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October 28, 2019 Announcement: Charter Schools As A Pressure Relief Valve  To: 3 registered canvassers, 42 reporters and commentators; 28 trustee candidates and trustees; 38 of the many voters who are very concerned about our "one-size-fits-all" school boards; and 75 generally interested folks including members of the Social Mavrik Federation. From: Bob Bray, Charter School Petition Proponent Disclaimer: If you want your email address removed from my list, please reply to this email with "No more" in the subject line. This copy of my announcement is sent to the email inbox of:

CAMPBELL RIVER: Bob Bray, proponent of the province-wide petition titled "Initiative to Allow the Voluntary Formation of Twenty Charter Schools", is pleased to unveil a new measure of unhappiness with school boards. He also describes charter schools as a way for the public school system to meet the preferences of many unhappy parents - a pressure relief valve.

Pressure Relief for Unhappy Parents

What can an unhappy parent do? A widely accepted cultural consensus about what should be taught in schools has existed until recently. The three R's, reading, writing, arithmetic and history, geography, social studies, science and physical education - all of these subjects and a few more are highly regarded by the overwhelming majority of parents and taxpayers. On the other hand, sex education has been controversial over the years and objecting parents are accommodated by allowing their children to skip the sex education lessons. The new gender studies lessons are also controversial but they are integrated into reading, writing and social studies lessons so that it is impossible for students to skip presentations that include sex change topics to a lesser or greater degree.. Our school boards have a problem meeting the preferences of parents who object to their children being taught from the sex change lesson plans that have been approved for use in K-12 classrooms. Since there is no obvious way to accommodate parents in their neighborhood school and because the cultural consensus around proper subjects has broken down, what can a parent do? A parent can try to mitigate the damage. The parent can talk to their child's teacher about the sex change lesson plans that will be taught by him or her. If the teacher's professional approach to age appropriateness is not acceptable to the parent, the parent can discuss the matter with the principal. If not resolved at the school level, a complaint form can be completed and submitted to the Board for its consideration. If the parent finds that their public neighborhood school cannot really accommodate their wishes for their child's education they may feel forced to give up on public education. The pressure from these dynamic conditions will only grow more intense over time if there remains no hope for a way that the public system could be modified to accommodate these parents. And luckily there is a proven method available. The pressure can be relieved by allowing the formation of independent public charter schools. Alberta has developed this solution for 25 years. The charter school principal could hire teachers with an age appropriate approach to the gender studies curriculum and could easily fire teachers who are overly zealous in its implementation. The current extent of parental unhappiness has been approximately measured by votes cast in the 2018 trustee election for trustees who appeared to be standing against the use of the sex change lesson plans.

22% of Parents are Unhappy with use of Sex Change Lesson Plans in K-12 Reading and Writing Classes

‌	Unhappiness with Sex Change Lesson Plans

Trustee Electoral Area 2018 Ballots Accepted Unhappy Voters Unhappy Rate

City of Vancouver 173,408 21,765 13%

City of Surrey 110,101 19,793 18%

City of Burnaby 49,302 15,622 31%

City of Richmond 47,392 12,266 26%

City of Coquitlam 23,665 4,792 20%

City of New Westminster 14,368 2,928 20%

Langley Township 25,071 9,379 37%

City of Langley 4,833 1,962 41%

Greater Abbotsford 32,914 12,388 38%

Greater Chilliwack 23,830 9,226 39%

City of Kelowna 31,814 11,542 36%

District of Lake Country 2,791 1,472 53%

Nanaimo, Ladysmith 37,518 6,003 16%

Black Creek, Merville 1,409 268 19%

Greater Campbell River 7,269 2,036 28%

Total 585,685 131,442 22%

Detailed information about the School Boards represented by the above Trustee Electoral Areas can be seen by clicking on the underlined area name.

Methodology used for the 22% measurement

During the 2018 School Trustee election there were 45 trustee candidates who appeared to be publicly against the use of sex change lesson plans for reading, writing and social studies subjects. These 45 candidates campaigned in 14 out of 60 school board elections and 10 were elected. Trustees are elected on a preferential ballot that can include more than one trustee candidate name. This means that each voter has up to 7 votes and in some cases up to 9 votes. To count the number of "Unhappy Voters" only the votes for the highest vote-getter in a particular electoral area who appeared to stand against the use of sex change lesson plans were used. To determine the total number of voters who participated in each electoral area, the number of ballots accepted for the mayoralty candidates was used. This number is the maximum possible number of trustee ballots. The main source for this information is the Civic Info website. For counting the Greater Campbell River trustee ballots a copy of the Trustee Election Ballot Account for each of the 11 advance voting and regular voting poll stations was obtained from the Strathcona Regional District. The "Unhappy Rate" results from dividing the number of unhappy voters by the maximum number of ballots accepted and expressing the quotient as a percentage.

Canvassers Wanted

If you think our school system can be gradually reformed through competition from local, spontaneous and professionally innovative pedagogy, you can register your support for independent public charter schools as a canvasser. The current list of registered canvassers on the Elections BC website can be seen here.

Click on this blue "button" to view the canvasser application form.Then use its print icon and mail the completed and signed form to: Bob Bray, Proponent, 422-1434 Ironwood Street, Campbell River, BC V9W 5T5

Click on this "button" to request a copy of canvasser application form by email

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Contact:

Bob Bray, Initiative Petition Proponent Phone: 250-900-2422 Mail: 422-1434 Ironwood Street, Campbell River, British Columbia V9W 5T5 Email: bob.bray@socialmavrikbc.ca Website: socialmavrikbc.ca

The Social Mavrik Federation is a registered society in British Columbia dedicated to cultural politics through endorsing MP / MLA / Trustee candidates and supporting initiative petitions, as directed by its members.

Facebook:

I have posted the image below on my Facebook page. I invite you to visit it at facebook.com/bob.bray.334 and, if you do, you are welcome to give it a like, and/or a share and/or a comment.

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Backgrounder:

The October 21st Announcement that identified a gap in independent school choice can be seen here.

The October 14th Announcement that compared neighborhood and charter schools on the basis of leadership, answered the question "is a charter schools the same as a private school?", plus described the Go Public Strategy, can be seen here.

The October 7th Announcement that provided an education comparison of neighborhood and charter schools, plus described the School Act and the Independent School Act, can be seen here.

The September 30th Announcement that introduced the Canvasser Action Binder, described 25-year history of Charter Schools in Alberta and listed the 13 Alberta Charter Schools can be seen here.

The September 23rd Announcement that introduced the Couple Signing at Home Method, postponed the Opposed Signing Alternative, described how legislative petitions are unique to BC, and explained Charter Schools can be seen here.