Provincial exams almost over, still no fix for teachers’ dispute

NEWS/ SCHOOLS — The last day of provincial exams is Tuesday and the Kamloops-Thompson school district has gotten through it, but it’s highly unlikely students will be issued report cards, says superintendent Terry Sullivan.

“We were able to cover it,” he told trustees Monday night at a board meeting. Administrators including Sullivan have done most of the supervision for the exams, and certified educational assistants came in to assist with exams for special needs kids.

Wednesday, the marking begins. “All of us will be deployed,” Sullivan said of those administrators certified as teachers. But he said, “It’s very unlikely we’ll be able to issue any report cards as long as the strike continues. We don’t have any capacity.”

He said if the strike continues through the summer, he would expect a Labour Relations Board ruling making report cards an essential service.

A decision must also be made this week on summer school, said Sullivan.

As of Monday, the B.C. Teachers Federation and the B.C. Public School Employers Association were not meeting in contract negotiations, and no meetings were planned. Attempts to find a mediator so far have failed.

“It’s very unlikely we will see the end of this dispute before the end of the school year,” Sullivan said.

Assistant superintendent Karl DeBruijn said schools have been cleared of anything that would pose a health hazard or safety concern, such as decaying lunches in student lockers and chemicals in laboratories.

“I don’t think there would be anything in there that would be dangerous right now.”