Children and their parents rally for Back To School for both
teachers and students in Kensington, Vancouver
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For months now striking teachers on the streets were and
still is a common sight in Greater Vancouver.
But when I got off the bus in my neighborhood at the corner
of Kingsway and Knight Street,
I saw elementary age kids holding placards with words like “Teachers” and
“School” and Parents”. It turns out the
adults with them were their moms (mostly) and dads.
Petrice Brett who has daughter going into Grade 4 said, “Our
community is very close knit, so we are very familiar with one another,
but we are not an organized group, just disheartened parents ready for change.”
“We got sick of talking and decided to take action the best
way we can.”
So how did passersby and drivers responded on that sunny September
3rd afternoon? For some reason, plenty
of honks sounded cheery, and people said “Thank you”.
Petrice’s daughter who was there said, "it was fun and
I like rallying for the teachers".
For the more than 40,000 public school teachers who went on
full strike last June 17, a few weeks before classes were to end, the holdout
goes on as of the first week of September when the new school term was supposed
to have started.
Parent Deb Copland said, “The teachers are striking for
better classroom sizes and more support for kids like mine (dyslexic and
written output).”
“The teachers need to see support from parents and we need
to show the government we want kids back in our public schools. Writing letters
is great but sometimes actions speak louder than words. We felt it was time to
act.”
The teachers’ walkout and the government lockout, at first
had a soft impact, arriving at the onset of the summer break. But when private schools and higher
institutions were normally opening their classrooms the first days of
September, the fun of days off for onlookers from public schools was wearying
off.
“Everyone is scrambling. Some have family support, some are relying
on communities to help and some are involving their kids in camp
programs,” according to Ms. Brett.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The BC Ministry of Education has opened an online
registration for parents of public school students 12 years old and under to
receive $40 per student for each day school is not in session due to the
ongoing BC Federation of Teachers’ strike.
You can register at http://bcparentinfo.ca/.
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