Wednesday, January 16, 1985 Newsstand Price 40° Vol. 48, No. 2 FeiBUNE The anger of parents around. British _ Columbia continues to boil over the Socred s0vernment’s wholesale dismantling of public education, but the spontaneity of their actions is being replaced by regional _ 4nd province wide organizing. Together with trustees and teachers, local _ Parents organizations are planning several large rallies and workshops on Vancouver Island and in the Lower Mainland this Month and February. _ _ And in Vancouver, the Defend Educa- _ onal Services Coalition has funded a noted { ia! activist to aid districts around B.C. (© organize effective actions to halt the ; layoffs and class closures. 4there’s tremendous need to co- ' Ordinate all those activities, and help parent Tory gov't grilled over U.S. war plan groups outside the Lower Mainland organ- ize. They don’t always know where to start, and we'd like to save them six-seven years of effort,” DESC. organizer Chris Taulu reports. Taulu, a district parent representative on the Vancouver School Board’s school con- sultative committee for several years, said parent uprisings against the Education Min- istry’s cuts have appeared “‘all over the pro- vince.” The VSB’s school consultative commit- tee members began organizing against the Socred’s “restraint” program in education almost two years ago, before parents in most other districts became aware of the impact of the cuts. The committee’s structure is well-suited Bruce Yorke of the Committee of Progressive Electors greets supporter during weekend canvass and leafletting of Vancouver organized by the ‘COPE-unity’ campaign backing the three-times elected alderman in his byelection bid for Vancouver city council. The campaign, the result of an unprecedented unity among the city’s progressive forces, is now in full gear with a nightly telephone canvass and preparations for the big ‘E-day’ effort on Feb. 2. Story on page 2. to the current fightback. Divided into four district parent groups, its elected representa- tives sit on board subcommittees and have input into school trustees’ decisions. As such, it provides a good model for other long-standing or embryonic parent groups forming to combat Socred “res- traint.” That’s where DESC, the coalition of campus and school unions and teachers associations, formed more than two years ago, comes in. “There’s probably about 10 different lev- els of organization (among parent groups),” said Taulu. “In West Vancouver, there’s been an organizing committee of parents for years. Surrey has the same district coun- cil system as Vancouver, but the members don’t serve on school board committees. — page 3 Court case, pro-lifers inflame abortion debate — page 7 — Nicaragua: echoing children’s appeal — for peace page 9— “Up north (around Terrace) parents are organizing, but they don’t have the resour- ces we (in the Lower Mainland) have,” she explained. Taulu, who started her job 1% weeks ago, has travelled around Vancouver Island and other parts of the province in her effort to “network” the various parent groups. Additionally, a newsletter is in the works The Vancouver parent activist, once a Socred supporter herself, received funding from DESC at her initiative after she became swamped with calls from parents around B.C. seeking aid for their organizing efforts. Actions can include organizing public information meetings, letter-writing, calling see RALLIES page 11