Thread by @gingerqueenjen

As promised: my thread on last night's Zoom q&a with new @BCGreens leader @SoniaFurstenau's thoughts on #bced. I'll save the hashtags for the end and unroll the thread when I'm done in case anyone wants to RT. 1/

Sonia was and is disappointed with the @bcndp back-to-school plan bc instead of seeing this as a chance to do things differently and offer alt to in-class learning, she says it's been too much about jamming the situation into existing #bced framework which was already not wkg 2/

As a teacher, Sonia says, when you're trying to teach something, you start from where you want your stds to get to and work backward from there and that's how #bced model should be: look at the needs for young people today and then wk back to figure out how to achieve that. 3/

Sonia says the needs of young people today aren't the same as 20 yrs ago and obv not 80 yrs ago. We need to give them the tools they need to thrive and survive. We need to rethink/rebuild #bced framework so it reflects that, invest deeply in the most imp't things kids need. 4/

Sonia said it's shocking to hear that teachers could be laid off if quotas aren't met. She issued a press release calling on @Rob_Fleming not to make cuts to oper'l funding. It's not good enough to have crowded #bced classrooms at any time but esp not in the time of #covid19bc 5/

Wrt school cohorts, Sonia says it's hard to reconcile being told to keep pers bubbles small yet it's ok for a teacher to have a class of 30 kids and a cohort of 120. She's heard from many teachers/principals that back to school has been unmanageable chaos for the most part. 6/

The concerning rise in #covid19bc case numbers added to the numbers of kids in schools in close contact with each other and teachers mean we're in an even more precarious place with the back to school plan, Sonia says. 7/

Sonia was on the @gvta executive when they were going through the first round of court cases. 8/

The #bced back to school plan shows a lack of visionary imagination of what we could do if we lean into public ed, Sonia says. Teachers know that smaller class sizes are better bc each std will receive more care, attention, education and more of a pers connection with teacher. 9/

On a pers note, Sonia says she got into politics to protect her community. She ref'd team bldg, wkg on issues in a non-partisan way, and community engagement many times in q&a as most effective/efficient ways to achieve positive change & did a lot of this over the past 3 yrs 10/

Sonia said she can def be a mother bear and fiercely protective. She fights for the things that need to be made right. She says if we all lean into this [fight to make BC better], and work together, we can make extraordinary things happen. 11/

Thank you @SoniaFurstenau and @BCGreens for that q&a. You've inspired me. You've def got my vote in this provincial election and I'll work to get you as many more as I can. 12/fin #bced #bcpoli #bcelxn2020 #VoteGreen2020 #GreenIsTheNewOrange #UnsafeSeptember #SafeSeptemberBC

@threadreaderapp unroll please