Students in Vancouver could have an entire week off in November this fall, if the school board adopts the proposal.
The Vancouver School Board is considering closing schools for three additional days in the same week as Remembrance Day. They would also add the one closure day in November that currently exists to bring the closure to one week.
The board says the move would help tackle a budget deficit of more than 13 million dollars.
“These are very bleak times,” said Patti Bacchus, Vancouver School Board chair. “We keep asking government. Their own budget consultation report from their Select Standing Committee on this budget recommended increasing education funding. They know we need it but they’ve chosen not to make education a priority and public school kids are going to be the ones paying for this.”
Speaking on Unfiltered with Jill Krop, Bacchus said this could be a slippery slope to go down. “We’re looking at everything from these additional days, to getting rid of music programs, more psychologists, more counselors, you know we really need to be going the other direction. We have what’s recognized to be one of the best public education systems in the world, it stacks up well against every other jurisdiction but we have among the lowest funding per student in Canada.”
“So taking away and taking away is weakening a system that we know performs actually very well, and the question is why is this government failing to keep investing at a level we can at least maintain services and hopefully improve them?,” she asked.
The District Parents’ Advisory Council (DPAC) called this move “an attack on those who have to scramble”, referring to parents who have to find and pay more for childcare.
Speaking on Unfiltered with Jill Krop, chair of the DPAC, Monica Moberg, said the response from parents to this idea has been shock.
“The people that this is hurting the most are single parents,” she said.
“Vancouver’s an extremely expensive city to live in and when you add the pressure of having to add additional childcare, and there is not a glut of childcare available, it’s really hard to scramble and find childcare and for a couple of days here and a couple of days there it makes it even more problematic.”
“There is not a viable childcare strategy in B.C. to help parents work and I’m very confused by our government,” Moberg added. “Because our government is saying ‘families first’ and yet they’re not providing the supports to actually give parents and families the ability to make their families better.”
WATCH: Discussing the issue on Unfiltered with Jill Krop:
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