While students won’t be seeing teachers in extracurricular activities for the remainder of the school year, they will receive their second term report cards by April 27.
BC Labour Relations Board (LRB), in an April 20 decision, ordered teachers to prepare report cards for all students dating back to the beginning of the school year. Letter grades or marks, attendance and comments about student progress must be included in the report cards. Students will also receive their final report cards in June.
Michael Fleming, associate chair of adjudication for LRB, released a five-page decision stating the teachers’ workload would not be “unduly impacted” by completing report cards.
BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) did, however, announce on April 20 the withdrawal of teachers from extracurricular activities, such as sports and graduation ceremonies. Teachers voted 73 per cent in favour of the withdrawal.
Cathy Fisher, president of Powell River and District Teachers’ Association, said she was “a little bit disappointed” with the LRB ruling. “What I was encouraged to see was that they acknowledged the fact that the school districts have the discretion to design student progress reports and they encouraged locals to work in a cooperative manner at the local level to reach mutually agreeable arrangements,” she said. “So we take that to mean that we can sort this out in Powell River and come up with some kind of solution that works and still meets the requirements. It’ll be interesting to sit down with the district and see what their take is on that.”
When asked about the vote results to withdraw from extracurricular activities, Fisher said, “When we as a collective agree to do something we expect that all members will honour that. It’s not like you get to pick and choose.
“Teachers understand that we’ve been backed into a corner here and Bill 22 has wide reaching effects on the future of public education in our province and on our jobs and the way we’re able to do them,” she added. “Teachers have got to take a stand. That’s what we’ve done.”
Local graduation ceremonies at Brooks Secondary School will go forward as planned, even without teachers, said Kathy Rothwell, Brooks principal. “Administrators and parents are going to put it together and it’s going to be as normal. It’s going to be difficult without the teachers. We’d really love to have the teachers involved, but the circumstances are what they are, so we’re going to go ahead and make it the best grad ever.”
Fisher added that while it is not a preferable move for teachers, they support it. “Teachers are concerned about being put in a place where we have to withdraw our volunteer time. We don’t take that decision lightly because a lot of us volunteer at things that make the job personalized for us and a lot more meaningful in some ways.”
On April 18, Fleming rejected the BCTF’s application which requested interim relief from mediation sessions. Fleming said he didn’t see a “critical labour relations purpose” for the relief.
BCTF asked LRB on April 5 to oust appointed mediator Dr. Charles Jago on the premise he is biased and not properly qualified. However, mediation sessions have been scheduled in April and May while the BCTF awaits a ruling on its request.
