Track meets cancelled; local schools brace for strike by teachers coming on Wednesday

NEWS/SCHOOLS — A lack of supervisory staff for recess and noon hours today (Monday) and Tuesday means Kamloops elementary school athletes won’t be competing on those two days.

Job action by teachers throughout B.C. has led to rotating strikes this week, including Kamloops on Wednesday.

In a voice message sent out to parents throughout School District 73, Supt. Terry Sullivan said the strike will mean no school for students on Wednesday.

“Although our schools and work sites will remain open on Wednesday, each school and work site will be behind picket lines,” Sullivan said in the voice message.

“Therefore, we will not be able to provide an instructional program or provide for the safe supervision of our students. As a result, classes will not take place on Wednesday and we would advise all parents to keep students at home on that day.”

But even before that, limited job action has led to the cancellation of the elementary 1,500 metre competition slated for today (Monday), and the district elementary track event scheduled for Tuesday.

Sullivan encouraged parents to keep up to date on changes due to the job action by visiting the district’s web site at http://www.sd73.bc.ca or watching for newsletters sent home with students.

He also apologized for the disruptions.

Here’s the complete text of Sullivan’s voice message:

On Tuesday, May 20 we were informed that beginning this week, the British Columbia Teachers Federation will be moving to Stage II of its Job Action Plan. Stage II will involve a number of rotating one-day strikes.

For our district that will mean that teachers will be withdrawing all services on Wednesday, May 28 and installing picket lines at all school and district locations. We expect that support staff will not be crossing picket lines. Although our schools and work sites will remain open on Wednesday, each school and work site will be behind picket lines.

Therefore, we will not be able to provide an instructional program or provide for the safe supervision of our students. As a result, classes will not take place on Wednesday and we would advise all parents to keep students at home on that day.

As part of the escalation of this labor dispute we were informed on Friday afternoon that teachers will not supervise recess or noon hours during the elementary 1500-meter event on Monday and the elementary district track meet scheduled for Tuesday.

Given the additional duties school and district administration have had to assume since this job action began, we will not be able to provide the supervision levels necessary at these events to ensure the safe supervision of the children involved.

Therefore, regretfully, we must cancel both the elementary 1500-meter event scheduled for tomorrow and the elementary district track meet scheduled for Tuesday.

School and district administration will continue to do all we can to manage disruptions to our students. However, it is clear as we move into June and this dispute continues to escalate that we will not be able to assume all the services withdrawn by teachers. We expect as this situation becomes more fluid, it will be necessary to reset our priorities and adjust to changing circumstances.

Therefore, it is important that you monitor regularly our school district website at http://www.sd73.bc.ca to remain current as the job action develops. If you do not have access to the Internet then please monitor carefully the local media and newsletters that come home from your local school. This will also assist school and district administration so they can continue to focus their limited resources in ways that can best meet the needs of our students and ensure their safety.

Finally, I want to apologize to you for these disruptions. I know the consequences are disappointing to many of our students. We will continue to do our best to keep you informed. Thank you for listening. Let us hope that this will come to an end soon.