Notes, Updates, and Comments
May 3rd, 2008:
Hello friends – as you can see by the meeting invite that I am enclosing- this Thursday is the public hearing regarding the rezoning of the Sahtlam School site – a change that will enable the owner to advance his private interests in the community. However – as this property was donated back before the last century to the neighbourhood that surrounded it for education purposes and was held, sustained and valued as a school it is important we reflect on the importance of standing up for what is rightly and collectively ours.
The public zoning should be affirmed.
The school district might have sold Sahtlam property some years ago to the CVRD for community needs but held out for what they believed was the speculative value – in other words the price you might expect to receive for a piece of privately held, ‘zoned for private venture’ land. The property sat as a disused eyesore for years until it sold to the current owner for a somewhat larger amount – a selling price that could not possibly justify the impact on the Sahtlam community. What price could do that?
As many of you are aware – the response to the changes to Area 'E' OCP bylaw 3074 that would provide support for retaining the public use of decommissioned school property has suggested there is growing community approval for keeping our public lands for our public needs. In Lake Cowichan earlier this year - the town spoke eloquently and with one voice in a campaign to keep the JH Boyd property in public use rather than allowing a single individual to decide on the shape of development for our common lands.
In Cowichan we have been standing up and telling our governing authorities that we do no accept the creed of speculation as the sole motivator for land use and management – particularly those lands that we hold in common. Further, citizens have demanded the right to full consultation on the disposition of public lands in their midst. This should continue until the message has settled deep into the thinking of all our elected reps.
Come and support the community of Sahtlam and the interests of our valley this Thursday. Come and insist that our public lands are for our public needs.
Eden
April 30th, 2008:
This weekend, the Fraser Institute will publish its league tables for BC schools in the Vancouver Sun…again. These results stem from the FSA (Foundations Skills Assessment) tests that grades 4 students throughout this province are virtually forced to write. No doubt this will be followed by coverage throughout the province that points to the schools in all our communities – some will have fared well and some will have received the black mark that is reserved for those schools whose students do not meet the petty trifling criteria suggested by standardised testing protocols.
The one very real outcome that flows from the religion of standardised testing and the reporting out that inevitably follows is that more time is spent assessing kids (in some grade 7 classes this amounted to 40 % of the first 6 weeks of class this year) than actually teaching. A great deal of hard work is poured into producing this catalogue of petty measurements through the day to day contributions of teachers who are directed to spend endless hours of precious teaching time preparing their students for tests. Every Board of Education in BC should question the usefulness of this exercise and ask if this is the best way to expend our resources. It is entirely likely that the time, funds and expertise deployed in relentless evaluation amounts to a significant misallocation of public money.
The message that the Fraser Institute wishes to convey through these grotesque findings is that private schooling should become the preferred choice of all those who can afford to migrate away from our beleaguered public schools. Still - we are encouraged to believe that testing is meant to reveal needs and inadequacies in the system in order that they can be put right. If testing was used to find schools or children in need then we would be seeing the progressive increase in resourcing those schools and students – but it is not. Instead we see massive growth in funding for private schools and vicious cuts to programs in our public schools. And in fact – the poor testing performance in some schools is used- as it is in our district- to justify mounting closure proceedings. It seems that testing is either employed to convince us that despite the cuts to public education the system is still working or when it suits the government testing is used to discredit both the system and those who provide the service.
These standardised tests represent a ruthless weapon wielded against all students and families who do not fulfill the shallow standards outlined by the ministry; perhaps it should be observed that a well resourced classroom with fewer students and increased supports for the challenged kids would much sooner produce the circumstances tests claim they are seeking. In this way we would reveal the strengths rather than shortcomings of our kids.
If we applied that theory in practise our public education system would not only be more effective it would be more human.
Eden Haythornthwaite
250-709-7975
Trustee, SD # 79/Cowichan
Column offering in response to the editorial in the Pictorial, April 19th
The editorial in the April 19th Pictorial has provided Cowichan with a superb opportunity to evaluate our approach to the fate of our public school lands....
For the rest of the article, click here
Eden
709-7975
Friday, April 11th:
Hi there - this is the documentation for the proceeding around the amendment to bylaw 3074, OCP Area ’E’ – a triumph for community authority and direction patered through by area director Loren Duncan (250-746-0240). This places school lands in a protected category wherein they will be held for public use only rather than be subjected o the prospect of transfer to private venture. Please forward this to your lists.
Eden
709-7975
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Here's the link to the entire CVRD Board Agenda of April 9, 2008:
http://cvrd.bc.ca/agenda/full/750.pdf
The public hearing report and minutes for Bylaws No. 3074 and 3075 are listed on the agenda as item PH3.
Once you get the document opened on your computer, item PH3 starts on page 109 of the PDF document. The last page is page 216.
Regards,
Joe Barry
Corporate Secretary
Cowichan Valley Regional District
Friday, March 21st:
TIRRA passed this motion at their Annual General Meeting yesterday, as presented by Steve Frankel.
Friday, March 14th:
Hi guys – I know… I know … I am a supreme pest but this is important so I will endure the moniker. Now – if you have dutifully sent in your letter and receive this anyway accept my apologies and gratitude and forward to your lists if you wouldn’t mind. Remember – being a pest when it comes to political work is an honourable estate and besides someone has to do it.
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To all my friends out there... please read and celebrate the changes to bylaw 3074 which sets the stage for a more cooperative protection of the public lands that our schools represent. It is very important that the CVRD hear from you before March 18th 2008.The bylaw amendment for now only applies to area 'E' but this affects both Cowichan Station School and Koksilah Elementary. If it passes there is every reason to believe that this approach will be duplicated in other jurisdictions.We must announce our support for this progressive initiative loud and clear if we want it to pass.It has already made it through the first two readings and is now in the public portion of this matter. That means it is our turn to speak and influence this decision.Please take a moment and do so.In the present absence of any public consultation procedures around the disposition of school property in this school district,s policy, it is a reasonable but steady handed means to apply some community input to the fate of our school lands.For more info please contact Loren Duncan @ 746-0240.
Address your submissions to ds@cvrd.bc.ca
Eden
Thursday, March 6th:
To all my friends out there in Cowichan
Though it may seem a fools errand, some of the trustees actually may wish to consider the submission of a needs budget and will want to have your support for this strategy. I have sent a motion to this effect to the Management/ Finance Committee for this Wednesday and the more email the trustees receive, the better - not necessarily just supporting the motion, but the general premise of having our board finally stand up, tell the ministry we will no longer cut and close and will be forwarding a budget that recognises need. Please consider sending a message of support for this to the trustees at the address offered below. Please indicate in your message what your relationship to our schools may be – parent and school, PAC member, union, community association, student, teacher or retired teacher, support worker or simply thinking community member.
Address your message to the ‘Chair and trustees of the Board of Education, SD#79’ - the Management/ Finance committee is comprised of all trustees so that is appropriate and this motion is only being introduced there – as it is unlikely it will pass I will continue to bring it to regular board meetings .I am only bringing it to this committee as a courtesy – to allow a less pressured environment for first considering its content. After this all bets are off. Thanks in advance for your help.
Trustees@sd79.bc.ca
Your trustee Pal
Eden
Wed, 05 Mar 2008:
To all my good friends out there – it is with great sadness that I must tell you that despite the best efforts of three trustees (Ann Andersen, Di Gunderson and I) two of our alternate education school sites (Chemainus and South End) were shut tonight as per a board motion . Details to follow but I did want you to know.
It does not have to be like this.
Your trustee Pal
Eden
709-7975
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