Re: “Special-needs students treated shamefully,” editorial, Feb. 15.
Don’t ask teachers to bear the brunt of chronic government underfunding of public education. Education-assistant shortages are not a new phenomenon. Nor is sending home special-needs students due to these shortages.
While both are troubling, the inability to retain education assistants has nothing to do with teacher collective-agreement language, and to suggest otherwise is offensive. The B.C. Teachers Federation won a court case that restored our contract language. Teachers lost thousands in wages fighting a government that underfunded public education for more than a decade.
Blaming the teachers’ union and contract language for school districts’ lack of planning and foresight is ludicrous. If we are to support our most vulnerable learners, the current government needs to fund public education adequately.
Jason Gammon
President, Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association
