Teachers in North and West Vancouver will take part in a province-wide strike vote that could give approval for a fullscale strike starting June 16. The teachers union announced the move following a decision by the Labour Relations Board Wednesday upholding school boards' abilities to conduct a partial lockout and cut teachers' pay by 10 per cent.
Education Minister Peter Fassbender said Thursday provincial exams will still go ahead and students will still receive their final marks, regardless of any strike. He didn't provide any details on how that would happen.
Rob Millard, president of the West Vancouver Teachers Association, said he expects teachers will be prepared to walk out June 16. Teachers are angry about the speed with which school boards moved to dock their pay.
The prospect of a full-scale strike has raised questions about how exams would be conducted and marked. It has also called some extracurricular activities like graduation ceremonies into question.
North Vancouver parent Randy Hutniak said an honour roll ceremony for students at his daughter's high school has already been cancelled and sports events aren't happening under the terms of the lockout, which restricts teachers presence at school to 45 minutes after classes end.
Hutniak said he and other
parents are feeling frustrated at being caught in the middle of the dispute.
He added he supports teachers on class size and composition, but not on their wage demands.
Hutniak said a full-scale strike just before summer holidays might be easier for some parents to deal with than the uncertainty of the rotating strikes, which he said are "causing havoc."
High school students in North Vancouver added their voices to the debate this week by staging walkouts Wednesday to protest being caught in the middle of the dispute.
"We're in the middle of the fight between the government and teachers and it's not fair on us to be losing our school time," said 14-year-old Jennifer Shannon, a Grade 8 student at Argyle secondary.
About 50 Argyle students walked out of classes Wednesday morning and gathered outside the school entrance with signs bearing slogans like The System is Broken.
Students later marched to North Vancouver-Seymour MLA Jane Thornthwaite's office nearby.
Most of those who were taking part in the walkout said they are more sympathetic to the teachers, and blamed employers for imposing lockout conditions, which they said, are hurting students.
"I went in to talk to one of our counsellors and it was right before the bell was going to ring. He said, 'I'm not allowed to talk to you. I can't help you,'" said Grade 11 student Joelle Majeau. "If I have a question in an important subject like math or science (or) if I have a test coming up, I can't talk to my teacher," she said.
Students added the library has been locked at lunch and they have no access to the Internet to do research during that time.
Grade 11 student Joshua Johnson said the labour disputes between teachers and the province have been
going on "since I was in Grade 2. That was 10 years ago," he said.
The North Vancouver walkout was part of a larger student walkout organized through a Facebook group this week.
In a letter to parents sent out June 3, John Lewis, superintendent of schools for the North Vancouver School District, urged students to stay in school.
In the letter, Lewis said students who take part in unsupervised activities "place students at risk and are disruptive to learning and to the community at large."
Johnson said he thought the letter was "hypocritical."
Rotating strikes are to continue next week with school closures in North and West Vancouver planned for Wednesday.
