Dear Honourable Fassbender:
I am writing you to inform you to what extent your lockout affects children. Although it may not appear that reduced hours make a big difference, it is having a huge impact on the quality of education children are receiving.
In your lockout, teachers can only work for 45 minutes before and after school and are not allowed to work at lunch and recess. On average, I work 50 hours a week. In your lockout, you are asking me to reduce my hours to 31 hours and 15 minutes a week. That is almost by 20 hours! In this amount of time, it is impossible to plan and prepare high quality lessons and to mark quality evaluations of student learning. It also makes it very difficult to have enough time to meet with parents to discuss their child’s progress. On top of all that, you have made it impossible for me to help students outside of class time.
Moreover, as stated in your most recent letter, you expect me to complete my report cards as I would any other year. One child’s report card takes me approximately one hour to write (and that is not included in my 50 hour work week as described above). In my class of 27 students, report cards take me 27 hours, three times a year. When exactly did you have in mind for me to write my report cards?!?! It is outrageous to think that you are expecting me to do the same job that I did before your lockout with reduced hours and reduced pay.
Do you really care about the students and teachers of British Columbia? Your actions beg to differ. Just like parents advocate for their children and teachers advocate for their students, an education minister should advocate for education.
Martina Wilkison
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