Parents in the South Okanagan will be scrambling to make child-care plans for next week as teachers in both area school districts join their colleagues across B.C. in a three-day strike starting Monday.
Wendy Hyer, superintendent for the Okanagan Skaha School District, said plans are in place for dealing with the strike, but asked parents to co-operate by keeping their children at home or making other care arrangements.
Schools will be open, she said, but school buses will not be running and they will not be able to provide an instructional program for the students with only administrative staff on hand.
“We can’t guarantee adequate levels of supervision,” she said. “The schools will be open, and all schools would have at least one administrator. But one administrator can’t supervise 200 kids.”
A total of 27,946 teachers voted yes in a provincewide vote conducted Tuesday and Wednesday. In all, 32,209 teachers cast ballots, with 87 per cent voting yes.
Teachers have been without a contract since June 2011, with limited job action since the start of the school year. Earlier this week, the B.C. Labour Relations Board approved an escalation in the teachers’ job action, ruling teachers could stage a three-day strike once, as well as a single day per week after the initial walk out.
However, the strike and ongoing job action aren’t expected to last long, after the government introduced legislation Tuesday making any strike by teachers illegal until Aug. 13, and ordering them to return to their full duties.
Along with the lack of classes, the district-wide science fair and the Okanagan Valley concert band festival, planned to start Monday, have been cancelled. Summerland Secondary science teacher Raj Gupta, who organizes the annual science fair, said he is making alternative plans to judge the student’s projects.
“A plan will be in place as soon as we come back to have those projects judged. We are part of a larger chain here,” said Gupta, referring to the regional and national fairs that winning projects move on to.
The City of Penticton is also responding to next week’s strike, offering a range of activities at the Community Centre, including children’s day camps on strike days. The camps will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with leaders supervising games, crafts, sports, swimming and other activities. The daily cost is $29 per child for 6-12 year olds. Limited registration is now available for Monday and can be completed in person, by phone or online. If additional strike days are announced, registration will immediately open for those days as well.
For more information or to register, call 250-490-2432, visit www.penticton.ca or drop by the Community Centre on Power Street.