A behind-closed-doors decision by the previous school board to give non-union staff five additional days off to make up for the extra time they've put in during the teachers' job action is not sitting well with Prince George and District Teachers Association president Matt Pearce.
"It's a nice parting shot from the departing board," Pearce said Monday and referred to a B.C. Supreme Court decision that found the provincial government violated teachers bargaining rights in 2002 when it took class sizes off the negotiating table.
"We've been doing extra work for a decade under an illegal contract that they've been maintaining and they didn't see fit to recognize any of that, but three months in, their administrators are worthy of a fairly substantial reward."
Pearce, who said he first heard about the concession through the media, understands the time off will be taken on non-instructional days when there are no students in the schools, but estimates the time off will amount to $200,000 in time not worked.
School board trustee Trish Bella confirmed the decision was made by the previous board when reached Monday, but refused to provide further detail.
"The difficult part was, it was an in-camera meeting so I really can't talk much about what happened... I can say it was something done in recognition of that added work," Bella said.
Both school board superintendent Brian Pepper and secretary-treasurer Brian Mix decline to confirm the decision was made, saying it's a personnel issue that's dealt with in-camera. However, Pepper added he won't deny the break was given and stressed before- and after-school supervision will not be impacted.
Pepper also said school district principals, vice-principals and administrators have put in significant amounts of extra time supervising schools when students arrive in the morning and when they leave at the end of the day, because teachers are refusing to provide the service.
"We have roughly under a hundred people right now who have been called into the service to do supervision where we would normally have over 800 people doing it," Pepper said.
For example, Pepper said he's supervising Duchess Park four afternoons a week, which takes an hour out of his day, and one afternoon in Hixon, which takes at least two hours but sometimes more depending on road conditions. He's also on call for morning supervision.
Mix said when school district employees, including non-union staff, put in extra time, the school district is obligated to compensate them in the form of either overtime or time in lieu. Five days off will fall well short of making up for the extra time non-union staff has put in because of the job action, he also said.
The school district is also paying out about an extra $2,000 a month in mileage.
Lyn Hall, the previous school board chair, did not return a request for comment. Current school board chair Sharel Warrington was in Vancouver and could not be reached for comment.
