Teachers give KISSM a green light

NEWS — The Kamloops Interior Summer School of Music received a lifeline from Kamloops teachers today — it won’t be picketed.

Executive director Kim Mangan of KISSM said the Kamloops-Thompson Teachers Association has given the event assurances it won’t put up a picket line during the three-week summer music program scheduled for July 7-25.

The program, which has been offered for 36 years, uses Beattie School of the Arts, JP campus and South Kamloops secondary. The B.C. Teachers Federation has vowed to continue its strike into the summer, and KISSM was faced with the possibility of having to cancel for this year.

Kamloops-Thompson school district Chair Denise Harper raised the issue at a board meeting Monday night, but a KTTA spokesperson said Tuesday a decision hadn’t been made on what to do about nonprofits running programs out of schools.

The issue was expected to come up at a KTTA executive meeting Wednesday night but when Mangan checked this morning it still hadn’t been resolved. She then spoke with KTTA president Jason Karpuk and “he went to bat for me,” she said. “He came through for us.”

The decision means teachers won’t picket “independent third parties” using school district facilities.

“I’m really relieved right now,” Mangan told The Armchair Mayor News.

She said there’s still a challenge to bring registrations up to the minimum number of 220 needed to meet budget, however. The uncertainty over KISSM’s status has “severely” affected registration numbers, she said.

The expected total this year was 250 and normally there would be well over 200 students registered by now but there are currently only 198. She’s hopeful the KTTA decision will spur registrations.