LRB asked to make exams and report cards essential services

Posted on June 6, 2014 in Schools // 0 Comments

NEWS/ SCHOOLS — The Labour Relations Board is being asked to declare Grade 10 to 12 exams and report cards as essential services.

Debbie Taylor and Brandi Rusk on the line at KSS campus.

On the picket line.

A letter from lawer Eric Harris on behalf of the B.C. Public School Employers Association to the board, sent today (Friday), asks for the designation.

The letter said the basis for the application is “the serious and immediate damage” that would be caused to education programs of secondary students if they can’t finish their exams, get them marked and receive final grades.

In Grade 12, graduation and registration at universities is at stake, said the letter. Depriving them of that “would clearly threaten the welfare of these students.”

Grades 10 and 11 students need the assessments to determine if they’re ready to move to the next grade, said the letter. Final grades based only on work to date may skew grade results “unfairly,” resulting in potentially inaccurate and unfair assessments of their progress.

B.C. Teachers Federation members will vote Monday and Tuesday on whether to escalate their rotating walkouts into a full-scale strike.