Class assignment revisited

Over the weekend the Podunk examined a story from the Daily News about possible changes to the way our public schools may be run in the future. The always controversial issue will no doubt inflame opinions as the plans and discussions continue through the year.

The debate over School Centered Leadership continued through the Bill Good show today on CKNW, Good hosted a one hour examination of the issue and featured Shirley Bond the Liberal government's Education Minister and a number of Teacher’s union officials, School board reps and parent’s advisory groups who gave their take on the project.

Guests included Penny Tees of the B. C. School Trustees Association and Tom Hierck a representative of the Principal and Vice Principal’s Association. They provided their insight into the issue and outlined their concerns or observations on how the project may unfold.

Giving more power to principals and parents was the subtext of the open line portion of the discussion, though many of the callers cast doubts on the workability of the project. Some parents phoned in to express frustration about the current system and wondered aloud how the new plan might change those troubles. Others pointed out that the idea of directed funding to some schools is already in place, an example of a school in Delta with a high profile hockey program getting more money than other schools. One parent worried that this may be the template for the program, making some schools more desirable than others.

It was a wide ranging discussion, but as with any forum with a variety of ideas, no real foundation was laid for the listener as to what the project might look like down the road.

If anything, the hour probably served to warn parents that they need to get up to speed on what is happening in their own district and what impact the changes may have on their individual school needs.

You can listen in for yourself by taking advantage of the CKNW Audio Vault; the program ran on Monday morning, February 27th from 9-10 am.