Dear editor,
As our son begins Grade 7, how sad we were to discover that Grade 7 band has been quietly removed from the curriculum at most of the elementary schools in the Comox Valley.
It seems that this privilege is now reserved for students the French immersion schools, Ecole Robb Road and Ecole Puntledge. This would be yet another sign of the steady erosion of our school system, n’est ce pas? Last year our daughter was forced to use online distance education when her high school was unable or unwilling to accommodate her for one of her core classes. Is a real teacher in a real classroom now considered optional? How could there be no seat for our daughter, born and raised in B.C., when there were seats occupied by foreign exchange students from all over the globe?
What is going on here? Are we not all still paying a considerable portion of our income tax for a public school system? Do the weeds growing through the curbs and sidewalks at our schools have to appear in the hallways before we stand up as parents and say enough is enough?
Doug Farndon
Courtenay