Union Boss Says Goodbye
Prince George, B.C. – Prince George District Teachers Association (PGDTA) President Tina Cousins bid an emotional farewell at last night’s Prince George School Board meeting, the final of the school year.
On June 30, she finishes her second, and final year, on the job.
Cousins quoted Charles Dickens, describing her two years at the helm as “the best of times, and the worst of times.”
She said the worst of times included last year’s 23 day strike and the 10 percent rollback, noting it was “financially overwhelming” for many.
But Cousins also said “It was the cost of standing up for public education.”
Fighting back tears, she said the best of times included working with teachers throughout the district.
“Teachers are fantastic people and I’ll miss working for them. I wouldn’t have met these people unless I was the PGDTA president.”
Cousins will return to the classroom as a primary school teacher at Vanway Elementary in September.
She will be replaced by Richard Giroday.
Comments
Makes it sound like the 10 percent rollback was forever, it was only during the work to rule and denial of service that the rollback was in effect.
She was replaced on April 27 as she didn’t run again. Surprising that the employer would invite her to tell them something they already knew.
But Cousins also said “It was the cost of standing up for public education.”
———-
I got a good chuckle out of this statement.
Thank you for your years of service to your fellow employees! Whether people agree or not with the BCTF, you did a great service to your organization, with many hours of time away from family and friends. You did a great job and will be missed by all the school community in this District. Enjoy your rest!!!! Thank you again :-)
Tina Cousins? Matt Pearce? Irene Lanzinger? Jim Iker? Where on earth does the BCTF find these people?
Oh, yeah, right, they conduct a search for the biggest whiner! Congratulations, you win!!
Thank you for all the work you did to stand up for public education. Our children will gain a great deal, both from the classroom education, but also that one can stand up to bullies. Thank you!
“With its high levels of educational achievement and attainment, Finland is regarded as one of the world’s most literate societies. Education has always been an integral part of Finnish culture and society, and teachers currently enjoy great respect and trust in Finland. Finns regard teaching as a noble, prestigious profession—akin to medicine, law, or economics—and one driven by moral purpose rather than material interests.”
https: //edpolicy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/secret-finland%E2%80%99s-success-educating-teachers.pdf
Thank you Tina for all your hard work and dedication, judging by the crass comments on here you can tell we are not Finland, but perhaps one day we will get there.
Nokia is from where ? Blackberry is from where ? Thank you for trying to educate us all . It’s unbelievable how much has been lost in our eduction systems since I was a boy in your care . It’s unbelievable that our idiot leaders can just ignore the United Nations declaration of human rights and its mandate on education . The biggest difference between us and Finland is that the government of Finland does not ignore it and goes further because they understand that the most valuable resources are their people young and old . Educational industrial complex is just the dumbest thing you can do . Merit based post secondary works the best . Unless everyone is enjoying the idiotocracy that is being created before our very eyes . First they came for the scientists .
And cue Hart Guy’s typical union bashing comment.
Canadian teacher salaries are substantially higher than Finland’s teachers salaries!
Canadian teachers also work fewer hours than Finland’s teachers each week!
I know that I’m not shedding any tears for our teachers. Sophie and Ataloss, I’m sure that you are shedding more than enough for the rest of us!
Salaries: http: //www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/teachers-salaries_teachsal-table-en
Hours of work: http: //www.worldsalaries.org/teacher.shtml
(remove the spaces after http:)
Careful Sophie, your last comment was hurtful and you came extremely close to hurting my feelings!
You might have to come give me a hug to make me feel better!
Nokia is from where ? – Finland
Blackberry is from where ? – Waterloo, Ontario
I’ll take sports for $300 Peeps….
You are missing the point Hart Guy, what you, and everyone else, should be wondering about is how did I know the next comment after mine would be yours?
Perhaps you are psychic?
I suggest that perhaps my comment came right after your comment because somehow I just knew that you would be here extolling the virtues of our grossly overworked and obscenely underpaid teachers. Looks like I might also be psychic! Wow!!
In any event, somebody had to put forth the “facts and truths” that you demand. Funny thing is, you’re not a fan of the “facts and truths” when the “facts and truths” don’t support your point of view!
Hart guy, facts how do you spell that.
Cheers
Retired 02, haven’t seen many posts from you lately! Was worried that you might have passed away! Glad to see that all of my worrying was for naught!
Cheers!
….anybody else notice that Sophie and Ataloss are ignoring my comments and links showing how well off our Canadian teachers are when compared to those in Finland??
I’m not ignoring your links or comments at all hart guy but we covered this already or don’t you remember ? If not . You can’t compare the two societies because one side of the equation is a bald faced liar . One must take into account that all levels in government call taxes ,disingenuously , fees, dues, premeiums , user fees , tickets , service fees , and on and on . Then there is vacation time . School year . Also the business , government services , school integration . Then there is child care , the treatment of women and their needs . It’s an apples and ( I can’t come up with a polite term for our system ) thing , argument.
Sports for 300 ! Who is the leading scorer in the woman’s Fifa World Cup 2015 .
Nobody from Canada or Finland ;)
Who are the German pair of Mittag and Sasic with 5 each.
Now lets play for your stash Alex.
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