lake educat PUBLIC school unions are hard at work increasing enrolment in B.C.’s private schools. They’re also helping heat up the search for other alter- natives to the current public education system. Little wonder: their agen- das continue to run counter to those of their customers and those who pay the freight on education in this province. Consider, for example, the looming shutdown of your children’s education courtesy this time of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). The sabre-rattling has been going on for months. The usual gripes are on the table: wages, job security, benefits, pensions and pay equity. But a layer or two below the surface are gripes far more disturbing for parents and anyone else concerned about the reliability of educa- tion quality in B.C. Government education priorities are best illustrated by St. Patrick’s Day revela- tions that the chief govern- ment negotiator in the CUPE dispute left for a mailbox . yarns week’s vacation on March 16. Tony Penikett’s departure put negotiations at the provincial level on hold until March 26, the day before CUPE’s March 27 strike deadline. If parents are not aghast, dismayed and outraged at that turn of events they’re suffering from over-medica- tion or inexcusable apathy. Interruption again of edu- cation for 340,000 students - around the province for who knows how long? Too bad: I'm outta here; vacation calls. As to the layers below the usual contract demands: the move is afoot to exclude par- ents from involvement in the schools that they fund. Reports in the press have oudined CUPE gripes over volunteer work that parents currently do at schools. You know: stuff like coaching teams, working in libraries, cleaning up, driving kids hither and von — basi- cally being invoived in their children’s education and tak- ing the initiative to help make it better. Parent involvement in their community and in their children’s lives is something that is ali too often missing. It needs to be cultivated on every level. But that of course encroaches on union jurisdie- tions. It’s the same issue that sparked controversy last year over school crossing guards in North Vancouver. Somehow North Vancouver District 44 got negotiated into allocating to unionized workers the responsibility for what in past years had been the responsi- bility of school children. Once in CUPE’s hands those crossing guard stop- signs were virtually impossi- ble to wrestle free. Economics helped. With senior levels of gov- ernment downloading their economic ineptitude on their downstream counterparts, District 44 determined that it ion an essent had no budget to continue paying unionized crossing guards $12.84 per hour to walk children across streets. Parents stepped up to the plate. CUPE started hurling hard balls. Union jurisdiction, don't you know, Holding a sign and walking in a straight line at the same time is not for the non-union neophyte. Sanity has since reigned in some areas of District 44. While North Vancouver City is still funding unionized crossing guards at assorted school crosswalks in that municipality, schools in North Vancouver District are either manning those cross- walks with volunteers or enrolling students in an RCMP program to train them as crossing guards. But the union juggernaut has just started to roll over the interests of schools and the province’s school system. As the British Columbia Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils points out: one of CUPE’s bargaining provisions states that “volun- teers shall be prohibited with- out the express consent of the union.” Sunday, March 26, 2000 - North Shore News - 7 Private schools will doubt- less he dancing jigs at the prospect of more disruption to public school education. Their enrolment has been growing steadily over the past two decades. Overall in B.C. independent schools now account for 8.7% of enrol- ment. That number is up from 5.3% in the carly 80s. On the North Shore, 10% of school enrolment now comes from independent schools. Over at the B.C, Teachers Federation (BCTF) mean- while the union’s braintrust continues to drive the homo- sexual rights agenda into your children’s classrooms, whether you like it or not. The BCTF’s resolution to -promore clubs that support gay students in schools has met with stiff parent opposi- tion in places such as Surrey. Rednecks, say you? Some perhaps, but others want to know why student sexuality is moving closer and closer to the front of the classroom of BCTF priorities while issues like the Fraser Institute’s secondary schoo! report card comparison of school performance are afforded dunce hats and sat in the corner. tr teviatet miner ba vinta ese stceine AAA anRmUNNh ra A elite menaeONALARAEIRIE Nena mR rare ORT RRS IRR Ah Sy RRR ReNireramaewtenn muir techn aN AANA ORO, Privatization not the cure to health care ills Dear Editor: Re: Ilana Mercer’s March 17 Fair “Countering Comment column, health care criticisms.” In privately run medical I systems do you think doctors would “vie for the business” of homeless people or peo- ple on welfare? A private system would better serve people who can afford to pay for it, people like you and me. But what about those who cannot? Would they receive the same level of care as you or I? Hardly. Contrary to what is stated in your column, medi- cine in Canada is not just about busi- ness — it transcends into something much greater and more meaningful. It’s about social responsibility, com- Teen reader unhappy with elder’s advice , Dear Editor: ~~ Lam very upset about one ‘of the letters to the editor in your: Feb. 18: newspaper: “A message to youth: grow up.” _ ‘This: message says to all teens to get off their butts and * do housework/volunteering. However, the reason I am so upset about this is because we do a lot for the community -and we do not complain about our. cities not having recreation centres and our ‘parents not giving us enter- tainment. We do not cause war and we are not crybabies; we are teenagers exploring life to its fullest, who do a lot for . all you adults. So, in conclu- sion all I have to say to you Russell C. Shelton: you grow up and stop compris about young people, just because you are too old to enjoy live to the fuilest, so you decide to rub it in youth’s faces! Jenay Tecklienburg, 14 North Vancouver RMOTEV COLUSION SPECIALISTS fer Foreign & Domestic NORTH SHORE’S HIGHEST VOLUME ALL MAKE :.€.B.c. VENDOR “@ Quality Workmanship * Trustworthy Service © 1.C.B.C. Vendor * BCAA, Approved ° Accredited Collision Repairs The Home of the: ifctime ~~ @uarantee — ‘Also Mechanical Division. : Repairs to all makes of Cars ani d Alternative transportation arranged. a Light Trucks (Foreign & Domestic). TALKING -* ESTIMATES x TAYLORMOTIVE SERVICE LTD. ...174 Pemberton Ave., North Van vier. CONSULTATION 985-7455 passion, equality, and access. about the kind of country we want to live in and how we define ourselves as a people. Does the current system need restructuring? Yes. Can it be made more cost efficient and_ effec- tive? Definitely! - We need ideas and solutions that support our universality principles, It’s Keep schools open Dear Editor: In the throne speech, the government states that “every arent wants their child to ave every opportunity to suc- ceed,” and fater, working par- ents will have “the knowledge that their children are in good hands ... during school.” The same day as the throne speech, we learn that CUPE is utting the door on parent volunteers in public schools, and a 43+district strike may occur on March 27. I ask the government: If there is no safe arrival program at schools because parents cannot run them, or if the schools are closed, how will the child succeed? Or be in good hands? Public schoois are publicly funded. Parents, who are the pub- lic, deserve to be true partners in those schools. And the schools must remain open. Jeremy Dalton, MLA West Vancouver-Capilano Re patwcvizes, Ol, Lube & Filter i fully warrenty? 91 ot, Safety check, 15 minutes - FAST! So epproveds" Includes up to 5 litres of 1Ow30 Quakerstate i 4362 Marine Drive $80-9115 i i a} draperies S.LAURSEN .& SON & blinds ttd. “Seng the Lower Mainland fer over 28 years www.sidrapssandblinds.com Custom Rods, Upholstery & Bedspreads § (Ask about oor Sento Bi Bee . For Free Estimate cali 22-4975 or 987-2966 Drapery Labour $14.95 per panel lined. while at the same time encourage effi- ciency and discourage abuse. The market is not a panacea, and South Africa is hardly a model for Canada to emulate. Which country did you choose to live in? Jennifer Taylor West Vancouver $é! Here's a suggestion for the BCTF: forget the politi- cally correct fawning over special interest groups and rolf out some resolutions that attach accountability to teaching quality, resolutions that reward good teachers and weed out their ineffective counterparts. The provincial govern- ment, meanwhile, should quit tp-toeing around the union- ized school mess and cither make education an essential service or provide parents and their children with a guaran- teed number of school days per year. A minimum of 200 would be a good start. —trenshaw@nsnews.cont Since 19-4! isis Ambleside Lane 922-737 (Directly behind Windsor Meats) FREE HOME BUYER SEMINAR Royal Bank, Main Branch | 18th and tonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver March 28th ° 7pin - 8:30pm Guest Speakers Steve Trifonas - MacDonald Realtors Prudential Sussex Realty Lyn ynne Ore Michael Afexander - Mortgage $ Steven Turner - Lawyer- Gary Brisbois - “amedsr talist——Royal Bank jaugh, Hunter, Tumer:. Home Ins Call now for Reserve Seating 981 7502 Poo FREE REFRESHMENTS ° DOOR PRIZES wes Speaker: MARTIN COLLACOTT former Canadian Ambassador; speaker at recent Canadian Parliamentary and U.S. Congressional Committee... Hearings on refugee i issues. Time: 7:30 p.m. Date: Thursday March 33 Place: North Shore Conference Centre .. (International Plaza-foot of Capilano Rd.) This is a public meeting sponsored by the Canadian Association for Immigration Reform and the - Independent Immigration Aid Association... _-- . Time will be allotted for questions to the speaker, after. which the Annual General Meetings will be convened. :