Editor:
There has been a lot of discussion regarding the need for proper funding for class size and composition, English Language and special needs students in the ongoing teachers' strike.
However, I would also like to address the needs of academic students who are also losing out because this Liberal government is refusing to negotiate in good faith, has ignored two court rulings, has turned down arbitration and has brought no creative ideas to the table to help mediate a solution to this serious crisis in public education. How can this government blindly ignore the needs of our academic Grade 12 students? These students will be competing for seats at universities across Canada, the U.S. and possibly internationally and yet these students will have missed out on important "end of the year" Grade 11 curriculum and will now be weeks behind with difficult Grade 12 coursework.
These students of today will be our future doctors, health care workers, engineers, computer techies, teachers and business professionals.
For the government to say it doesn't have money to support public education is far from the truth.
Perhaps to meet a balanced budget, the Liberals are now stealing from our children's public education and are robbing our children of the ability to compete against their peers academically in other parts of Canada and the world.
Would someone please explain to me how the Liberal government can still claim "Families First" with the highest child poverty rate, children attending SDSS with massive power lines running overhead and now no school for weeks for all public school children in B.C.?
Heather Colls
Mothers Against Power Poles
