Many people in the crowd are expected to play their musical instruments. Planned speakers at the district offices include Indigenous music teacher Alana Johnson; Cindy Romphf, president of the Greater Victoria Music Educators’ Association; Jane Massey of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 947; and Winona Waldron, president of the Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association. The school district budget is set for approval on Monday. District secretary-treasurer Kim Morris said the district has tried to be responsive to some of the feedback it has been getting throughout the budgeting process. The plan is to start the next budget process earlier so there is more time for input, said Morris, noting tough decisions had to be made to deal with a $7-million deficit in a $253-million budget.
VANCOUVER Hundreds of students and their families lined a busy Victoria street Saturday to take a final stand against proposed cuts to the local school district s budget. The protesters gathered along Douglas Street, carrying signs and playing instruments for passing traffic. Many drivers honked their horns in support of the demonstrators, who are calling on the Greater Victoria School District s Board of Education to reject its proposed budget at its upcoming meeting. We’re trying to take a stand here to have the vote go a different way and not approve the proposed budget on Monday and make significant amendments, said Winona Waldron, president of the Greater Victoria Teachers Association and one of the people protesting Saturday.
Many people in the crowd are expected to play their musical instruments.
Planned speakers at the district offices include Indigenous music teacher Alana Johnson; Cindy Romphf, president of the Greater Victoria Music Educators’ Association; Jane Massey of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 947; and Winona Waldron, president of the Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association.
The school district budget is set for approval on Monday.
District secretary-treasurer Kim Morris said the district has tried to be responsive to some of the feedback it has been getting throughout the budgeting process.
The plan is to start the next budget process earlier so there is more time for input, said Morris, noting tough decisions had to be made to deal with a $7-million deficit in a $253-million budget.
Several demonstrations featuring student performers have been held in recent weeks because of proposed cuts to music programs in the district. Saturday’s gathering, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., comes two days before the school board passes its 2021-22 budget, with music and a number of other items facing cuts. The board is trying to balance the budget despite a $7-million deficit. So far, cuts have included time dedicated to vice-principal duties. More than $1 million in music programs including Grade 6, 7 and 8 band, Grade 5 strings, middle-school strings and choirs, and a district ukulele program have faced the axe. Also under threat are educational assistants, a primary-grades reading program for students who need extra help, youth and family counsellors, programs for gifted students and the hiring of clerical staff, including library clerks.
Strings and choir, both incredibly popular programs among students, remain in danger of being completely eliminated. Roughly 70 per cent of Grade 5 students participate in strings when offered. Choir is easily the most inclusive and cost-effective way to enrich students’ lives through music. Cutting such a program that boosts student mental health, especially now, is very misguided. Teachers have even been told that they are not allowed to run strings or choir programs with the provided band funding, even if there are interested kids. It is arbitrarily cruel to students with these passions. The school district has suggested that teachers volunteer their time to teach strings and choir. To ask them to run these complex and challenging programs in their free time, while in their new roles as general classroom teachers, is misguided at best, insulting at worst.