More than 200 teachers turned out at the school board office Tuesday night for a candlelight protest in response to the lack of progress in negotiations to settle the province-wide strike.
The rally, minutes before the newly-elected District 57 trustees were sworn in at their first meeting, gave teachers a chance to vent their frustrations against the B.C. Public School Employers' Association, which has failed to come to a settlement that would end the current job action, now in its fourth month.
"I've been teaching since 1998, and I haven't seen things get better in 13 years of teaching," said Jerry Bleecker, a biology/math teacher at College Heights secondary school.
"It's quite honestly been a negative element of teaching since the day I started. I've watched a steady [increase] in class size, [and a decline] in what I perceive to be standards. Every year I show up to teach it just gets a little bit harder to do a quality job of teaching. Unfortunately the political process has moved into the educational process and it's so entrenched."
Bleecker says the roots of the dispute with the province date back even before the 2005 strike, and since then, teaching conditions have steadily deteriorated.
"This wasn't a protest against the board," he said, "it's just a reminder to show that we care."
The rally lasted about a half-hour and broke up just before trustees met for their inaugural meeting.
Although the temperature hovered near freezing, there was a steady line of teachers walking with their candles to nearly Tim Hortons for a post-rally warm-up.
"I just hope the new board keeps in mind that our children are first, before the government, and that they make sure class sizes are smaller and that there's also the support for those students in the class," said Trevor Hood, a College Heights secondary math teacher. "I'm just really concerned about where education is going in British Columbia and the future of our young people."
PGSS math teacher Doug Waller is also a parent of a high school student, and he said teachers have stuck to the plan to limit the effects of the job action on students. In the absence of formal report cards, he also advises parents to take an interest in what's happening in the schools with their children.
"Parents are being informed - the information is going home and if they aren't finding out all they have to do is make a phone call and the information is there," said Waller.
"In my 20 years of teaching, this has been one of my happiest years because we are spending so much time on teaching and preparing lessons and I don't have to spend time doing a lot of the other things we used to do [such as staff meetings]. It's a good year as a parent because the students are being taught, but on the other side, as a teacher, it's frustrating that we aren't being treated with respect."
