Editor,
I am writing in response to "School board freezes wages" (The Chief, April 30).
As a teacher-activist, I am concerned about your coverage of this issue and would like to address some of the misconceptions that are presented in the article.
Your story quotes Board of Education chair Rick Price as saying that there will be no teacher lay-offs this year. In fact, according to the most recent school budget figures, there will be a reduction of 13.9 full time equivalent (FTE) teaching positions across the district.
These are lay-offs in all but name. The board is neglecting to acknowledge the many teachers who teach under so-called "temporary contracts," a practice which affords them no job security from one year to the next.
Make no mistake, some of these temporary contracts will be cut and there will be newly unemployed teachers in School District No 48 next year. Of course, these are preliminary budget numbers, and I remain hopeful that additional funds will be made available to schools to offset this significant loss of teaching time.
Your story also reports Trustee Andrea Beaubien as saying that reductions in library expenses are "fine, not good, but fine" as long as they don't become a pattern. I take exception to this statement.
Teacher-librarian time has suffered significant erosion over the past 10 years.
In the 2001/2002 school year, there was a total of about 6.3 FTE teacher-librarians spread across the district. Right now, teacher-librarian time is at an all-time low, with only about 4.5 FTE.
Next year, it will be reduced even further, including a 50 per cent cut at the elementary level (from 2.7 to 1.38 FTE). Three schools are currently budgeted to have no teacher-librarian time at all (Signal Hill, Spring Creek and Brackendale Elementary).
There is a disquieting pattern here, and teachers object to yet another erosion of services to our students. It is most definitely not "fine."
Your readers are no doubt aware of the many school districts dealing with deficits across the province.
Costs are increasing, new programs are being mandated, existing services must be maintained, and yet the current government refuses to adequately fund public education despite their claims of the "highest funding ever."
Local educators are constantly being asked to do more with less, while our Board of Education struggles with the increasingly unrealistic demands placed upon them by a government in denial.
I urge our elected trustees to speak out thoughtfully and honestly about the real effects on teachers and students in Sea to Sky.
Beth Miller
President, Sea to Sky Teachers' Association
