BCTF BS finally getting some attention?

[LoneWolf_53]

What I picked out of that article immediately was how in the first sentence it says, "BC Teachers say" when a more accurate statement would be "BCTF says", since all indications are that many teachers in fact do not agree with the BCTF and its tactics.

In a truthful and accurate example the headline should in effect read "BCTF Seeks More Money And Less Work".

In any case I'm sure we'll have some interesting reading as this saga unfolds and the NDP has to take some sort of a stand in support of the BCTF, while at the same time taking into consideration the recession, and difficulty in finding funds, particularly at a time when many have taken pay cuts or been laid off.

I can hardly wait to see how this one gets spun.

[Urbane]

Here's the latest and it's shocking:

B.C. College of Teachers keeps some bad records spotless

Incidents of a sexual nature, violence, wiped from histories

BY JANET STEFFENHAGEN, VANCOUVER SUN JULY 5, 2011 9:09 AM

Scores of educators who were investigated and disciplined by their employers for misconduct — including inappropriate relationships with students, violence, threats and theft — remain members in good standing with the B.C. College of Teachers.
Photograph by: Greg Pender, The StarPhoenix
VANCOUVER - Scores of educators who were investigated and disciplined by their employers for misconduct — including inappropriate relationships with students, violence, threats and theft — remain members in good standing with the B.C. College of Teachers.

Documents obtained by The Vancouver Sun show that the college, which is responsible for regulating the profession in the public interest, handled many cases of proven misconduct in a way that left disciplinary records clean. Not only is the public unaware of these transgressions, but so too are boards of education and their hiring authorities, the college admitted.

Dozens of cases were dismissed by the college’s preliminary investigation subcommittee (PISC) without action or settled informally, including some that involved sexual interference and intimate relationships with minors; rough handling of a kindergarten student; slapping, shoving and punching students; consuming alcohol during class; threatening and stalking colleagues; and accessing child pornography on a school computer.

In many instances, the misconduct was considered so egregious that it resulted in suspensions and dismissals at the school level, according to the documents released to The Sun after a freedom-of-information request. But when these cases were referred to the college, as required by law, it took no action or simply sent letters to the member seeking assurances that such conduct would not be repeated.

As a result, their misconduct is not mentioned on the registry established by the college in 2007 specifically to give senior school officials easy access to the discipline records of B.C. teachers when making hiring decisions. The provincial government ordered the creation of the registry after some teachers who had been fired in one B.C. jurisdiction found employment in another that was unaware of their backgrounds.

The information released to The Sun is a complete list of discipline issues referred to by the preliminary investigation subcommittee in 2008 by school districts, independent schools, the college registrar and individuals. That is the most recent year for which there have been final resolutions on most of the cases.

It’s also one year before dissension developed on the college’s governing council about whether it adequately protects the public interest. That dissension prompted the government to order an independent investigation by Victoria lawyer Don Avison, a former deputy education minister who issued a stinging report on the college last year. The government promised action but has not yet delivered.

The college is responsible for ensuring that B.C. educators are competent and suitable for work with students. It regulates 70,000 teachers, principals, vice-principals, directors and superintendents in the public, independent and first nations school systems.

PISC is the college subcommittee that first receives reports and complaints about college members and determines whether further inquiry is needed.

This subcommittee, composed of three BCCT governing councillors, may dismiss cases without action, settle them informally, order investigations or resolve the matter through consent agreements with the perpetrators.

In 2008, the college received 127 reports of misconduct by members, including about a dozen unproven allegations from individuals. Of the total, only 21 resulted in formal college discipline.

The 2008 list includes some oddities too, such as educators who used sick leave for holidays (one in Hawaii, another in Las Vegas) and someone who participated in a sex show as a makeup artist.

Others were found to have disclosed confidential student information in a public forum, stolen a co-worker’s wallet, punched a newspaper delivery boy in the head several times, violated copyright laws repeatedly by showing movies in class, cultivated marijuana, and hosted a house party for 50 students and allowed them to consume alcohol.

Told about the 2008 report, college vice-chairwoman Val Windsor was taken aback.

“Wow,” she said. “I’m speechless.”

Windsor, a retired teacher who became a college councillor in 2009, said she couldn’t explain why PISC did not proceed further in these matters but noted its three members — two elected teachers and one appointed layperson — would have had more information about the cases than the brief summaries released to The Sun.

Investigations were ordered, however, in 26 cases in 2008, including one unusual situation where a teacher was accused of using racist and white supremacist teachings in a classroom. That investigation continues.

Windsor admitted the 2008 report appeared troubling.

“We’re here to protect the public interest and of course people will be wondering what’s going on,” she said in an interview.

“[But] if you’re not sitting on those committees, you don’t know what information they have or what they based their decisions on.”

College registrar Kit Krieger, whose criticisms of the college helped persuade the government to hire a fact-finder, said the 2008 discipline report supports Avison’s conclusion that the college is not doing its job.

Although Krieger was not familiar with the 2008 cases, and said he couldn’t discuss them if he was, he suggested the report raises questions about whether the college is treating some violations of professional standards as less significant than they really are.

While saying he’s confident the college deals effectively with the worst cases, that’s not good enough when children are at risk, he said.

“The public will not be satisfied with a profession that says pedophiles aren’t [in classrooms] and sexual offenders aren’t there, but there still are teachers who are incompetent and unethical.”

Avison’s report, submitted to government seven months ago, cited three cases where people had received teaching certificates even though one was convicted of sexual assault, another of drug trafficking and a third of forging documents in an earlier legal career.

He concluded that the college, created in 1987, lacks credibility and requires government intervention.

Education Minister George Abbott has been meeting with education partners to discuss the college’s future but has not yet revealed a plan for reform. He declined The Sun’s request for comment on the 2008 report.



Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/College+Tea ... z1RG6DtiOY

[Urbane]

This poster on the Vancouver Sun site, commenting on the above article, said the following:

jjwilson

1:14 PM on July 5, 2011

I am a parent and a teacher and I am sickened by this latest news. To have a union that protects child abusers and a college that expunges those criminals' records is truly unbelievable. Things need to change and they need to change fast.

The government is just as complicit in this whole mess as they have enabled the college of teachers to, in my mind, commit crimes against our children, by not properly governing the college. If I could withdraw my membership (forced) from the college and the union (forced) I would in a heartbeat.....sadly though, I am forced to be a member of these inept pedophile and child abuser enablers.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/College+Tea ... z1RGG1kXQd

I'm sure that Christy Clark regrets her decision, as Education Minister, to effectively give the BCTF control over the College. I hope she's learned her lesson.

[Al Czervic]

I'm sure that Christy Clark regrets her decision, as Education Minister, to effectively give the BCTF control over the College. I hope she's learned her lesson.

We can all hope that she has learned….of course she could also be extracting for some revenge….going to the polls over a BCTF greed strike, especially in light of insane, greedy and stupid BCTF demands might get Christy re-elected, however it will cause decades of damage to an already dysfunctional public education system that is already to militant and to political courtesy of the BCTF.

You either reed to go all out an put the BCTF out of it’s misery or you need to work with them. Drawing out a ballot box war only results in short terms gain for long term pain, pretty much what occurred last time Christy went up against the BCTF.

[Urbane]

I'm sure that Christy Clark regrets her decision, as Education Minister, to effectively give the BCTF control over the College. I hope she's learned her lesson.




We can all hope that she has learned….of course she could also be extracting for some revenge….going to the polls over a BCTF greed strike, especially in light of insane, greedy and stupid BCTF demands might get Christy re-elected, however it will cause decades of damage to an already dysfunctional public education system that is already to militant and to political courtesy of the BCTF.

You either reed to go all out an put the BCTF out of it’s misery or you need to work with them. Drawing out a ballot box war only results in short terms gain for long term pain, pretty much what occurred last time Christy went up against the BCTF.

It will be very interesting to see how Adrian Dix responds to these latest allegations because teachers themselves are divided. I believe most will be troubled about what's been happening with the college and yet the BCTF still wants control. Adrian Dix had better tread carefully.

ETA: These latest disgusting revelations about the BCCT along with the ridiculous contract demands of the BCTF will, as you say Al, play right into Premier Clark's hands. A fall election is all the more certain.

[Urbane]

Kamloops Daily News editorial on this issue:

Make teachers’ mistakes part of public record

JULY 8, 2011

Remember that teacher you entrusted the kids to every day at school last term? He or she might have been accused of previously slapping a student or of sexual interference, but we’d never know it.

Disturbing information obtained under a freedom-of-information request by The Vancouver Sun this week exposed how the B.C. College of Teachers has not been keeping records on many teachers’ indiscretions.

Instead of there being a permanent paper trail that showed a teacher who was previously accused of some kind of misconduct, the college’s preliminary investigation committee settled some matters informally or didn’t take disciplinary action at all — and kept no record of it.

And it’s not just the public that wouldn’t know. Even boards of education would never be able to access such details. The behaviour in question included actions like accessing child porn on school computers, punching students, drinking during class and stalking other educators. Teachers may have been suspended from their jobs relative to the accusations but, for whatever reason, when the matters were referred to the college, the proceedings were not documented.

What we should expect from the college is adequate oversight of the 70,000 teachers, principals, superintendents and administrators in both the public and private school systems in this province. They are charged with looking after our dearest interests and we have every right to know if an educator has been investigated for any alleged misbehaviour.

What we’re getting is something that smacks disturbingly akin to the sex scandals that rocked the Catholic Church in recent decades — shuffle priests/teachers around and bury the details if there’s a problem . . . perhaps nobody will notice, until it happens again. Repeat pattern as often as necessary. The difference is the Church had an interest in hiding such details. Why the college did not keep proper records of its hearings is a mystery.

College registrar Kit Krieger said the public will “not be satisfied with a profession that says pedophiles aren’t (in classrooms) and sexual offenders aren’t there, but there are still teachers who are incompetent and unethical.”

And we will be none the wiser with how the disciplinary record-keeping stands at present.

Education Minister George Abbott is aware of the situation and says he’s meeting with pertinent officials to decide how best to proceed.

The only acceptable solution is complete transparency on all matters of such behaviour in the education system, with proper documentation available on demand. Our children deserve that security.

[Urbane]

Union has no place in disciplining teachers

BY ETHAN BARON, THE PROVINCE JULY 10, 2011

So often, I meet teachers deeply committed to the education and well-being of children.

They work energetically and creatively to deliver the curriculum as effectively as possible. They put in extra hours organizing and supervising extracurricular activities, grading papers and tests, having discussions with parents.

These teachers chose their careers because they wanted to contribute to our society in a sector with profound impact.

Of course, we've all met teachers who don't care that they do a lousy job, who chose their careers based only on what it would give to them rather than what they would give to children.

And there are a few very rotten apples in the teaching bin, whose misbehaviour runs the gamut from the irresponsible to the criminal.

Bad teachers are a small minority, but they have a huge, ruthless ape to back them up: their union, the B.C. Teachers Federation.

The BCTF has clamped its burly fist around the B.C. College of Teachers -the supposedly independent body charged with upholding teacher conduct and imposing discipline -by hand-picking the teachers who are elected by B.C. teachers to 12 of the 20 seats on the college council.

The union has subverted the purpose of the college from protecting the public interest to promoting the interests of the BCTF.

Last week, Vancouver Sun reporter Janet Steffenhagen revealed that in 2008 alone, the college dismissed or informally settled dozens of disciplinary cases related to teacher behaviour.

These cases included sexual interference with minors; rough handling of a kindergartner; punching, slapping and shoving students; drinking during class; stalking and threatening colleagues; accessing child porn on a school computer; hosting a drinking party for 50 students; punching a newspaper boy repeatedly in the head; and growing pot.

Although many of the perpetrators were suspended or dismissed at the school level, the college's preliminary-investigations subcommittee -two out of three of whom were teachers elected to the college council -left the teachers with clean disciplinary records. This effectively prevents hiring managers for other schools from being able to find out about the teachers' offences, Steffenhagen wrote.

Whitewashing records of bad teachers so they can teach elsewhere is called, in education circles, "passing the trash."

A government-ordered fact-finding report (http: //bit.ly/fQ1NxU) by lawyer Don Avison in October revealed that the college had returned the teaching certificate of a man convicted of charges involving sexual assaults against students, and had given teaching credentials to a man sentenced to six years in prison for narcotics trafficking, as well as to a former lawyer who had forged court documents.

The primary problem here is the election, by B.C.'s teachers, of college councillors endorsed by the BCTF.

The solution lies in a 2009 recommendation by members of a college committee seeking to free the body from the union's grasp: creating provincial legislation prohibiting teachers seeking election to the college from accepting BCTF endorsements.

Teachers have a place in the college. Their union does not.

[email protected]

© Copyright (c) The Province


Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/news/Union+p ... z1Rk0j2LFe

[twobits]

How do you like the spin in the current BCTF ads "we are fighting for the students in the classroom"? If they were truely fighting for "the students", wouldn't a demand more along the lines of "instead of giving us a raise to make sure we make just as much as teachers in Ontario, take that money and put it into the classroom" be more believable. I'd love to hear just one teacher pubilcally state that an average wage of 65k/yr plus benefits and life long pension for ten months work a year is a fair wage. The BCTF needs to be brought under control and bargaining returned totally to each local district despite the cost efficiencies of province wide bargaining. Holding the entire province hostage has got to end. Same for the hospital workers and nurses.....bargain entirely with the local health authority. Either that or an arbitrator decision taking either the union's or managment's offer similar to what's happening with the postal workers but leave the wages in. Give em 90 days to hammer out an agreement or else either of each sides final position will be picked. It would force both sides to be realistic and reasonable.
Kinda like what we did with our last two kids and the last peice of pie. One got to cut it and the other one got to choose which peice they wanted first.

[Urbane]

The government launched an investigation into the BC College of Teachers after members of the College themselves, longtime BCTF stalwarts, requested one because they said the BCCT was dysfunctional. About seven months later, following an investigation, the Avison report was released and it was highly critical of the College:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... eport.html

Why have we heard nothing from the government? Clearly, changes are needed at the BCCT because the status quo has failed miserably. It's been nine months since the Avison report was released and nothing from the government. Meanwhile, look what's happening in Ontario with the Ontario College of Teachers:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/10/05 ... een-novel/

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/10/06 ... sexy-book/

[Rwede]

I'm guessing the government has been silent until the contract is finalized. There's no use having the BCTF and Adrian Dix screaming in the media that the government is bullying the teachers by bringing it up during contract talks.

[KGT]

The government launched an investigation into the BC College of Teachers after members of the College themselves, longtime BCTF stalwarts, requested one because they said the BCCT was dysfunctional. About seven months later, following an investigation, the Avison report was released and it was highly critical of the College:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... eport.html

Why have we heard nothing from the government? Clearly, changes are needed at the BCCT because the status quo has failed miserably. It's been nine months since the Avison report was released and nothing from the government. Meanwhile, look what's happening in Ontario with the Ontario College of Teachers:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/10/05 ... een-novel/

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/10/06 ... sexy-book/

We have heard from the government on this - it was a part of the recent throne speech.

During her speech about education, Clark said "The government is also committed to safer schools and will ensure that those very few individuals who abuse their positions of trust are removed and not permitted to return. "

and in the point form highlights about the throne speech http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2011/10/throne-speech-focuses-on-creating-jobs-safer-communities.html, they specified:

"New legislation to modernize the BC College of Teachers."

FWIW, when I log in to the College website, I see lists of teachers who have been disciplined or who have lost their license to teach. However, if there are indeed teachers out there who are teaching and should not be, I support changes to the BCCoT. If the system's broken, let's fix it.

But I do not support BCPSEA's plan that would allow a Principal to fire a teacher after one bad evaluation with no due process. There has to be some opportunity for a teacher to make changes (assuming it's not a sexual or physical abuse situation).

[Urbane]

Thanks for the update KGT. I didn't pay much attention to the throne speech and I didn't hear about the announcement re the College. Given the BCTF members who blew the whistle on what was happening in the College as well as the Avison report there is certainly more than enough evidence to prompt a change in the BCCT so I'm glad it's going to happen. As to due process for teachers I certainly agree that one unsatisfactory report shouldn't be a career ending outcome unless, as you suggest, there is an issue re sexual or physical impropriety. For the very small minority of teachers who are not up to the job, however, limits need to be set and those who are incompetent need to be removed.

[KGT]

Here's another recent news article Sept 29th with George Abbott talking about changing the BCCT.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/bc-politics/teachers-college-overhaul-in-bc-will-weed-out-bad-apples/article2185723/

[Urbane]

Here's another recent news article Sept 29th with George Abbott talking about changing the BCCT.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/bc-politics/teachers-college-overhaul-in-bc-will-weed-out-bad-apples/article2185723/

Very interesting! Kit Krieger's comments should raise some serious red flags for the government. Thanks for the update.