Community Alliance For Public Education

Our Trustee Eden

Principiis Obsta…Finem Respice

Resist the Beginning…Consider the End

                                      I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.
                                                                                                                                                    – Jonathan Swift 

In a report or two ago I lamented the sad coincidence between the compliance of boards in passing calamitous budgets and the assertion by our Minister this was an indicator school districts in BC had plenty of funding to do their job.

This – no doubt- is why there is an entire office in her ministry devoted to designing creative programs and services to download onto school districts without attendant funding. This year, boards in BC can look forward to supplying the alien transmat technology required for molecular relocation as well as the means to build capacity in our students for raising the dead and cloning celebrities. Somehow, we will find a way to pay for all of this even if it means scrapping the out of date K-12 programs and shutting every public school in the valley except the one with the biomedical research lab.

Despite her congratulations at the time, we have had to endure a contradictory message through the ‘Report on the Vancouver School Board’ released earlier this month which describes that board and by implication, all boards in BC as incompetent whiners incapable of performing their tasks as required.

 No wonder many of us are too confused to even feel insulted.

What are the duties of trustees as officers ruled by the School Act and as elected representatives of our communities?

This report has issued a challenge to all 420 trustees in this province by cracking the whip over the Vancouver School Board’s head. The Minister is making an example of the VSB primarily to strike fear in all our hearts.

Since elected, I have been instructed by senior staff on my meagre role as a trustee – I have been reprimanded for visiting schools, scolded for raising concerns with managers, chastised for talking to employees and warned against being politically active. ‘Playing with the trains’ is the favoured critique from administrators to any trustee who responds to their duties according to their own conscience and understanding.

In one breath the recommendations in the report demand trustees cease their interference in the management of their district and in the next trustees must be managers above all else. On one hand we are instructed to fulfill ‘stewardship responsibilities’ and on the other to stop all this advocacy nonsense.

 Clearly, trustees direct nothing and are viewed by the management as a temporary inconvenience until the world can right itself and turn back the loathsome tide of community interference in the business of government. Yet – the government- in this report- chides the VSB for acting not as managers but as advocates. The arrogance of the top dogs is so pervasive they do not even feel the need to get their story straight. And if we are meant neither to direct district activities in any meaningful way nor to vocalise the interests of our families and employees then what is our job description? I believe the report is being deliberately obscure and paradoxical in order to allow unrestricted latitude in demeaning the people who are chosen in elections.

Just like the hospital boards- not perfect- but at least elected to be charged with the operations of the hospitals, our school boards are scheduled for deletion so Victoria can appoint their own reliable acolytes to the task of stick handling the devolution of public education.

This report demands the VSB charge more for community use of facilities (up to 700% more), squeeze their unionised employees for concessions, close schools and stop providing services and programs the ministry regards as surplus to requirements like inner city junior kindergartens.

Perhaps most troubling is the recommendation to save money by curtailing participatory forms of democratic partner involvement on board committees. The report complains (whines?) about the tragic cost of staff support for all these damnable meetings – a cost we could all do without once we recognise the inherent superiority of bargain basement despotism.

Despite the contention the board in Vancouver(and by extension all boards) is wasting money heaping privileges on students and employees as well as hanging on to neighbourhood schools and some semblance of democracy, the report orders outside hires be used to fiddle with governance structures and supply special knowledge in the financial realm. So while the comptroller general is collapsing in grief over the use of public funds to support embracing broad based community inclusion in board decisions, she is determined to see this money used to engage private consultants as experts in endangering democracy and spinning funding inadequacies.

Why enjoy the wisdom of your community for free when you can pay a carefully chosen toady a small fortune to get the answers the ministry really wants?

 As July is Achievement Contract Month, it is worthwhile noting recommendation 13 in the report seeks to link the ever diminishing resources school districts enjoy with the outcomes in the stats. Nowhere in this report or anywhere else I am aware of does the ministry ever reflect on their responsibilities to our kids or their own role in reducing the funds to such an extent we are hard pressed to meet their lofty benchmarks. But then – outcomes and consequences are only for the lower orders.

A better title for the ‘Report on the Vancouver School Board’ would be ‘Chutzpah R Us’ since in no way does the report place any weight on the antics of the ministry charged as they are with providing the needed funds and yet failing to do so. All the problems which relate to funding shortfalls are attributed to the failings of the VSB and for the most part blame their stubborn attempts to represent their constituents for their difficulties. Despite the stated focus of the report on the fiscal obstacles the VSB have in meeting mandates under this regime, 26 of the 42 recommendations contain no budget implications and 8 seek the services of outside hires which would mean carving more funding away from student needs.

 The second recommendation seeks a review of the current co governance model to ensure it is meeting the needs of the public education system. This is a real howler since co- governance suggests some sort of collegial relationship marked by equality and respect. And while it is a fact the Ministry of Education and schools boards are the two key legal bodies charged with managing the public school system in BC, school boards can and often do set much higher standards for governance then the example set for them by their unsympathetic and bad-mannered partner in Victoria. This is certainly true of the Vancouver School Board.

The provincial government is very kind to allow boards to provide a beard for ministry disregard for our schools and the relentless chaos their spontaneous underfunding pronouncements inflict-that is their idea of co-governance. Boards can ask for help; they can try to make their troubles clear to the minister but this whole business with VSB tells you if you are unwise enough to make eye contact, you will regret it – a familiar case of “Stop Crying Or We Will Give You Something To Cry About”.

We should review the co governance model but unless you think thumb screws and getting whacked with a plank are a coded request for consensus we may be wasting our time.

Tonight in this meeting, our board fashioned a longish motion supporting the Vancouver School Board relying on the wording in a Saanich board motion – a fine thing but we need a bigger gesture in the face of this sustained attack on the elected school boards of BC. However, the reaction of boards in general has been disappointing and the BCSTA has delivered only a very bland and cautious response to the report. I would have hoped for more. Boards should be on their hind legs defending their colleagues in Vancouver with a thunderous roar; they should also be more forceful in their demands for fairness and accuracy from the folks they apparently co govern with.

The arrival in Vancouver of an accountant from the Ministry of Finance with no background in education to read the riot act and set the board straight is rather like employing a cockroach to stave off infestation. The big boys have long since decided public education is for sissies – what chance was there that a paid up member of their club would seriously and independently evaluate the situation in favour of the board, all boards and our public schools?

Ultimately – we have no answers to the perfectly sensible question – If the Province is funding Public Education adequately then why are the conditions in our classrooms deteriorating? Frankly, it seems unlikely the inconsequential school boards in BC are the problem.

Take a moment and send a message off to Patti Bacchus and her allies. You will find her email address at the end of this report.  

 I am sure she would appreciate hearing from you. Right now, they are on the front line but all trustees are in the crosshairs of this churlish and petty minded government.

And if we are – your beloved neighbourhood school is too.

Your Trustee Pal

Eden

http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/pubs/2010-06_special_advisor_report.pdf

patti.bacchus@vsb.bc.ca

Our Trustee Eden

                                                                                                 Principiis Obsta…Finem Respice 

                                                                                            Resist the Beginning… Consider the End

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.
-Paul Valery, French critic & poet (1871 – 1945)

Now the board has endorsed the budget and all our fates are confirmed, you would think there would be a bit of quiet; a sort of respite, a merciful redress for months of desperate effort to foil the cuts and influence the high and the mighty. But you would be wrong not to mention hopelessly optimistic. The meeting on the 2^nd was a smorgasbord of shapes of things to come. As part of the autopsy the budget has inspired, we are experiencing an entirely expected assault on board democracy and community presence. That is the theme…

The first offering was a motion affirming the right of the board of trustees to modify or design policy for our district without going through the Policy Committee. Now – the important thing about our committees is they are composed of some trustees and reps from all our partner groups. This way some matters which come to the board are first routed through the exercise of discussion and input from our staff, our parents, our students and the Aboriginal council. We benefit from their insight, perspective and knowledge. While ultimately all decisions remain in the jurisdiction of the trustees, this method provides a solid backdrop of counsel and scope on which we can ponder. So the question I must ask is why would the board want to create policy themselves when we have a perfectly good committee to help us do this effectively with our school community? If the board is planning to terminate this process with the helpful direction of our administrators, what use is the Policy Committee? Despite sensible arguments along these lines, the motion passed and now we shall see why the trustees involved felt compelled to inflict this wound on our process.

The next motion was devoted to examining bussing costs in the fall to determine if the savings suggested in the budget could be realised once the changes are implemented. This would involve a review and no doubt a bit of slick crisis management in the likely event the cuts have not produced the savings projected. My guess is we will be asked to go deeper into transportation cuts to achieve the budget numbers. Right now – there is no real way to analyse how the system will work and a shambles in the fall will provide a convincing environment under which to enforce a grander style of service reduction.

As usual – we are pressured to consider only the cost and not the value of our services. The real elements of transporting our kids which should occupy our concern are safety, equal access and educational outcomes of offering a means to arrive at school every day. Curiously – no one who matters is interested in contemplating these features. After this motion was carried, another motion was raised establishing a safety review which seems more in line with those issues trustees should be focused on.

 Moved that:

 The Board of Education initiates a safety review of the bussing model including walk routes, points of bus pick up and drop off, potential traffic risks around schools through the formation of an Ad Hoc committee consisting of:

•  Secretary Treasurer
• 2 Trustees
• Transportation Manager or alternate
• 2 Bus drivers
• Plant Chair – USW
• 1 Principal
• Health and Safety Officer
• 2 Parents whose children are bussed

 And report findings to the board in an open meeting no later than November 15^th 2010.

 This one passed as well perhaps because there was some discomfort at magnifying the costs without delving into the well being of our kids after the new model has been put into practice.

 Remember back during budget deliberations – remember how hard our partners worked to oppose the damage to our district and build the case for a budget which reflects the real needs of our schools. Remember how devoted they were to their presence on the Budget committee and the principled stand they took against the ministry driven underfunding cutback budget. Remember their refusal to pit their respective interests against those of other members of the school community. Remember their valiant efforts to create awareness in our valley regarding the demolition of programs and services including an ad which explained their dismay over the district determination to shear back the learning and life chances of our kids. Never let it be said there are no rewards for diligence, principle and dedication.

In a motion brought forward at this meeting, the trustees are being asked to modify our District Committee Membership Policy 1100 to remove all our partners from the Finance Committee during budget deliberations. Evidently, this is a kindness. It pains and distresses some trustees to see our employees and parents suffering through the difficult journey of rubbishing the livelihoods of their members and the prospects of our kids so they would like to relieve them of this odious duty.

Rest assured it has nothing at all to do with simply wanting as little opposition to the juggernaut of public education rollback as it is possible to achieve. It is not a punishment for refusing to comply with the ministry or making a fuss about losing our services to a privatised model .And it is certainly not being done for the convenience and trivial discontent of our managers who resent every minute of any process which strays from the objective supplied by the government. Your views, my views… all a colossal misuse of their time when everyone knows nothing we do will avert this race to unelected overseers, private opportunities for those who can afford it, minimal standards for classrooms and galley slave work options for everyone else. I suppose we should all feel fortunate no one is suggesting euthanising most of the committee as an act of humanity in the face of the inevitable.

If we actually proceed with this dreadful idea, we will be losing our only bulwark in the struggle to represent our schools and our kids. Our partners are cherished allies not detestable obstacles to our will.

As you may have noticed in the Report on the Vancouver School Board, SD #39 prepared for the Minster of Education by the Officer of the Comptroller General, Ministry of Finance, our government views the democratic procedures exemplified by our committees and board meetings as a big waste of money and time; a sink hole of useless expenditure best eliminated.

 In order to honour this fresh concept, it was proposed  this night we reduce our meeting schedule to one meeting a month so senior staff can try to forget they have to account to elected people at all at least for a while. The ministry has downloaded myriad duties on our districts – churning out achievement contracts, test data and nannying the Bill 33 process (only necessary due to the removal of contract language regarding class conditions from the collective agreements by this government). Evidently, these are deemed essential but the open community engagement and oversight our committee and board meetings provide are little more than a trifling and costly irritation. We have not decided yet but something tells me our senior staff will once again successfully pressure the majority into obeying the mothership.

On the other side of the table – a recommendation was brought as follows:

Recommendations to the Board: Moved that

The Board of Education SD #79 documents the impacts of ongoing underfunding and reports these findings to the community.

Suggested Methods:

• Cooperation with parents and employees for reporting out as delegations to board meetings
• Gathered information posted to district website
• Comment /forum section on district website specifically for accumulating impact statements
• News releases to the media
• Impact details to the ministry and the BCSTA

The point of this motion was to allow the documentation of harm the present method of budget allocation encourages. It is not enough to yawn through the presentations of our employees and families once a year at budget time. We must become thorough and aware of every outrage so when we are in the middle of our budget process we remember above all that each cut has a face, a prospect disappointed, a line crossed and a life undone.

This motion failed.

As I sit in my chair trying to participate in the debate I often, contemplate exchanging my name plate for a sign which simply advises, “Do Not Resuscitate”. The atmosphere is a bit testy and you get the feeling you are a passing minor character performing improv in a scripted production. There is a distinct flinty feeling of dismissiveness to the elected; an impatience for any observance of respect for the people who have been sent forward by their neighbours unless of course they have joined the ranks of the obedient.

 I think there is some discomfort; some dark presentiment abusing power will not work forever. Amidst the arrogance and intolerance of the smug majority is just a hint of worry. This makes for a dangerous cocktail. When the outcomes for the dominant interests are not predictable down to the last micron – there are few things they will not do to restore the natural relations of politics and place.

I will reflect on this as we all watch the upshot in the saga of the Vancouver School Board as it squares off with the government on behalf of all boards in BC.

There is no balance, measure or fairness – only the naked application of arbitrary authority.

“The shrill voices of those who give orders
Are full of fear like the squeakings of
Piglets awaiting the butcher’s knife, as their fat arses
Sweat with anxiety in their office chairs….
Fear rules not only those who are ruled, but
The rulers too.”
— Bertolt Brecht

Your Trustee Pal

Eden

Our Trustee Eden

                                                          Principiis Obsta…Finem Respice    

                                                   Resist the Beginning…Consider the End

 I don’t usually make the classic error of speaking to the unmovable people at the top of the heap. I have found it is a waste of time, vigour and thought. However, as the Minister of Education has chosen to interpret the posting of compliance budgets galore from all our school districts in BC as evidence we are taking care of our kids, I will make an exception to an otherwise sterling rule.

Galling isn’t it? We have been telling trustees for years if they file cutback budgets this action effectively says the funding is more or less in line with needs. School Boards slash and burn and hang on to a few miserable kopeks in case of dire emergencies and find themselves- after all this- hauled up in front of the Leg by a bunch of extremist carnivores as fine examples of what a far out job the ministry is doing funding public education. Even when boards submit these sad ass needs budgets in tandem, they get lost in the shuffle. No one in government reads the fine print documenting the brutal experience in our districts once the budget is passed and sent off to the ministry – evidently, ministerial staff don’t pour over our Student Success Budget crying out in alarm over the discrepancy between what they supply and what we clearly need.

For boards, the message is plain – You pass it; you wear it. What is worse- you become the poster child for the ministry propaganda machine – smiling eerily with the broken programs and rapidly unwinding services lying off to one side in a smoking heap no one can see due to clever photography.

So this one’s for you Minister Dr. Mac Diarmid – drilling down for $3 million in cuts has taken its toll on  our valley schools and trustees just so you can bay about the successful completion of yet another budget which meets the threats of section 111 of the School Act but little else.

Dear Ms. MacDiarmid:

“We passed 3^rd reading of the cutback budget last Wednesday in an open meeting at Quamichan School. We also passed something we like to call our Student Success Budget which features a measured account of the funding we would need to weave an excellent learning and working environment after years of underfunding. Our board even decided to send you our Student Success Budget first- hoping you might give it a passing glance before slipping it into the bottom of a parrot cage undistracted by the warmth of the compliance budget. That one will arrive to be sure and no later than June 15^th – so don’t worry. We are sure you will be delighted with our handiwork.

Out of the $3 million shortfall you have imposed this year, we have ripped almost $1.9 million from programs and services which directly affect the learning environment in our schools.

Our alternate program, our intensive behaviour programs in three schools, student achievement teaching time, custodial services and bussing, took the biggest hits. To bring our budget in line with your parameters we have for the second year in a row imposed a 5 day cut to instruction.

 We are cutting $337,502 from our alternate program based on complying with a complete revision of the role of alternate education originating from your ministry. Something tells me no one actually bothered to seek the counsel of people who support and understand the role of alternate programs. This has nothing to do with caring for the learning needs of those kids who have great barriers in their lives – it is just about making this system smaller, less responsive and more industrial. In the era of data and grad rate worship, kids with challenges are not a priority. And this budget makes that crystal clear. We may as well hand out colourful brochures to all our ‘at risk’ children telling them to bugger off. Except of course, we can’t afford the printing costs.

We have removed the intensive behaviour programs in three district schools. The kids who need this crucial level of engagement will now be tossed back into the regular classroom – and we don’t have the resources to meet the compositions as it is. But what the hell – it will save us $196,783.

As it stands, we have cut a big chunk of our student achievement time for a grand savings of $89,332. Supplemental staffing will now be reduced at Alexander, Koksilah and Quamichan Schools and will be eliminated at Cowichan Secondary.

Generally, this nurtures small group learning – vital to those kids who need just that bit more to succeed. They flourish in these environments. We can now experiment further on how they will manage without it.

Over the last few years custodians had their cleaning areas increased by about 25% and lost half the summer cleanup time – now we have cut more custodians as well as the time the surviving staff have over the year to complete their work.

Parents and teaching staff have long observed the deterioration in our school cleanliness despite the best efforts of these people. The schools are not as clean as once they were and our custodians are run ragged trying to maintain standards. Somehow, the environments in which our children spend their days receive little thought when we are tearing through the sofa cushions to find your money.

The health and safety of our kids and staff are placed in further jeopardy but we did save$355,355.

Cowichan School District operates the largest transportation system in our valley and as we are a far flung, spread out area, we need it. In this time of climate charters, peak oil, environmental degradation, monitoring of the carbon footprint and green house gas emissions we should be celebrating this feature of our service. Instead, bussing is seen as a frivolous ritual no one really needs.

 Our senior staff does not know exactly how the loss of nine bus drivers and their routes will translate into a useful plan to get all our kids safely to school and home again. But this is not about service or effectiveness – it is about the power to redirect the accumulated public assets of communities into private oblivion. But then you must already know that since you have co-signed the projection for public education funding through to 2013. It appears transporting our kids is a luxury we can’t afford. The principle behind our superb bussing is safety, equality of access and encouragement of attendance. This year we have carved away 20% of the transportation budget – $318,568. I wonder what next year holds.

Finally – the 5 day cut will bring a harvest of $268,000 to this district at a cost to our least well paid employees and the families who must meet added child care costs or just stay home from work – not to mention loss of teaching time for the kids. I have to congratulate the great thinkers who conjured this up –a crushing affirmation of the destiny our public schools are facing – shrink and shrivel but at least for now we can cash in the weeks of instruction at a quarter of a million dollars a crack as long as we add a few nanoseconds to each day to compensate. Seriously – it is effortless to balance the budget if you don’t provide the service and that is what we are doing. And we were so damn determined to meet the rigours of your bottom line we did not even bother to follow our School Calendar Bylaw #4 which itself derives from the BC School Act. I guess some laws are more equal than others.

During the 2nd reading, the board majority amended the budget and threw our Substance Intervention Program/Counselor under the bus. This freed up $35,000 for other district needs no doubt very deserving however – should any of our kids run a foul of our zero tolerance  district Substance Abuse Policy #5120 they must become involved with counseling and treatment before being allowed back in school. The good folks at the Employee & Family Assistance Program (EFAP) have offered this service to our students so they can return to school and get the help they need within days of being suspended for a substance offence. There are very limited options other than this program and those that do exist have long waiting lists.

So we have balanced our budget by cutting lose our troubled youngsters in every way it is possible to do this while piously hanging on to our strict codes of discipline. 

So Minister… please don’t cheerlead for your government because boards have managed to complete the budget process on time and within the money margin – it was easy, you see. You have wisely secured the services of a well paid loyal coterie of professionals in each district unswervingly devoted to dialing back public education on behalf of your ministry and the Treasury Board. They have performed as required and the elected people have come off like chumps. Further, it is just bad manners to force feed trustees on threats of firing for failing to balance their budgets and then attribute their acquiescence to a victorious moment of public education solvency.

Let’s not kid anyone – this time- consuming yearly torment is not a technical necessity but an ideological choice.

Your choice.

You have extracted your balanced budgets from the hides of our communities.

And we have never felt so bankrupt.

And everybody knows…”

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows…

Lyric: Leonard Cohen

Eden Haythornthwaite

School Trustee in Cowichan

Our Trustee Eden

                                                           Principiis Obsta…Finem Respice

  Resist the Beginning…Consider the End

If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.
                                                                                    - Henry David Thoreau 

In the last two weeks on three separate evenings, we have had 1^st reading of the cutback budget bylaw, a public meeting to present that budget to community and 2^nd reading of the same budget. In addition, we have had 1^st and 2^nd readings of the Student Success Budget which simply documents some of the accumulated shortfall to our schools and shows a need for $15 million more than our allocation this year.

At all these meetings, trustees as well as community members have asked for information on the plans the district may have for coping with the serious adjustments cuts to many programs and services will require. Evidently trustees must first approve this budget as it stands and then perhaps the grind of reworking our methods will follow. However, the duty to endorse budget details rests entirely with trustees and trustees are accountable for the outcomes of any cutbacks –surely we should have a firm idea of what these may be.

 There is no question this has been a brutal time but the real brutality is yet to come as we continue on our path to kick our students and staff to the curb. As one former trustee insisted at the public meeting – it has always been like this and it is the duty of this board to do as she did and submit to the ministry. Obviously, it has not occurred to her it has always been like this because trustees have not exercised their legitimate outrage or their power as elected reps. Senseless obedience is like a religion to some people or perhaps an involuntary reflex.

To sooth the souls of those trustees who feel bound to going along with these cuts as a matter of solemn duty, the administrators have cynically doled out a potpourris of mantras calculated to idealise their choices and elevate their purpose.

Programs evidently are ‘not working’ or ‘not efficient’ or ‘unnecessary’ or ‘not in compliance’ or ‘not mandated’ – the questions we can ask are – “How does removing resources from a program render it more effective?” How can a cutback be viewed as a means to improve anything? Just because we are not legally required to provide a service does that mean we shouldn’t bother?”

Trustees have stated simply they have no way of being certain submitting a full funding budget which contravenes section 111 of the School Act will change anything for the better. This is the contradiction of the year -as they are prepared to sign into law a budget around which there is nothing but uncertainty.

So this has been a bit of a voyage of discovery – the things we don’t know counter posed by the things we have learned.

We don’t know what bussing will look like with the loss of 20 % of the transportation budget including 9 drivers and their routes.

We don’t know where one half of our alternate education students now deemed not in compliance for attending this program will go and how they will be supported in the mainstream schools.

We don’t know how children with intensive behaviours will be accommodated in the schools which are losing their IBIT program.

We don’t know how we will manage without the Substance Abuse Program which allows students suspended from class due to violations to get the counseling required to allow them back into school.

 We don’t know what the health and safety implications will be for the increased areas and loss of any detailed cleaning in our schools with a further cut to our custodial staff (3.4 FTE) and cuts to the weeks of work for those who will remain (7 weeks).

 We really don’t know how our teachers and EAs will cope with a whole range of challenges and behaviours now being redirected into their classrooms without the resources to support these kids.

 Well it goes on of course – at 2^nd reading we raised the 5 day cut to instruction and the failure to follow the new and neutered bylaw governing the process for employing a school calendar which differs from the standard calendar. You would think we could manage to follow something as undemanding and lax but we have not and now I would like to know how we can approve the cut and include it in our budget.

As a board, we have said we would like to hear from our community. We have but as usual the people who attend meetings, keep up with budget developments, care about the system and oppose the dismantlement of our public school environments are viewed as unreliable particularly if they work for the district or fail to appreciate the value of repetitive strategies which never bear fruit. The opinions of those who never turn up are a matter of speculation but romanticised as more sensible and moderate.

I suppose it must occur to many of us this is part of an arc which may be almost complete. While our district managers seem to have very few models for retooling after the cuts, my bet is they have careful objectives for next year and the cuts to come. Somewhere in those designs is reconfiguration and school closure – along with final dissolution of our alternate program, further bussing reductions and moves to privatise cleaning and maintenance.

What have I learned this round of cuts?

It has been made fiercely obvious our school districts are here not to raise a generation of educated, thoughtful citizens but to provide our ministry with data. Our senior staff spends a substantial amount of time building reports to the province concerning learning progress and grad rates based on testing and stats. This is the work of the ministry not the work which serves our students especially as there have been no sustained improvements in learning or grad rates -those could only be affected by well resourced classrooms. Our education leaders’ time should be entirely devoted to our kids’ learning and the wellbeing of our staff – not the mechanics of graphs, charts and numerical tracking for a heartless ministry.

We, as a district, must pay these people to perform these duties on behalf of the government out of our steadily diminishing resources and we are told their tasks cannot be triaged out of existence, as is the case with all other functions in our schools. While services to kids can go and teachers and support people struggle under increasing workloads and dwindling expectations , the reports, data collection, imposed budgets and adversarial labour management conditions must live on. It might have been appropriate if the senior managers in our province along with their professional organisations had stood with the rest of us in demanding a full commitment to public education; their voices are by far the most influential. This would have been and still could be a very honourable and productive use of their time and effort. But as their role is to execute and smooth the downward slide of our system, they are- by government reckoning- the most valuable component of the school community – as a result, no matter what happens they will be safe as houses.  

So – 3^rd reading looms. Wednesday May 19^th it will all be a done deal – what will remain is our obligation to teach all our kids and care for our schools with much less. Right now in our valley there are long time teachers and support workers who are experiencing a terrible crushing sadness as they watch the labours of a lifetime and the advances of generations abandoned; their carefully crafted programs gutted, their work and dedication trivialised by neglect.

It is personal. It is bloody. And these are the only things which identify this budget process as human.

Your Trustee Pal

Eden

Our Trustee Eden

Principiis Obsta…Finem Respice

Resist the Beginning…Consider the End

Tonight something rather quiet but significant happened. Very few people in the room would be aware and why would they? Sometimes you pass a policy or a revised policy and it all seems somewhat pedestrian. As was the 2^nd and 3^rd reading of our fully reworked Disposal of Land or Improvements- policy 2230.

 After almost 2 ½ years of proposals to amend the former version – marked by a complete absence of any requirement to confer with the public about the fate of closed schools- we now have a means to bring these matters to the communities affected by the decisions the board makes regarding these lands and buildings.

 I remember the first time I viewed the old policy and noted it contained a proviso pointing to a ‘public process’. The secretary treasurer of the time told us firmly these two words were fulfilled completely by placing ads in the real estate section of the papers – which- my dears- was the outside extension of ‘public process’ at the time. Open to interpretation, it fell to the mercy and inclinations of the board and administration, as they perceived it. Now – we have something which speaks clearly and defines ‘public process’ – it is not perfect and of course as always it can be modified by this board or another.

However – this is a victory all the same for keeping our public lands and buildings for collective, shared needs. It sets the bar a bit higher and the mark will be there as direction for the future. I urge all of you to keep an eye on this since there is little interest provincially in consistency – if the wind changes the legal requirements will also spin around and before you know it, this will permit the evisceration of the policy under the nose of community. Even when Victoria appears to submit to good sense in any matter you are always wondering what they are up to. Sad really…

No sooner had we accepted the policy this night then we commenced deciding the future of three schools we had closed over the years. Two of them have been tragically abandoned to the elements – Cowichan Station and Chemainus Elementary while the third- Elsie Miles- has been in harness as a day care facility serving the Shawnigan Lake community.

We looked at each school in turn and first decided none were needed for educational purposes and would not be required for educational purposes for ten years or more. This hurt a bit – but in order to have a hope of passing these places into community hands it seemed the wiser course. The only thing which soothed was the assurance we would be subjecting these places to the scrutiny of our neighbours before deciding how they should be used.

 The policy calls for an eight month consultation process, however due to the length of time these schools have been sitting without resolution, we were asked to consider waiving this requirement in each case.

 Due to the impressive level of community and local government engagement which the Cowichan Station folks have brought to the hopeful creation of a neighbourhood centre, we have now granted a 2 month period so they can proceed with their plans and possibly secure a grant with a timeline on it. In fact, in a happy accident they were there at the beginning of the meeting to present their plan to us – as usual impressive and practical. After all these years and in the shadow of closing their beloved school this was like returning something to that community they richly deserved. It ain’t a done deal yet but my money- if I had any- would be on them to make a ‘go’ of this.

  In the case of Elsie Miles, we have granted them a 4 month consultation process as there is in place a healthy prospect of a confirmed partnership with the CVRD. The Chemainus site will now proceed through the full requirement of 8 months – there has been a contingent of folks interested in developing some ideas for use but the community as a whole will need to be gathered to fully review all their wishes. It should be a promising discussion. My only real worry – the Chemainus Elementary school was, up to a short time ago, part of the parcel which includes the current Chemainus Secondary. The community there may wish under 4 (a) in the policy to carefully consider whether the land under the rather tattered old school would be useful as sports fields for the secondary school.

 Perhaps you remember in the last meeting we were able to meet the appeal made by one of our middle schools to add a small amount of education assistance time to their daily efforts and one trustee had wisely requested we receive details of other schools needing further staffing in this area. The information returned and we were able to parse off another $56000 to put 177.5 hours of EA time into our classrooms for the final two months of this school year. Right now, we still have $400,000 sitting in surplus – it should be emphasised all our funds are there to secure services for our kids not to balance next year’s budget. When did it become de rigour to hang on desperately to a rainy day fund when it is pouring everyday in Cowichan?

 As I reported last time, we now have a somewhat revised budget timeline due to the solemn message driven home by the partners on the district Finance Committee. That committee is no longer building the compliance budget – that work is now in the hands of the board –well one assumes that budget is already in the can and the trustees are cantering through the riding course anyway just to satisfy perceptions. The Finance Committee still has one important budget duty and this is to build the Student Success or Needs Budget.

 As matters stand – we will hope to have a substantial ‘needs’ budget in place for review by our community for the May 10th public meeting – this will allow our families and staff to reflect on the relative merits of giving in to government extremism or insisting our board deliver the real budget to the minister . I will include the updated meeting times at the bottom of this doc. Please value your presence at these meeting as much as some of your trustees do – you are our inspiration, our reason to work and in some cases an unnerving reminder of our real obligations.

 My sincerest admiration goes out to the students of this valley who spoke in a clear voice last Wednesday – bless them because they knew why they were there and buoyed up our efforts on their behalf.

 And shame on those who wave away their words with the usual excuses.

When I approach a child, he inspires in me two sentiments; tenderness for what he is, and respect for what he may become. – Louis Pasteur

Your Trustee Pal

Eden

                              Come and Speak out

May 4^th (Tuesday) 10 am to 12 noon – Special Finance Meeting in the board room at the School Board office in Cowichan to finalise the Student Success(Needs) Budget

May 5^th(Wed.) starting at 6:30 pm – regular board meeting in the board room at the School Board office in Cowichan at which we will have the first reading of the draft compliance budget and hopefully the Student Success(Needs)Budget in the board room

May 10th (Mon) 7 pm – Public Meeting Quamichan Middle School in Cowichan for the presentation of the draft compliance and Student Success Budgets

May 12th (Wed.) – starting at 6:30 pm special board meeting in the board room at the School Board office in Cowichan for the 2^nd reading of the draft budgets

May 19 (Wed.) – starting at 6:30 pm regular board meeting in the board room at the School Board office in Cowichan for the 3^rd and final reading of the 2010/2011 budget ( the Student Success Budget will be hopefully read as a bylaw as well during this process but right now how and if this will happen is unclear)