by Kyle Wells [email protected] Job action by BC teachers continues as the 2011-2012 school year approaches the usual time for first report cards and parent-teacher interviews.
At the School District 47 Board of Education meeting of Tuesday, October 18, Jay Yule, district superintendent of schools, said that he disagrees with remarks made by Powell River and District Teachers’ Association President Cathy Fisher to the Peak in September. Fisher said that by not having to spend time on administrative tasks the teachers are actually more focused on students and the job action has not compromised their education.
“I wouldn’t necessarily agree that the job action has been good for students,” said Yule. “We understand why there’s job action and what teachers feel they need to do. However, we do see it as disruptive.”
Yule said that teachers should be commended for doing as good a job as they can while fulfilling the mandate of the strike action. Despite this, Yule said he would rather see a situation where administrators and teachers are able to work together.
A press release from the association on Friday, October 21 provides an update on the status of the job action. The press release addresses comments made by George Abbott, minister of education, concerning legislating teachers back to work because parents are not receiving details of their child’s progress.
While neither formal report cards nor formal parent-teacher conferences will go ahead as they would in most school years, teachers are still contacting parents if they have concerns. Conversely, Fisher said that parents are more than welcome to call their child’s teacher and arrange a meeting to discuss their child’s progress. The difference is that teachers will not be taking part in formal, mandated administrative tasks.
“The kids are just absolutely not being affected,” said Fisher. “Teachers are doing their job, they’re doing more than their job and they’re totally focused on kids.”
She said that she disagrees with Yule’s assessment of the situation and maintains that the job action is not disrupting education.
Yule said that having parent-teacher meetings, whether formal or informal, is important and he knows teachers feel the same way. He said he is concerned about the lack of formal report cards and is looking at options for developing a solution.
