I knew Id just done one of the most amazing things that I will ever get a chance to do. Just to be a part of a musical and to pull it off and to think that weve done something thats really special.
Scottish-born actor, Gerard Butler
For this year at least, Elsa Sainas will not have the chance to experience the rush of excitement that accompanies a successful theatre performance.
Sainas doesnt live on the North Shore, but the predicament she and 50 of her fellow performers share at Coquitlams Terry Fox secondary is being repeated in schools throughout British Columbia. Extra-curricular sports, concerts and other functions are being curtailed because teachers have no other way to bolster their negotiating position than to withdraw the substantial volunteer contributions they make to the educational system.
So, since last October, the Coquitlam students have been rehearsing for a performance of the musical Legally Blonde which now cannot take place.
Thats because their teacher-director has decided he must take a stand against Bill 22 legislation the B.C. Liberals euphemistically call the Education Improvement Act.
The B.C. Teachers Federation has done little to improve its reputation for employing unrealistic, clumsy-footed strategies to make its case. On the contrary, it could be argued that the BCTF grade-point average dropped even lower when its negotiating team charged out of the gate with a demand for a 15-per-cent wage increase that flew in the face of the provincial government warning to all public sector employees that it would stand pat on a zero increase.
After a year of unproductive bargaining, how Education Minister George Abbott can believe Bill 22 improves education is beyond me.
That is especially so when the bill does nothing to redress what the courts found unconstitutional about the governments 2002 legislation Bills 27 and 28 that took class size and composition off the negotiating table.
Caught in the middle of this immature and costly behaviour are frontline teachers, their students and school administrators.
On hearing the story about the cancellation of Legally Blonde, I wondered whether I knew someone who might be willing to volunteer their theatre experience to pick up where the drama coach had left off and help the students to stage the performance at another location.
Members of the North Shore Light Opera Society came to mind and I wrote to ask whether the idea was feasible. The response from NSLOS president/producer Roger Nelson was not only encouraging, it arrived that same evening. Asking for more details, Nelson said he would definitely try to pursue the idea.
Eagerly awaiting what I thought would be an excited reaction from Coquitlam, I was surprised when the students declined the opportunity. Surprised, that is, until I heard their rationale and realized yet again that we often learn as much about life from the younger generation as they do from the examples adults set.
Explaining that her teacher was unable to talk to the media, Sainas put the case from the students perspective. In a nutshell, the 50-strong cast of Legally Blonde wanted to remain loyal to a teacher and other supporting directors (who) treat us like professionals, but also like their own kids, she began.
Our drama teacher teaches us skills not just for the stage but for life. He has always taught us to stand up for what we believe in . . . for who we are. The least we could do was stand behind him.
The history as Sainas described it was that, in 2007/2008, the school theatre was placed under the management of an outside company even though blueprints obtained by students of the day clearly marked the space as a drama classroom.
As an aside, judging by the experience of North Vancouvers new Sutherland secondary, that may have been the only way the Coquitlam school district could afford to provide theatre space at the Terry Fox school.
Nevertheless, at the end of the battle that ensued, Sainas said agreement was reached that 85 eight-hour units of theatre time would be provided for the whole school, with the rest of the time being rented out to other dance groups, etc.
The replacement drama classroom is now on the opposite side of the school from the theatre, and stage-craft courses are based on the dimmer switch in our portable.
Sainas ended her passionate explanation this way, This show meant a lot to us, especially for the grads. But if we keep beating the odds and making these spectacular, provincial award-winning shows happen, well only be saying, Hey, its OK, keep taking things away, we dont mind which is entirely not true.
Instead, we want to stand up for our teachers, our future careers, our children this (situation) affects all of us.
Truer words were never spoken.
If, as Minister Abbott would have us believe, the government is spending millions more dollars than ever before to educate what he claims is a dwindling student enrolment, we had better find out why.
Because right here on the North Shore, insufficient school budgets have been the alibi for curtailed or cancelled programs, for imminent or accomplished school closures, and for the present turmoil that has erupted from North Vancouver School District #44 plans to sell off what it says are lands surplus to its needs.
One day, Id like to meet the teacher who inspired the entire cast of Legally Blonde to support a person who (has given) so much of himself, financially, personally and work-wise.
My sincere thanks go to Elsa for taking the time to share this story on behalf of the cast and her teacher, and to Roger Nelson for his willingness to do what he could to help. They are all bright lights in a sometimes gloomy world.
