Editor: What are the Langley teachers trying to do?
Do they want to help to put Langley on the fast track to be in the same financial position most of Europe is in today?
People demanding too much for themselves regardless of the state of their city or country’s economics is driving them to bankruptcy.
Please take a moment and be grateful to have a job.
Asking for a 15 per cent increase over three years,10 weeks of bereavement leave, and 26 weeks of paid compassionate leave no matter the relationship. That is 36 weeks out of a 52-week year. Add up the professional days, Christmas, Easter, “compassionate leave,” on top of spring breaks, summer vacation. What time is there left to teach?
Should there be a situation that too many teachers at one time have a death in their families or a relative or friend who they believe needs them, where does that leave the students?
I might add that my husband and I never had fewer than 30 to 35 kids in a classroom all through school, and the year my husband graduated was the highest average SAT (scholastic aptitude test) scores in history. But then, we had Thanksgiving Day, a week off for Christmas break, Good Friday afternoon off (if you wanted to go to church) for our ‘spring break,’ and three months off for summer vacation.
Until middle school we never had homework because the teacher taught during class time, which went from 8 a.m. to 3:30 or even 4 p.m.
But then, of course, the teachers didn’t have the unions working to protect the teachers against the children’s learning (as shown by standard tests) and at the expense of the taxpayers.
Many people in other professions — regular jobs — spend unpaid hours working past the time they get paid to do their work.
Paula Bowman
Aldergrove