The First Day of School

I recall my first day as a teacher like it was yesterday. Even though it was over 28 years ago, I remember it extremely well. I remember what I wore, the names of all the students in my class (I can still recite their names to this day), the bulletin boards I put up around the room, and the first things I said to them that morning. It was an exciting time. And while I don't remember all of the subsequent 27 start-ups since, I know each were special in their own way.

I have always been one of those people who over-prepares for the first day of school. I took it seriously that my students (and later my staff) would be looking forward to that first day with a similar level of nervous anticipation, so I put extra care into making it a good day. While some people liked to go away for the Labour Day weekend, I tended to stay close to home and work on final preparations. This was true when I was a teacher, and continued when I became an administrator. I do this now as superintendent. There was always something more to do to ensure that things were ‘just so’ for the first day of the school year.

For those of you in the system who are like me, and carry a healthy level of anticipation for the start of school, it is a gross understatement to say that this year has been painfully different. Twenty-seven Septembers after my first year as an educator, I, along with numerous people around our province, experienced something I never thought I would see: no school during the week after Labour Day. The labour dispute has certainly been a difficult situation for this entire province. For the last four months, the entire country has been looking westward with wonder and concern as we struggled through this situation. I know our teachers have struggled, our support staff have been placed in a difficult position, and our families have been frustrated. And yes, even members of our government have found this difficult.

None of us wanted this. We all know that our students suffer the most during this time, and should remember that when our public education system ceases to nurture the next generation of leaders and citizens, we all fall short of what society expects of us.

Notwithstanding these difficult times, I think British Columbia needs to win the day with a level of optimism that will take us past these circumstances to focus on a brighter day. It will start with our first day and first week of school next week. Administrators will get our schools prepared for their staff. Teachers will begin to prepare their lessons for the current year. Support staff will have readied the buildings and classrooms. Parents will get their children ready the night before. Next week, thousands of expectant students will rush through the front doors of our schools and into their classrooms. This startup will not be the same as the others we have experienced, but I think our entire community welcomes the return to normalcy no less.

We must now turn our attention more squarely to the young people we are committed to serving. None of us will forget the fact that school did not start on time in September 2014. I know I won't. But hopefully this experience will put us in a better place to build the kind of education system we all aspire to have.