Division and Mistrust in education

Dear Editor,
I am writing to you with thoughts of caring and wonderment. It all comes out of witnessing the life of a specific elementary teacher of twenty-five years and also the lives of many other educators like her. I have seen teachers go from being respected as valuable assets in the community to political scapegoats in a time when the myths of scarcity, division and mistrust grips people in a fear that clouds reason. You would think board directors, school administrators and politicians from the Ministry of Education would turn to the senior educators for direction in areas that are within their professional concern and responsibility.
Surprisingly teachers have not been asked as a unified body to address what kind of provincial wide rules and structure need to be established in our schools so that children and teachers can have a learning environment that is free from violence and disrespect. These educators have not been consulted on the present curriculum that frustrates most children because it demands academic performance that exceeds their age appropriate developmental needs and abilities. Senior teachers have historically participated in co-creating professional learning and continuing education requirements and opportunities. Now much of what a senior teacher has learned is disregarded.
Despite the provincial governmental rhetoric that education is a priority, classroom sizes have increased, and school supplies (like library books) have decreased, along with support staff to clean our schools and watch our children at lunch and recess. It is midway through another school year and yet teachers are working without a contract. What other group of professionals would work a half of year without knowing what they were to be paid or without having a lunch break free from work responsibilities.
Lastly, given the rural nature of this school district, students, teachers, school administrators and support staff are extremely vulnerable to unsafe weather conditions while traveling to and from school. When the OPP or Ministry of Transportation puts out an advisory for people to stay off the roads due to unsafe conditions the board and its administrators insist on keeping schools open even when bus drivers decide they cannot safely drive their routes. This not only puts teachers and school administrators at risk, it also risks the lives of children and their parents that try to travel to their schools when they should not be on the roads.
I think the parents of children attending Ontario schools would and do assume that teachers are some of the primary decision makers in regards to the issues I have mention. Perhaps this is why the relationship, in general, between teachers and their pupils parents has deteriorated. In writing this to you it was my hope that perhaps teachers, parents and all those concerned will start an empowering dialogue that can effect solutions despite the current political myths of scarcity, division and mistrust.
Respectfully yours,
Hal Wilhite
Morson