No School in SD27 Monday

Courtesy of SD #27 Superintendent Mark Thiessen:

May 29th, 2014

The BCTF, the union representing teachers, has informed the school district that they will again be engaged in rotating strikes and will be withdrawing teaching services in School District No. 27 on Monday, June 2.

During that time, schools and other locations will be picketed. I expect that all union personnel in our schools may be directed by their executives not to cross the picket lines. Should this occur, I also expect that each school will have very limited, and in some case, no teaching or support staff to supervise students.

While schools will continue to be open and Principals and Vice Principals will be present, there will be no instruction. For safety reasons I ask that parents keep all children home from classes on Monday, June 2. I will be directing the busses not to run on Monday, June 2.

Also, most programs will not be running in our district schools on Monday, June 2. Programs not running include 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 our school facilities may be operating on this day. Please check with your full-day daycare provider to confirm the status of the daycare on Monday, June 2.

Thank you for your patience. We know that you share with us the desire to return to normal operations as quickly as possible and that this dispute will be concluded quickly. In the meantime, we will do our best to keep you informed in a timely manner.

For further information regarding items related to the current job action and lockout, please visit the School District No. 27 website at www.sd27.bc.ca. On the link entitled “Questions and Answers re Strike and Lockout“, you will find more information regarding extracurricular activities, field trips, and teachers being covered by WorkSafeBC during the lockout. Local media outlets will continue to provide emergent information.

Classes will resume as normal on Tuesday, June 3. In the event that further strike action continues the following week, another parent information bulletin will be sent home in advance of dates that are selected by the BCTF.