All schools, the School Board Office and the SD#19 Maintenance Office in School District # 19 will be behind picket lines this Tuesday, as local teachers join their colleagues across the province in taking a stand for smaller classes, better support for students and a reasonable salary increase.
“Teachers in our community, like teachers across BC, take this job action very seriously,” Jennifer Wolney, president of the Revelstoke Teachers’ Association said in a statement Monday. “As teachers, we care deeply about our students and we empathize with parents who have to re-work their schedules. Many of us are parents too, and that is one of the reasons we are taking this action.”
A major factor that is forcing teachers to step up job action is the government’s refusal to accept the 2011 and 2013 BC Supreme Court rulings that the BC Liberal government acted illegally when it removed the right of teachers to bargain class size and class composition.
As well, BC’s per-student funding is $1,000 per student less than the national average, a level of under funding that has had serious consequences for students, she said, adding that “any extension of the rotating job action will depend on developments at the bargaining table.”
