Vancouver students want to be in school.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I want to go to school today,” Paul Schultes, a Grade 10 Eric Hamber student told more than 100 people who attended a student-organized rally called Save Our Students Tuesday afternoon.
“Every day we’re not in school is a day where we don’t get to see our teachers and counsellors and friends, everyone who gives us [what] we needed,” he told the crowd who weathered the rain at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
The Vancouver District Students’ Council organized the rally before veteran mediator Vince Ready left talks with the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and B.C. Public Schools Employers’ Association, Aug. 30.
Vancouver School Board student trustee Jing Wang said students wanted to make their voices heard.
“Nobody really asked for direct student input,” she said.
Even news late last week that Ready had agreed to meet with the BCTF, BCPSEA and Education Minister Peter Fassbender had failed to buoy students.
“I don’t think we felt very optimistic at that point,” Wang said.
Grade 11 Sir Winston Churchill student Charles Favreau told students and parents Tuesday they aren’t powerless.
“Friends, we are not helpless,” he said. “There are 85 MLAs, 33,500 teachers, but over 550,000 students in our province... We are the largest side of this conflict… Together, we the multitudes have the power to reshape our society to make it more honest, accepting and just. The fact that students are left feeling helpless is an incredible abuse of power for both sides.”
Grade 12 Point Grey secondary student Darius Muglich directed students to the petition he’s created to end the strike.
Onlooker Isabella Roosevelt wished more students attended the rally.
A member of the district students’ council, Roosevelt said more than 4,000 students had been invited on Facebook but she noted fewer than 200 attended. She said students shouldn’t see the strike as an extended holiday but should instead fight for their education.
Roosevelt, whose mother is a secondary school teacher who works in special education, says she’s heard many say teachers are to blame.
“They think that teachers are only striking to get a raise, but they don’t realize that they’re also fighting for smaller class sizes and class composition,” she said.
“Tell your teachers not to be so greedy!” a heckler had yelled moments earlier.
Premier Christy Clark urged teachers Wednesday to suspend their strike and return to the bargaining table. Jim Iker, president of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, said the union won’t be asking teachers to vote on whether to suspend the strike any time soon. Clark said she doesn’t want to legislate teachers back to work.
The chair of the Vancouver School Board and the Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council have called for binding arbitration. On Wednesday, VSB trustee Mike Lombardi asked people on Twitter to retweet his message if they wanted Ready authorized to make public recommendations for ending the labour dispute.
Schultes and Roosevelt say they don’t have a solution to this complex dispute.
“But even though we don’t know the answers, we know there is one and you [the parties] need to find it,” Schultes said.
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