Students in the Cariboo Chilcotin are going to get a long weekend courtesy of the ongoing dispute between teachers and the B.C. government.
The B.C. Teachers’ Federation notified school districts Wednesday it will continue rotating strikes around the province next week, as negotiations to settle their long-running dispute over pay and staffing levels continues.
The strike is coming to School District 27 Monday, June 2, and has Superintendent Mark Thiessen asking parents once again to keep their children at home.
Also, most programs will not be running in district schools Monday, such as all StrongStart programs, before and after-school daycares, or use by community user groups (on a rotating strike day, pickets are considered to be up from midnight to midnight). Full-day daycares which lease space in school facilities may be operating on this day. Parents should call providers to confirm.
Besides the rotating strikes, students are being impacted locally by the government lockout of teachers, which prevents teachers from talking with students during recess and lunch time. The lock out also has teachers working less time before and after school during the busiest time of the school year, with field trips at some elementary schools cancelled due to the dispute.
On the bright side, graduation celebrations are going ahead as planned in the district.
“Grad is happening,” said Ken Lucks, one of two vice-principals at Lake City Secondary’s Williams Lake Campus.
Graduation ceremonies will take place Saturday, June 7 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex.
The festivities will continue with the 2014 Grad Parade which is slated to start at 5:30 p.m. on Second Avenue, followed by Dry Grad celebrations at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex.
There are approximately 230 students graduating this year.