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Friday, June 8, 2012
Marching on D-day School District 79: trustees marshal forces in game of education chicken Krista Siefken
News Leader Pictorial
I
t’s three weeks until D-Day at the Cowichan Valley School District, and on both sides of the conĂ€ict, supporters are massing. One side, however, has been a little more successful in marshalling the troops. That was evident on Wednesday at the School District 79 ofÂżces, where about 100 people rallied in support of the board’s deÂżcit budget. Among them was B.C. Teachers’ Federation president Susan Lambert. “It’s very, very important to be here because the trustees in Cowichan have the courage to stand up for their beliefs; they have the courage to actually act as guardians and stewards of public education in Cowichan,â€? Lambert told the News Leader Pictorial. “We need more trustees like the trustees in Cowichan. We need that. We need people to stand up.â€? So Lambert’s not impressed Education Minister George Abbott has emphatically maintained the nine-member board will be Âżred if it doesn’t turn in a balanced budget by June 30. “A government that just resorts to power to get its way — rather than consultation and listening to the needs of communities like Cowichan — is one that I think has lost the pperspective of citizens that elected it in the Âżrst place,â€? said Lambert. Leading the charge on Ryan Bruce: the Ministry of Educaclear division tion is School District 79 Chairwoman Eden Haythornthwaite Haythornthwaite. She says big pockets of support for Cowichan’s deÂżcit budget have been found among Cowichan’s teachers and parents, but labour groups and “regular community membersâ€? are also on board. “It’s a pretty comprehensive slice of our community,â€? she said yesterday. But behind the trenches, there is unrest.
Krista Siefken
Cowichan’s minority of four, pro-balancedbudget trustees seem almost resigned to their probable job loss. And they’re not sure the Âżve-trustee majority has the overwhelming community support it purports to have. “There is a division here, clearly,â€? said Trustee Ryan Bruce. “For the most part, the people I’m talking to are not in support of the restoration budget.â€? True, the Âżve restoration-budget proponents make up the majority of the board. True, they ran on campaigns that clearly stated their intention to end cuts to education. Also true: the four-member minority includes the board’s three top-voted trustees: Candace Spilsbury, Bruce, and Cathy Schmidt. And counting the votes for the only candidate not to get a seat on the board — Keith Chicquen,
Union representatives from both inside and outside the valley’s borders comprised a visible portion of a crowd of about 100 that rallied in support of the Cowichan board of eduction in front of SD79 ofĂ„ces Wednesday, including B.C. Teachers’ Federation president Susan Lambert, left. another balanced-budget proponent — the Cowichan’s school board? number of votes separating the two factions is DPAC president Caroline Kirman says those 355. responses will be in by June 19, and noted DPAC “I think a lot of parents and a lot of people in would not be taking a position on the issue withthe community are living their lives, raising their out “full consultationâ€? with parents. kids, working and contributing to the community, If a recent DPAC meeting is any indication, and I think they just want us as trustees to do our parents may feel a with-us-or-against-us mentaljob,â€? Bruce said. ity about the budget emanating from the board’s “We were elected to run this district. They enmajority. trusted us with that job and want us to get down “It got very aggressive,â€? Schmidt recalled to work and do what’s necessary. That’s really the during Wednesday’s open school board meeting, reaction I get more often than not.â€? adding it appears the parents’ group is “not being But Haythornthwaite noted surveys circulated fully supported from our table.â€? during the board’s budget consultation process The conversation about DPAC ended quickly, found 86 per cent of 600 respondents said more with the board’s majority saying it should be funding was needed to sustain Cowichan’s public discussed in a closed session, but not before education system. Schmidt said she felt bad for DPAC’s members, She argues that perhaps even more troubling and is worried about the future of the parents’ than the provincial government ousting Coworganization. ichan’s school board is the message behind it: Worried about the future of Cowichan’s board voters actually don’t have a choice about who of education, meanwhile, is B.C. School Trustees’ represents them if they can simply be removed by Association president Michael McEvoy. those in power. “I think about the importance of locally ac“It’s really a slap in the face of Cowichan,â€? countable, democratically elected boards of Haythornthwaite said. communities, and how tragic it would be if Cowichan’s District Parent Advisory Council, Cowichan, or any other community, lost that,â€? meanwhile, is soliciting feedback from parents he said. more on A7 on their feelings about the potential dismissal of
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