ADAM OLSEN -- At the heart of our vision is the understanding that a quality public education system lifts the entire society
Last week I wrote about the day my son came to work with me. He is in grade 7 at Bayside Middle School and has spent a lot of time over the past two weeks sitting on the sidelines waiting for resolution to the labour dispute in the Saanich schools. I hear with crystal clarity how the disruption is deeply impacting families in my riding. Families of students, families of teachers and families of support staff. I have also heard the stories of the exasperated parents called to pick up their children because of the shortage of educational assistants, the school cannot get help to our children who need it. And the exhausting stories of the teachers and administrators who cannot conjure solutions to staffing shortage any longer. The consistent message I hear is that everyday in our district, teachers and administrators are triaging crisis. I guess I could choose to brush all of this aside, we are in the middle of contract negotiations so of course the “ syste...