Scenes like this could disappear if the province has its way with the Vancouver School Board.
Last night on the news I saw coverage of band students playing a concert outside of the Vancouver School Board (VSB) offices, which for me really brought home the debate that is being waged right now between the BC Government and VSB.
Yes, I know that 190 full-time positions are on the chopping block. But as a former member of a school strings program, and someone who continues to play music today, the prospect of losing all of the strings and band programs in the city is extremely troubling.
The gift of a music education to a child has immeasurable benefits. Off the top of my head, I can name discipline, confidence, expansion of horizons, improved school performance, stress relief, fun, a sense of achievement, and improved self-esteem as some of the most tangible benefits that a child receives from learning music (although this list is much more comprehensive and has some amazing facts and figures).
I was fortunate enough to begin music outside of school, and enhanced my education through band in elementary and orchestra in high school. But to many families, these school programs are the only access they have to offer their children the opportunity to play a musical instrument.
Anyways, this issue is about much more than band and string programs, so I shouldn’t get to caught up on this particular point. I am willing to direct the full weight of my anger towards both Margaret MacDiarmid and lone NPA councillor Suzanne Anton, who in particular has shown how once again, politics trumps principle.
Readers will remember how Anton and Park Board Commissioner Ian Robertson waged a battle with the Park Board over their independence. Whether it had to do with the hiring of a new General Manager, or the budget cuts as part of the services review, Anton was screaming bloody murder about how the docile Vision commissioners were towing the line and in the process, throwing away their autonomy.
Compare this to her reaction now with the way that the VSB is fighting back against the provincial government:
“I feel that a stream of constant whining that we get from the school board, from the school board chair, and obviously now from Coun. Reimer, does a great disservice to our school system. It’s sending out a message that our system is no good anymore and of course that’s not true. It’s sending out a message that we can’t possibly manage and that, of course, is not true. There are tough times, but the school board has not really made tough decisions over the years and they do need to make tough decisions….they need to stop whining about it and they need to start boasting about the school system.”
So rallying against City Hall is OK because it has a Vision Vancouver administration, but fighting against backdoor, sneaky accounting by the province is “whining”?
What hypocrisy.
The school board should let this new “advisor” (aka political spinner) appointed by the Minister go through their books, and then make public how MSP premiums are being raised and downloaded, how teachers’ raises negotiated by the province are not receiving any additional new funding, and how carbon offset requirements are convoluted and expensive and also not covered in provincial transfers.
VSB Patti Bacchus needs to keep fighting the good fight and making the public aware of what the provincial government is doing to education in this province.
Suzanne Anton, on the other hand, should worry more about changing the name of her pathetic political party, and continue to hope that Vancouver voters are fooled by such a cynical ploy.
Not bloody likely.
