Black Ribbon Campaign underway for Langley schools

LANGLEY (NEWS1130) –  The Langley Teachers Association and CUPE 1260 members say they will be in mourning after the Langley School Board budget meeting on June 15th. Budget cuts of $7 million dollars are being recommended and dozens of teachers have already received lay off notices.

Susan Fonseca, with the LTA, says society has an obligation to educate our children and the cuts don’t reflect that responsibility. “We really see this as a serious loss of programs to students. People really are in a state of mourning when they see whole programs being cut and their school libraries being shut down.”

So what is being lost? “Half of our elementary councilors have been laid off, many of our teacher librarians, we have lost one special education psychologist, and one speech language pathologist. We are losing 30 per cent of our reading recovery programs, district coordinators, ESL teachers, alternate teachers, career teachers, and facing one school closure.”

Fonseca encourages CUPE and LTA members to wear black June 16th, the day after the budget meeting. She also asks that members wear a black ribbon for the rest of the school year, to show support for former colleagues and mourn the loss of student programs.