The Burnaby school board and teachers’ union both say the district could be up and running at a moment’s notice despite warnings from a provincial parent organization that school startup in the province will be delayed if the teachers’ labour dispute isn’t resolved by Aug. 25.
B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils president Nicole Makohoniuk told the CBC she didn’t think classes could begin in September if teachers and the provincial government couldn’t strike a deal in the next two weeks because class lists wouldn’t be ready and teachers wouldn’t be prepared to teach.
Burnaby Teachers’ Association president Rae Figursky said that was “ridiculous.”
“Textbooks are going to be in a mess for secondary, timetables are in a mess, rooms won’t be set up quite the way we’d like them to be, people who are moving into buildings can’t, but if there was a deal Sept. 1, we could be at work Sept. 2,” she told the NOW. “For kids it probably wouldn’t look any different. We’d be looking even more tired than we normally are on the first day back, but we can make it work.”
Figursky said the first few days of September are usually full of adjustments even in normal years, and the preparation teachers usually do in summer is volunteer.
“I’m sorry if administrators can’t do the job they’re supposed to do, but they can be in there working,” she said.
Board of education chair Baljinder Narang said she sympathizes with parents who feel they need to make childcare plans for September in case startup is delayed, but she said it was “speculation” to conclude schools won’t open in time if a deal isn’t reached in the next two weeks.
“We are preparing as we would,” she said. “If the teachers are able to ratify (an agreement), I think we would get the schools open and we would work with whatever we have. It may not be all systems go on the first day, but it would be getting the systems to work. I’m optimistic; it’s do-able.”
A lot of what happens next month will depend on when teachers and the province ratify an agreement and what the terms of that agreement are, Narang said.
She said the agreement might include language about startup dates or class size and composition that would directly impact class lists and school openings.
“There are more questions and hardly any answers,” she said. “And that’s the situation we’ve been in all summer.”
The B.C. Teachers’ Federation and provincial negotiators are back at the bargaining table this week, resuming talks last Friday after weeks of no meetings between the two sides.
The province enraged teachers earlier this month by announcing parents would get $40 a day for each child under the age of 13 for childcare if the contract dispute lasted into September.
BCTF president Jim Iker called the move, which would be funded by money saved by not paying teachers during the strike, “divisive.”
The main issues in the labour battle, which began with limited work-to-rule action by teachers in April, include wages, class size and class composition.
