The Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»School Board trustee election can’t come soon enough for representatives from the city’s teacher unions.
Vancouverites will vote Oct. 14 to elect nine trustees to replace the politically split board that was fired last fall for failing to pass a balanced budget. Since then, the district has been run by Dianne Turner, an official trustee appointed by the then-Liberal government.
In the meantime, there have been findings of bullying of VSB staff by trustees and several high-level administrators have left the district, including the superintendent and the secretary-treasurer.
Both Chloe McKnight, president of Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»Elementary School Teachers’ Association, and Katharine Shipley, president of Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»Secondary Teachers’ Association, are eagerly awaiting the return of an elected board of trustees in Vancouver.
“When we had an elected board there, we had people we could bring issues and we felt they were addressed. We don’t really feel that with the appointed trustee,” McKnight said. “Ever since the board was fired, it has been a really challenging environment to do our work in because there has been so much change and instability.”
The fired board had four Vision Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»trustees, four NPA trustees and one Green Party trustee. Interestingly, none of the parties vying for trustee seats is running a full slate — Vision and NPA are each running five candidates, the Greens are running three and there are six other candidates from smaller parties or independents. This roster makes it a near certainty there will be another split board, which will definitely keep things interesting at VSB.
One thing Shipley and McKnight hope to see from an elected board is more information sharing, something they say has been lacking of late.
Both say they’re in the dark about whether the new rules about class size are being followed in Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»schools because the district hasn’t given them any data.
Technically, the district has until next week to provide the Sept. 30 data, but teachers in all of the other Lower Mainland districts have been given preliminary data, Shipley said.
A VSB spokesperson said in an email that the information about class size and composition will be shared in early October, as the collective agreement requires. As of Sept. 26, there were still 42 postings for the equivalent of 32.5 full-time positions.
The new rules, restored by the Supreme Court of Canada from contracts that were stripped in 2002, call for reduced class sizes, fewer students with special needs in any classroom and more specialist teachers like librarians and resource teachers. The court’s decision resulted in the need for more than 3,000 new teachers in the province — a need that many districts, including Vancouver, have struggled to meet.
The two union leaders expect that when the information is shared, they will find that many classes throughout the district are not in compliance with the restored contracts.
“That’s what we’re hearing from our members,” McKnight said.
At some inner city schools, teachers have the impression that there are fewer staff than in previous years, despite the restored contract, McKnight said. She mentioned Strathcona as one example of a school where there is space for new classes to be formed, but where teachers still have five, six or seven students with special needs in one classroom.
“Our teachers there are feeling a little demoralized,” McKnight said.
McKnight said specialist teachers are being relied upon more and more to teach in classrooms to cover for teachers who are sick. That’s because the teacher-on-call list has been decimated to fill the thousands of new jobs created due to the new rules.
Until this week, the VSB was using a standardized test to screen teacher applicants. On Monday, the board decided to suspend its use. Shipley said the test was deterring some applicants from applying in Vancouver.Â
BCTF president Glen Hansman warned Monday that when cold and flu season hits, the "critical shortage of on-call teachers will lead to significant disruptions to schools and students."
Shipley says another big challenge this year will be making sure the many new teachers hired are supported so that they stay in the career.
“That’s a huge concern,” Shipley said.
Research by Education Week in the U.S. shows that between 40 and 50 per cent of new teachers leave the profession within the first five years.
“The will is there [to support them], but I don’t know if the capacity is there to do it,” Shipley said.
This story has been updated since first published.
Note: Tracy Sherlock will be moderating a candidate’s forum at the Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»School Board on Oct. 3 for all prospective trustees. Candidates will be answering questions posed by parents who want to know trustees’ views on everything from school closures to support for students with special needs. There will be short answers, yes/no questions, multiple choice questions and longer form questions. Every candidate will get a chance to speak out. It will be from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at John Oliver secondary school, 530 East 41st.
Tracy Sherlock writes about education and social issues. She can be reached at [email protected].
