February 3, 2020
Announcement: Subsidiarity

To: 8 online petitioners; 9 email respondents; 6 mail canvassers,;135 reporters and commentators; 26 trustee candidates and trustees; 26 of the many voters who are very concerned about our "one-size-fits-all" school boards; and 176 generally interested folks including members of the Social Mavrik Federation.

From: Bob Bray, President, Social Mavrik Federation

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CAMPBELL RIVER: Bob Bray is pleased to provide a definition of the noun subsidiarity and a related info-graphic about empowering parents in Ontario.
Subsidiarity
Subsidiarity is a principle in social organization holding that functions which are performed effectively by subordinate or local organizations belong more properly to them than to a dominant central organization .

The complete dictionary entry is here.
Subsid iarity is one of the six words that are important to the Social Mavrik Federation.

All six words are Motherhood, Ma rri age, Voluntary, Responsibility, Subsid iarity and Knowledge.

The website of the Social Mavrik Federation is here.

The word subsidiarity was recently used in a C2C Journal article titled The Enduring Appeal of Red Toryism by Ben Woodfinden about what the overall future of Canadian conservatism should be. The whole article can be seen here.

Two sentences apply directly to the school choice issue and I quote them for your reference:

"More broadly, there should be a renewed interest in subsidiarity, one that is not simply about the division of political power but aims to support the social institutions closest to problems and people and, therefore, best placed to develop solutions. It should also expand educational options for parents who want to instill not just skills but values in their children."

Now that I have introduced the word subsidiarity into the campaign for charter schools in Ontario, I have a dilemma - how to create an info-graphic about it.
Empowering Parents in Ontario
Luckily in Ontario at the local level of the school board school there is a way for parents to participate with their school. It is called the Parent Involvement Committee and every school has one.

Fortuitously, the PIC acronym for the parent committee also works as the acronym for Public Independent Charter schools. The dual use of PIC gives me a way to contrast the type of parental participation in a school board schools to that in a charter schools.

Parent participation in the neighborhood school is advisory in nature while parents participate as partners in a charter school.

I put these thoughts into an info-graphic which is displayed at the bottom of this message, in the Facebook section.
Public Independent Charter Schools - a petition
This online petition includes a history of charter schools in Canada and was viewed 110 times this past week and 93 times in the week previous. It can be inspected by clicking on the blue button or the underlined link below.
New petitioners are shown in red lettering

So far 28 +2 citizens in Ontario and British Columbia have added their name and address to this petition to call on the Ontario Government to allow charter schools in Ontario.
Petitioners'
Province


---------------------





Ontario








---------------------



British
Columbia


---------------------
A ll ow Ministry
To Approve
Up To 20 Public
Charter Schools
-------------------------





SUPPORT = 20 + 1








------------------------



SUPPORT = 8 + 1



-------------------------
Petitioner Demographics


Name of City or Town
--------------------------------------------------
Bowmanville = 1
Cochrane = 1
London = 1
Malahide = 1
Mississauga = 1
North York = 1
Oshawa = 1
Ottawa = 1
Sarnia = 1
St. Catherines = 1
Thorold = 1
Toronto = 7 + 1
Union = 1
Welland = 1
--------------------------------------------------
Campbell River = 1
Chilliwack = 2
Courtenay = 1
North Saanich + 1
North Vancouver = 1
Vancouver = 1
Victoria = 2
--------------------------------------------------
Public Independent Charter Schools - a survey
The email questionnaire can be inspected by clicking on the blue button or the underlined link below.
New respondents are shown in red lettering (None this past week)

So far 9 citizens in British Columbia have emailed their position on independent publicly funded K-12 charter schools and the results are shown below.
Respondents'
Province



---------------------
British
Columbia
---------------------
Allow Ministry
To Approve
Up To 20 Public
Charter Schools

-------------------------
SUPPORT = 9
OPPOSE = 0
-------------------------
Respondent Demographics
Average Age
Number of Children
Number of Grandchildren
Number of Great Grandchildren
--------------------------------------------------
Avg Age=69 C=23 GC=53 GGC=4
Avg Age=0 C=0 GC=0 GGC=0
--------------------------------------------------
An easier-to-read summary of survey results can be seen here.
School Board Schools = Education Instability
Updates are shown in red lettering

School Board High Schools (31 Secular Boards)
  • work to rule began on Tuesday, December 3
  • Strike Day 1 - Wednesday, December 4
  • Strike Day 2 - Wednesday, December 10, against 9 School Boards
  • Strike Day 3 - Wednesday, December 17, against 10 School Boards
  • Strike Day 4 - Wednesday, January 8, against 8 School Boards
  • Strike Day 5 - Wednesday, January 15, against 16 School Boards
  • Strike Day 7 - Tuesday, January 21, against 13 School Boards
  • Strike planned for Tuesday, February 4 against 10 Boards (Strike Day 17)
  • issues are compensation, class size and two required e-learning courses
  • Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation OSSTF
  • 60,000 teachers and education workers
  • 1,350 High School teachers are opposed to strike action

School Board Elementary School s (31 Secular Boards)
  • phase 1 job action began on Tuesday, November 26
  • not completing Term 1 report cards
  • not participating in board or ministry courses outside of school hours
  • phase 2 job action began on Tuesday, December 10
  • not planning any new field trips
  • not collecting money for school activities, except charitable causes
  • phase 3 job action began on Monday, January 13
  • work to rule, no before or after school presence
  • Strike Day 6 - Monday, January 20 against 3 Boards
  • Strike Day 7 - Tuesday, January 21 against 4 Boards
  • Strike Day 8 - Wednesday, January 22 against 3 Boards
  • Strike Day 9 - Thursday, January 23 against 4 Boards
  • Strike Day 10 - Friday, January 24 against 2 Boards
  • Strike Day 11 - Monday, January 27 against 3 Boards
  • Strike Day 12 - Tuesday, January 28 against 5 Boards
  • Strike Day 13 - Wednesday, January 29 against 4 Boards
  • mediator called both sides to the table for talks
  • Strike Day 14 - Thursday, January 30, against 3 Boards
  • talks with mediator continued for a second day
  • Strike Day 15 - Friday, January 31, against 2 Boards
  • Strike planned for Monday, February 3 against 3 Boards (Strike Day 16)
  • Strike planned for Tuesday, February 4 against 5 Boards (Strike Day 17)
  • Strike planned for Wednesday, February 5 against 4 Boards (Strike Day 18)
  • Strike planned for Thursday, February 6 against all 31 Boards (Strike Day 19)
  • talks with mediator are set to resume for a third day
  • Strike planned for Friday, February 7 against 2 Boards (Strike Day 20)
  • issues are special needs students, one early childhood educator in every kindergarten classroom, classroom-based violence and compensation
  • Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario ETFO
  • 83,000 teachers and education workers
  • 830 Elementary School teachers are opposed to strike action

School Board French Schools (4 Secular and 8 Catholic Boards)
  • 450 French language schools
  • Franco-Ontarian teachers vote 97 per cent in favour of striking if necessary
  • phase 1 job action began on Thursday, January 16
  • refusing administrative duties
  • phase 2 work-to-rule planned to begin on Tuesday, January 28
  • January 29 - talks held with government
  • January 30 - talks held with government
  • Association des enseigantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens
  • 10,500 members AEFO
  • 315 Franco-Ontarian teachers are opposed to strike action

School Board English Schools (29 Catholic Boards)
  • strike notice has been issued and teachers are in a legal strike position
  • contract talks were held on January 9th
  • mediator adjourned talks on January 10th
  • job action began on Monday, January 13th
  • teachers refuse to complete report cards
  • teachers refuse to participate in EQAO standardised tests
  • Strike Day 7 - Tuesday, January 21 against all 29 Catholic School Boards
  • Strike planned for Tuesday, February 4 against all 29 Catholic School Boards (Strike Day 17)
  • issues include class size, maintaining full day kindergarten. No mention in press releases of any problems with compensation.
  • Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association OECTA
  • 45,000 teachers
  • 1,305 English Catholic teachers are opposed to strike action

Ministry of Education Vouchers
  • Strike Day 6, Jan 20; 130,000 applications received
  • Strike Day 14, Jan 30; 248,000 applications received: 17% of eligible parents
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Contact:
Bob Bray, President, Social Mavrik Federation
Phone: 250-900-2422
Mail: 422-1434 Ironwood Street, Campbell River, British Columbia V9W 5T5
Email: bob.bray@socialmavrikbc.ca
Website: socialmavrikbc.ca
The Social Mavrik Federation is a registered society in British Columbia dedicated to cultural politics through endorsing MP / MLA / Trustee candidates and supporting thoughtful petitions, as directed by its members.
Facebook:
I have posted the image below on my Facebook page. I invite you to visit it at facebook.com/bob.bray.334 and, if you do, you are welcome to give it a like, and/or a share and/or a comment.
Click here to see a larger version of the above image.
Twitter:
My twitter handle is bobbrayCR.

A recent tweet and image :
Day 15 teacher strike in Ontario. It's #etfo vs 2 boards. Private school parents enjoy their independence. More parents may choose public school independence when MPPs allow 20 charter schools in Ontario. #onchartersch #onpoli #cdnpoli #osstf #aefo #oecta #osbcu #oiseuoft #bcpoli
Click here to see a larger version of the above image.
Between January 27th and 31st this image was tweeted once a day. As of Feb. 2nd the most popular of the daily tweets had been seen 919 times with 77 engagements.
Backgrounders:
Topics covered in previous Announcements: