Dear Christy,
I'm a public school teacher and I have a dirty little secret: you and I are not so different. See, we are both single parents, we both live in BC, and we both send our sons to private school.
My son is a lovely young man. Perhaps yours is too. But there is a difference between our sons; my son has autism.
My son needs extra support in the classroom and we both know the public system pretty well, don't we, Christy? We know that my son was not able to get support on his first day of kindergarten. There was no money. We know that the funding he receives was going to be divided because the school district is underfunded. We know that there were other children in his crowded classroom who needed help from his resource teacher, his educational assistant, and his classroom teacher, and he would not get the attention he requires. We know that he would not likely receive regular occupational therapy, speech therapy, or psycho-educational testing because those positions are under filled and overworked.
Christy, we know that everyone would have tried their hardest to support my son with the resources provided to them by your government. These are dedicated people, but the resources just aren't there. And like you, Christy, I decided this wasn't good enough for my son.
You know my salary, Christy, so you know that I've had to make some choices to send my son to private school. I've never been to Mexico, Hawaii, or Las Vegas. My vacations are spent at home, in a tent, or visiting my parents. I don't own a new car, quad, boat, or even a big-screen TV. Actually, I don't even own a house. But you've talked about the sacrifices you've made to send your child to private school too.
So Christy, we aren't so different, you and I. We both want what's best for our children and we know the public education system in its current state can't provide it. It's not that the people in the system aren't good enough, it's that the system has been severely underfunded for far too long.
So I'm letting you in on my dirty little secret, but I think we both know that given the condition of the public educational system, it is not going to remain a secret for much longer.
Jeni Lee
Prince George
