to strike a deal in time for schools to open on schedule.
With the clock ticking on the start of the new school year, veteran mediator Vince Ready has agreed to help end the dispute, despite two different mediators having already previously declined to step in, saying both sides are still too far apart for such mediation to be effective.
However, according to the B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils, if no deal is reached by this Monday (Aug. 25), then school will definitely not be starting on time.
Just great.
This 11th-hour uncertainty means parents have no idea whether they should be buying school supplies or scrambling to secure childcare.
In an effort to appear sympathetic to families, while also sticking it to the teachers, the B.C. government has offered parents $40 per day for each public school student under the age of 13 if the dispute is not over by the start of classes in September. The cash would come from not having to pay teachers during the dispute.
Many have called that plan absurd, saying the $12 million a day for the program should be going towards solving the problem and funneled back into the education system, rather than being more divisive.
Plus, daycare runs about $50-$60 per day, so a continued strike is still going to put a drain on parent’s pocketbooks regardless… not to mention putting the students’ school year in jeopardy.
This dispute has gone on long enough, and it is starting to feel like teachers and the government are playing one big game of chicken with children’s education… and it’s about time someone just went ahead and blinked.
The sides have had the whole summer to work on the problem, and quite frankly parents and students are sick of feeling like they are being held hostage by the whole process. Even if a deal isn’t signed by the time school is supposed to start, teachers should bite the bullet, put the kids first and go back to work… while continuing to negotiate, of course.
Summer vacation is over and everyone needs to get back to work.
