In what the B.C. Public School Employers' Association is calling an illegal strike, public school teachers are not engaging in after-hours activities at their schools and students are suffering the consequences.
Field trips outside of normal school hours are not proceeding, provincial golf and mountain biking seasons have been cancelled, and teachers are contemplating withholding their extracurricular involvement next school year as well, which could put more student activities at risk.
"It's starting to wear on us parents because it's affecting our kids," Don Sabo, chair of the School District 57 District Parent Advisory Council.
"We don't want to see another full year of this. We've been quite patient, it's been a year almost and we want to send a message to the BCTF and the government. Parents aren't going to be too happy if this happens for another full year, next year. It's not good for our kids and it promotes a poor learning environment at school that is affecting their education."
Parents have been asked to get more involved in school events and take over duties formerly handled by teachers, but some are encountering barriers that have left them feeling alienated.
"I am sad to share that recent discussions in an alarming number of our schools in this province are not positive ones," said Ann Whiteaker, president of the B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils.
"Members are reporting that the response to parent offers to volunteer to support their students and school community have been very discouraging, negative and multifaceted. Events [many deep in tradition] planned months in advance are being cancelled and deposits paid being lost due to these cancellations -- citing policies, liability, [and] special certifications as reasons why parents cannot volunteer in the absence of teachers."
To protest the provincial legislation passed in March, which ended their right to strike through to end of the next school year, three weeks ago teachers voted 73 per cent in favour of adopting the B.C. Teachers Federation's recommendation to launch a province-wide action plan and hold back their voluntary duties. In response, BCPSEA applied Wednesday to the B.C. Labour Relations Board to seek an order that would require teachers to perform extracurricular duties.
"In our view, the BCTF's direction to its members to engage in a concerted refusal to perform these duties constitutes an illegal strike in violation of the Labour Relations Code and Education Improvement Act," said BCPSEA, in a four-page letter on its website.
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