But What If the Parents are Right?

Well, another municipal election has come and gone, and the predictable lower voter turnout supported the status quo in many ridings.  There were some surprises along the way, ousting longtime Langford mayor Stew Young, where the citizens finally had enough of his corruption, arrogance and nonstop development and voted in a small business owner who doesn’t even live in the community.  We had two school districts where local teacher associations publicly campaigned to have likeminded candidates to run their local school boards.  Not only is this behaviour highly unethical, it’s also incredibly unprofessional.  In my own riding, we saw a former BCTF President reclaim her longtime Trustee seat, along with a former Superintendent cozy into the other spot, holding parental interests completely at arm’s length for yet another four years. I wrote about Keven previously, where his website reads more like an application to the United Nations, rather than humbly acknowledge that your children would be his top priority.

I also attended an all candidates school board meeting last week which, despite the organizer’s best efforts, truly highlighted how far gone our schools have become. It was an utter gong show.  Major issues such as the decline in student achievement, the mental health increase during the school lockdowns, flat enrolment and spiraling costs amidst a backdrop of a lack of transparency, never really were discussed. Instead most of the evening descended into screaming and yelling over ideological principles and rhetoric which were a major distraction to the bigger conversation that never was allowed to materialize.  It was demoralizing, and a good indication as to why British Columbia has the lowest enrolment in the public system.  Why would parents tolerate their kids in that environment every day?

School policy in Canada has swayed so far left of even remotely anything moderate, that suggestions bordering on normalcy are viewed as being right wing.  Jonathan Kay highlights similar issues plaguing Ontario schools in his column today. Whacky hair day - a favourite of my own kids in elementary school - is now deemed racist, along with guidelines being sent to young kids about cultural appropriation when wearing hallowe'en costumes. 

The grown ups have wrecked it for the kids. 

There was, however, one bright spot in this madness. We’ve seen more parents – independent and as a slate – rally this year to run as Trustee candidates, given their concerns as to what their children are learning in the classroom.  There were dozens of parent candidates across the province who ran this time around, 28 of which who hastily organized a campaign a mere few months ago, under the banner of taking back our schools.  Despite unionist and special interests' iron clad grasp on our schools, three of them were elected.  This is wonderful news, as more parents are waking up to the fact that their voices matter.  Unsurprisingly, union members rallied to silence their concerns, labelling them as bigots, and hate mongers.   Losing money is a huge motivator to act, and there’s no better organization to rally its troops on that notion than the BCTF.  But even for those likeminded parents who are being swayed by their rhetoric and fear change, I have this to ask…what if these parents might be right? What if their sole motivation for getting involved might simply be that they are beyond frustrated with not being heard, and want to do something about it? Isn’t that the very definition of democracy?

So despite writing three letters to the editor this month and emailing various pundits in the media when they erred in suggesting that hate filled bigots were going to destroy our schools, they seemed complicit to support the status quo, paying them lip service rather than do their job and investigate very legitimate concerns that many of these candidates had.  I've also churned out three blog posts this past month as I do believe our schools are in serious trouble if parents aren't being allowed at the table.  I hope I'm wrong.