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