The Chilliwack
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Chiefs can clinch playoff spot Tuesday night.
Chilliwack students hit the streets.
One-stop shop for neurological disorders.
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School’s out as teachers join strike Katie Bartel The Progress With a three-day teacher strike in full swing, the president of the Chilliwack Teachers’ Association hopes the government is taking notice. Nearly 28,000 B.C. Teachers’ Federation members voted yes to a full withdrawal of services out of the 32,209 who voted over a two-day period last week after the provincial government tabled backto-work legislation. Nearly 9,000 teachers did not vote; 4,263 voted against the strike option. Midzain was encouraged by the 87 per cent infavour vote. “I think it’s encouraging that so many teachers had voted to show this government that their actions are so reprehensible that we can’t allow them to continue to go on,” said Midzain. “I think anything makes a difference when you take a collective stand that says you can’t do this to us, you can’t do this to workers, you can’t do this to students in the schools.” Midzain doesn’t believe the three-day strike will hurt students. “The students I think won’t lose in three days, or one day, what they’re losing already,” she said. “They’ve lost 10 years already. They’re losing with this legislation every day they go to school. So what’s a couple days of being out of school?” Chilliwack superintendent Michael Audet disagreed. “Every hour of instruction is important,” he said. “The first thing a strike does is shut down instruction for kids. It puts student achievement and instruction on hold. It means that instructional time will not be happening during those three days.” Audet made the decision to close Chilliwack schools to students during the strike, which went against the government grain. Last week, when the strike notice was issued, Minister of Education George Abbott proclaimed that all schools in B.C. would be open to students if parents couldn’t find alternative means of childcare. However, after conferring with several other nearby school districts, Audet opted to close the schools for the safety of the children due to limited supervision. Continued: STRIKE/ p4
Katharin Midzain (centre, red jacket), president of the Chilliwack Teachers’ Association, speaks with Chilliwack teachers outside Unity Christian School after hearing that Premier Christy Clark would be visiting the school on Monday afternoon. Clark never showed up. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Premier’s private school tour draws protest Katie Bartel The Progress A tour of a private Christian high school by B.C. premier Christy Clark Monday afternoon was cancelled when public school teachers began protesting outside. Approximately 40 teachers from a range of Chilliwack public schools stood outside Unity Christian with their signs, hoping to get their message across to the premier. However, Clark opted to change locales because of the protesters. “The protesters from the teachers’ union are there, and I don’t want to disrupt those
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kids’ school day any more than necessary,” Clark told The Progress in a phone interview Monday afternoon. “The protesters are going to do their thing anyway, but they will do it a lot more vociferously and angrily if I’m there.” Chilliwack Teachers’ Association president Katharin Midzain, one of the protesters at Unity Christian, was disappointed Clark was a no-show. “It’s unfortunate she doesn’t have the courage to come out and talk to public school workers,” said Midzain. “It’s sad, because we are constituents, we are voters, and we have long memories.” When Midzain got word the
premier would be touring the independent school, she was appalled. “I find it absolutely shocking that the premier is out of the legislature building today when they’re bringing forward and discussing legislation about education,” said Midzain. “That she would choose to be here, to promote a candidate for a byelection that hasn’t even been called, instead of facing up to people in the legislature building, it’s absolutely appalling.” Midzain also felt the tour locale spoke volumes to the government’s priorities. “It certainly shows where their priorities are, that they
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don’t believe in an accessible, free, open, equal education for all students in B.C.,” said Midzain. Clark said the Unity Christian school tour had nothing to do with pitting private schools against public schools. The purpose was to interact with a group of administrators and parents active in independent schools, she said. “This had been planned for a long time, and the fact the teachers’ union decided today that they were going to shut down public schools doesn’t mean that I need to stop doing my job,” Clark said. Continued: UNION/ p5