Prince George and District Teachers Association president Matt Pearce used pairs of shoes Tuesday night to give school board trustees a visual idea of the impact the 2002 stripping of teachers' ability to negotiate class size and composition has had on the school district.
In all, 20 pairs of shoes were eventually placed on the desk from where Pearce addressed trustees, each representing a support teacher that would have been hired had the provincial government not made the move.
"That's one elementary councillor," Pearce said when the first pair was put on the table. "That's an elementary librarian ... that's a special learning resources teacher."
The number may not seem like many, Pearce conceded, but has had an impact.
"It doesn't seem like 20 teachers is very much but 20 teachers can have a dramatic effect for thousands of children who this year might not get what they need at some crucial times in their learning," Pearce said.
"And we hope that the government, by at least April this year [when preliminary funding is allocated] will return a legal contract with supportive funding that you need to replace those teachers."
Pearce gave the presentation prior to a report from school district superintendent Brian Pepper that showed nine classes with enrollment over the 30-student limit as of Sept. 16. Five are band classes, three are leadership classes and one is a hockey class and all were deemed appropriate for learning.
Pepper said the number may have dropped since then.
However, Pearce maintained that does not tell the whole story because it does not say how many classes have more than three students on individual education plans, given to pupils facing learning challenges.
Pepper said he was unable to provide the information because the workload has been too heavy in part because of the teacher job action but indicated the number of classes with more than three such students is small relative to the number of classes in the
district.
Tuesday was also the day the B.C. Teachers Federation (BCTF) was back before the B.C. Supreme Court seeking clarification on an April ruling that the legislation is a violation of teachers' constitutional rights.
On Wednesday, Justice Susan Griffin delivered a blow to the BCTF when she refused to clarify the legal ruling, saying it is not the role of the courts to give opinions on hypothetical situations, as presented by the BCTF.
In her original ruling, Griffin gave the B.C. Liberals one year to resolve the conflict.
The teachers are in a legal strike position and were hoping a decision in the union's favour could be used during contract talks.
-- with files from The Canadian Press
