Grassroots coalition formed in York Region aims to ‘preserve’ public education

So far, the coalition is made of 50 concerned citizens

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 28, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Up to 50 concerned citizens have formed a grassroots coalition called York Communities for Public Education.

The official launch for YCFPE is Oct. 28 at the Richmond Hill Performing Arts Centre at 6:30 p.m.

The coalition is made of parents, students, educators, education workers and community allies whose main objective is to protect public education in York Region amid the Tory cuts that saw class sizes mushroom from 21 to 28 on average starting from Grade 4.

“We want to make sure we preserve and better our universal public education and universal health care,” said Vanessa Stoby, who is one of the organizes of YCFPE.

“This coalition is even more important in 2019 as we seem to have a wave of populist conservative governments coming to power in Canada and around the world,” Stoby, who is a teacher and the Communication/Political Action Chair at District 16 OSSTF, said.

“The reason many immigrants, like my mother, brother and I come to Canada is for the high-quality public education,” she added while sounding the alarm over what had happened in the United States where the gap between schools, especially those that are private and public is staggering.

“We do not want to see the ‘905’ region have a two-tier or a three-tier education system, like many places in the United States of America.”

Filomena Ferraro, president of the York Catholic Teachers, is also an organizer at YCFPE.

“We’ve heard a lot of concerns from the public, parents and in particularly students that we work with on a daily basis,” Ferraro said when asked why this coalition is formed.

Ferraro said these concerns include, “not having enough courses to choose from and not having the courses they need to graduate.”

In addition to class sizes going up to 28, Ferraro praised the education system in Ontario when she described as “high class.”

“We're very worried that all these cuts that are coming down our way, including the mandatory e-learning in next year, is going to decimate our system.”

Ferraro described how the class average for e-learning is 35, making one e-learning class can have potentially up to 50 students in it.

“The quality of education will be diminished, students who struggle in class will have a difficult time in an e-learning course with no teacher there to support them,” she said, “These courses will not help those students who are already struggling.”

Ferraro said the coalition’s goal is to bring people together with “different voices” for the “first time” in York Region and have a “forum to work together for the future of all our kids.”

“Also, we want a group that advocates truly for ‘all’ our kids, because in the end it is our duty to make sure that the next generation has a fair chance at a better future.”

So far, the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario and other major education unions have rejected the government's changes on education after taking power last June. These changes include increasing class sizes, the mandatory e-learning courses and reducing per-student funding to boards.

“We can’t allow our students to have less than what they already have in their classrooms,” Ferraro said. “We should be advocating for more.”

“Our kids are doing very well as opposed to what might be out there in the media, which we believe is a bit exaggerated because our students have a lot of options.”

The coalition has been around for “a few months” and they meet “once or twice a month.”

“There is always a new face,” she said. “Our last tailgate party was in Vaughan.”

“We’re going to continue with our work with trying to reach out to as many people in the community to let them the truth about what’s going on in our classes.”

The group doesn’t have an office. Sometimes they meet in public places like libraries or at times at church halls.

“Another reason YCFPE is necessary is because the ‘905’ region requires a voice that fights for the rights of all students to be guaranteed a high-quality public education, regardless of their background, class, academic ability, gender, sexuality or creed,” said Stoby.

“Also, coalition by the very nature of the word means we are united in a common goal and vision.”