The fate of this year’s Burnaby school district summer school program is still up in the air despite a B.C. Teachers’ Federation announcement that teachers will picket summer school classes if they can’t reach a deal with the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association by Monday.
Teachers had not taken an official position on summer school before a press conference Wednesday morning, when BCTF president Jim Iker announced the union had decided it would not lift its strike to allow the summer sessions to proceed if a deal isn’t reached.
The employers’ association had said earlier it would lift its lockout during the summer, but Iker said the union had decided against making exceptions for the summer sessions in order to pressure the province on wages, specialist teacher ratios, and class size and composition demands.
“It’s a decision that we didn’t take lightly,” he said.
The Burnaby district, meanwhile, had sent parents a letter Wednesday, saying summer school would be cancelled if the teachers strike continued into the summer
But officials have held off cancelling the program in hopes a resolution can yet be found before July 2, the date secondary school classes are scheduled to begin.
“As we recognize that for many students summer session is an essential part of their learning program, we are waiting to make this decision until the last minute,” states the district’s letter.
Even if teachers and the employers’ association can’t reach a deal in time, there is a chance some classes might still go ahead since the employers’ association has appealed to the Labour Relations Board to have classes for high school students who have failed a course designated an essential service.
That application was set to be reviewed at a case management meeting Wednesday afternoon.
The Burnaby school district has been reluctant to say when exactly it will make its final decision about summer school, but board of education chair Baljinder Narang told the NOW last week it wouldn’t delay the start of secondary classes by more than a week.
