1184 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

For the most part, there is not much sense in kids going to our type of school under 12 or 13 year old today.

 

And in some parts of Canada we pay teachers $110,000 a year to teach 1st grade.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 April 2025 - 10:11 AM.

[Tony]

What do you mean by our type of schools? What are the other types?

 

Do you have a pay percent scale suggestion based on the grade taught in elementary, secondary, community college, university?

 

If you have one it would be interesting what criteria you base it upon.

[Mike K.]

Oh dear.

🔹36-year-old Victoria teacher arrested for child exploitation, police allege; police seeking additional victims🔹

A Victoria-area school teacher is facing multiple charges related to exploitation of multiple underage pupils, Saanich Police allege. The 36-year-old woman has been charged with sexual exploitation and ‘telecommunicate to lure a child under eighteen,’ police say, while additional victims are being sought. More from Saanich Police:

In Early 2024, the Saanich Police Department’s Special Investigations Section (SIS) received information alleging that a female teacher in the Greater Victoria School District had engaged in sexual interactions with students. A criminal investigation was launched once a victim was identified.

During the initial investigation, additional alleged victims were identified, leading to a second separate investigation.

On February 15, 2024, SIS officers arrested 36-year-old Marnie Burnham, who also taught under the name Marnie Forin. Burnham/Forin has since been charged with five offenses under the criminal code: three counts of sexual exploitation and two counts of telecommunicate to lure a child under eighteen. She is currently awaiting trial and has been released with several conditions which include no contact with her alleged victims, not to be on school property, and no contact with anyone under the age of eighteen.

We want to thank those who have come forward for their bravery. Our investigators believe there may be more who have yet to do so.

If you, or someone you know, had contact with Marnie Burnham/Forin before December 2024, are under the age of eighteen, and that contact was of a sexual nature, our investigators would like to speak with you.

[Mike K.]

SD61 issued a statement saying the woman’s activities are related to Oak Bay and Mount Doug high schools.

[Victoria Watcher]

Parent groups are planning a rally Monday at the legislature to raise awareness of what organizers call a “crisis” in education funding.

 

It’s being led by B.C. Families for Public Education, made up of concerned parents and caregivers, as well as parents from the Kamloops-Thompson School District.

 

The rally, set for 2:30 p.m., is also drawing support from a group called the DPAC Coalition, consisting of members of district parent-advisory councils around the province.

 

“From overcrowded classrooms to cut programs and underfunded supports, students across the province are paying the price of inaction,” rally supporters said in a social-media post.

 

They say the Monday event will be a peaceful, family-friendly effort to urge the provincial government “to start delivering a real plan to fund public education fairly and fully.”

 

Parents attending are urged to bring empty backpacks labelled with what they think is missing from their children’s classrooms.

 

 

https://www.timescol...cation-10705594

[phx]

 

overcrowded classrooms

 

 

 

What is the average student/teacher ratio these days?

[LJ]

Not enough. Double the number in the classroom and you can have a teacher and an aide in each room.

[lanforod]

Not enough. Double the number in the classroom and you can have a teacher and an aide in each room.

 

You actually think that class sizes should be bigger? No way. This is one point that I agree with the BCTF on. Class sizes should be small. Smaller classes = better outcomes at all levels of schooling, from preschool all the way to graduate school.

[Victoria Watcher]

It depends on the behaviour level.  

[LJ]

You actually think that class sizes should be bigger? No way. This is one point that I agree with the BCTF on. Class sizes should be small. Smaller classes = better outcomes at all levels of schooling, from preschool all the way to graduate school.

Most of their classes should be done online, one teacher, hundreds of students.

[Tony]

Not a lot of research on class size and student achievement. Especially if there is to be an optimal size per grade level.

 

There are many other factors beside class size that affect student outcomes. Class size is just the easiest to measure so is used most often.

[lanforod]

It’s also common sense.

[Victoria Watcher]

The San Francisco Unified School District will not be moving forward with a controversial equity grading strategy that was proposed this week after significant backlash.

The strategy, known as "Grading for Equity," was presented during a SFUSD Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, according to Superintendent Maria Su, with the goal of offering "professional development opportunity in standards-based grading."

Under the proposed standards, how a student scores on the final exam, which could be taken multiple times, would be what counts toward their grade for the semester, according to the Voice of San Francisco.

Homework and weekly tests would not impact the grade, and neither would late assignments, tardiness to class or absence from school.

https://www.foxnews....-from-community

The letter-grade system would also be significantly altered, allowing students who score an 80 to receive an A and students who score as low as a 21 to pass with a D, which models the "Grading for Equity" system in the San Leandro Unified School District, Voice of San Francisco reported.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 29 May 2025 - 01:12 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Spectrum school invites alumni for Friday event marking 50 years

 

Share stories with former classmates and teachers during the event, set for 6-10 p.m. Friday at the West Burnside Road school.

https://www.timescol...-years-10728358

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 29 May 2025 - 10:51 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

A Vancouver high school teacher has been suspended after his pup fetish identity and a messaging channel where he shares **rnographic content were discovered online, raising questions about where the line lies between teachers’ personal lives and professional expectations.

 

“I’m not doing anything illegal, I’m not doing anything that is hurting anyone, or that interferes with my job — the issue is their stigma, their bias,” said Daniel Gore.

 

 

https://vancouversun...-content-online

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 May 2025 - 10:28 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 19 June 2025 - 10:16 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

A Nanaimo mother is upset by what she found at a school-sanctioned event—drug use information cards.

 

Ruth Taylor says the cards were inappropriate for school-aged students.

 

The mom collected six of the cards while at a school pride event attended by her 10-year-old child on Tuesday.

 

“Always start on the lowest end and work your way up until you find your dose,” she read from a card, explaining how to use GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate) which is also known as the date rape drug.

 

It was organized by the secondary schools’ Gay Straight Alliance clubs and sponsored by teacher volunteers.

 

“It was inclusive and happy and fun and safe,” Taylor says of the event.

 

 

https://cheknews.ca/...-event-1262536/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 23 June 2025 - 10:24 AM.

[LJ]

[aastra]

Shocking and unexpected.

[Victoria Watcher]

But Taylor says the cards aren’t sufficient, nor accurate with its warnings around instant overdose, contamination with fentanyl and in laying out the risk and impacts of drug addiction.

“This is not harm reduction. This is the proliferation of harm. If you’re literally handing out materials that describe in great detail how to do drugs to elementary school children. It’s shocking,” she says.

Taylor adds that she doesn’t believe these cards are appropriate for any community event in Nanaimo, and she hopes going forward, AVI will be much more careful in the materials it distributes.

 

https://cheknews.ca/...-event-1262536/

 

 

 

She is right.