Teachers in Richmond are experiencing “change fatigue,” according to the Richmond Teachers’ Association, and are looking for more support from the board of education as it prepares next year’s budget.
The Richmond Teachers’ Association (RTA) set out a list of requests including two professional development days for each teacher in the district to help them with changes taking place – the estimated cost put forward by the RTA was about $1.3 million.
“What we’re hoping is some of the ideas we have align with some of the guiding principles and some of the things that the district would certainly like to be working on,” Liz Baverstock, president of the RTA, told the Richmond board of education on Wednesday evening while presenting a budget brief to them.
Other asks include two days of training for 187 English Language Learner (ELL) teachers, which the RTA hopes will be expanded to all teachers in the future, as well as training in inclusive ELL teaching practices. The two initiatives would cost $140,000.
The RTA is also asking for $34,700 to allow Pro-D chairs more time for planning. Pro-D chairs are teachers who to administer funds and plan professional development days. The brief stated that planning pro-d days is a “complex and time-consuming task.”
Included in the budget brief was a request for two speech and language pathologists and an occupational therapist for a total of $316,000. Occupational therapists in the school system currently are provided by Vancouver Coastal Health and there is a wait list of one to two years.
The RTA is also asking for library computers, iPads and furniture for libraries.
There is also a request for summer maternity leave top-up, which would be retroactive to July 2017 and would cost the school district, according to the RTA’s calculations, $225,000.
“We’ve got lots of great ideas, but great ideas need support,” Baverstock said.
The RTA pointed out that the BCTF Supreme Court win in 2016 has added $35 million to the Richmond budget, translating to 310 more full-time teachers.
The budget brief was distributed at the meeting and was referred to a future committee meeting. Trustees didn’t comment on it at the meeting.
