To the editor:
Re: "Class Notes," Oct. 14. Another school year is upon us and Patti Bacchus and the Vancouver School Board are puzzled as to why enrolment is down again.
Thanks to the additional 10 days for the district closures that save absolutely no money as staff and support workers are still paid and the ever present and ironic Pro-D days, we have arrived in the era where the four-day week outnumbers the five-day week by almost four to one.
When you consider the additional week off at spring break, Vancouver students must receive the least days of instruction of any district. This isn't counting the last two weeks of June, when as every parent knows, is essentially summer vacation. Couple this reality with the obsession that Ms. Bacchus and her fellow Vision trustees have with doing the political bidding of the B.C. Teachers Federation and it's a mystery to only the wilfully ignorant or the naive as to why student enrolment is down again in Vancouver.
I don't believe families are fleeing to the suburbs. Every youth sports organization I've been involved with has seen a dramatic increase in participants over the past 10 years and my neighbourhood is full of young kids. I believe that parents from all income brackets are seeking out a private education in order to receive an appropriate amount of instruction and to avoid a school system that works for teachers more than it does for students.
I can only imagine how many teaching positions have been eliminated in Vancouver due to plummeting enrolment since Ms. Bacchus and her colleagues have been in charge. How ironic is that?
Mike Smythe,
Vancouver
