There will be no classes today for elementary and secondary school children in School District 57.
"Tomorrow, our schools are going to be behind picket lines," said Tina Cousins, the president of the Prince George and District Teachers' Association. "We'll be picketing every school site."
As well, there'll be a picket line in front of the district's main office from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. to ensure other unionized staff employed by the district won't be working – if they honour the picket line. The Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Professional Employees Association have pledged to do so.
"We're planning [for] our membership to meet down at the board office after 4 [p.m.] as a show of solidarity," Cousins said.
School District 57 is one of 15 districts that have teachers out on the picket lines today. The B.C. Teachers' Federation is holding rotating strikes across the province every day this week except for Wednesday as part of their job action. The federation and the provincial government have been negotiating on a new contract for 16 months.
"We're hopeful for a collective agreement that's negotiated at the bargaining table," Cousins said, "and this is our stage two job action in order to put pressure on the government to get that."
Stage one saw teachers refuse to do any work one hour before or after school started.
Brian Pepper, School District 57's superintendent, said he wrote a letter to parents last week warning them about the situation.
"Schools will be closed - I've indicated that and asked parents not to send children to school," he said. "I've also cancelled buses, so [they] will not being running."
There are places where children can go for the day. For instance, the Prince George Public Library's is hosting a free fun and games day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. where children can play board games, ping-pong, Lego and the Wii.
"We're hoping this will be resolved very quickly," said Andrea Palmer, the library's communications co-ordinator, "but if there are any more school closures in School District 57, we will have games and fun things for people to do for free at the library during those days for sure."
The library does ask that parents remain on the premises.
Cousins said the federation's making its job action plans week by week. The next step would be a full strike - which would require a vote of approval from the federation's membership - but that's something no one's talking about yet.
As for the school district, Pepper said their future actions will depend on what the federation chooses to do.
"We will be delighted to see staff and students back at school on Wednesday," he said.
