We have found it difficult to find the time necessary to contribute a blog on a regular basis – just like all teachers, the “busyness” of our job sometimes forces us to prioritize and somehow the blog has fallen way down on our list of jobs.
Certainly the job action – and answering questions, meeting with members, and looking for answers has filled our days. We are beginning our sixth month of the job action, and we have maintained our actions have ensured parents and students face very little disruption in their school experience. We have been commended in public for this, and we believe that teachers have become more aware of the amount of voluntary activities to which we contribute every year. We have been teaching what we enjoy teaching, participating in extracurricular activities and ensuring student progress is reported to parents.
The BCTF has recently released some very good advertisements regarding our job action, and we have been attending provincial meetings to ensure members’ voices are heard. The next few weeks will likely move us towards further discussions, and we will ensure the opportunity to speak to all members happens.
One of the concerning issues of the strike is the inequity which is occurring when rulings by the LRB are made around such things as supervision or government exam marking. Because most of the CVTA schools are termed “remote” from the Board Office, we do not see excluded staff providing supervision or providing markers for exams. We are challenged by this – if there are district principals, or directors who are paid to work throughout the local, why are we not seeing them in our schools? We always state that it is the Board Office which is “remote” – moved from the location right beside our office through amalgamation ten years ago.
The decision by our Board to direct teachers at PCSS to mark was a dark day for us. Thank you to those of you who wore black on that day. At least one photo is posted for your enjoyment.
On another fiery note – we have had the opportunity to sort through documents which survived the fire. We have rescued many, and others are now being thawed and dried. We have started to purchase essential items for the office, and we believe there have been some quotes provided for reconstruction of the office. More to follow on this issue…hopefully in a timelier manner than this post!
(Originally Posted by Becky on February 7, 2012)
