Schools closed indefinitely in School Districts #27/28

Courtesy of SD27 Superintendent Mark Thiessen:

This is usually a very exciting time for students, parents, and staff as we anticipate the first day of school. Unfortunately, today will not be the first day of classes for our students. As most of you know by now, respected mediator Vince Ready stepped away from the provincial exploratory discussions with the teachers’ union and the employer this past Saturday. At this point, no new provincial talks are scheduled, but that could change at any moment.

Although schools will remain closed today and likely beyond, principals and vice principals will be in schools should you have any questions. However, they will be unable to offer either supervision or instruction. As such, we are asking families not to send their children to school on Wednesday, September 3rd. Those parents who send their children to school will be contacted and asked to pick up their children as quickly as possible.

This also means that most programs will not be running in our district schools. Programs not running include all StrongStart programs, before and after-school daycares, or use by community user groups. Those full-day daycares which lease space in our school facilities will continue to operate if they did so during the last two weeks of June. If you have questions regarding this, please continue to check with your full-day daycare provider to confirm the status of the daycare.

Parents can now register for Temporary Education Support for Parents from the BC Ministry of Finance at http://bcparentinfo.ca/parent-support-resources/. A paper registration form is also available for parents who are not able to access the online registration. You can get a paper registration form by phoning 1-877-387-3332, a toll free number. Parents may receive $40 for each student 12 years old and under attending B.C. public schools for each day the student is not in school as a result of the labour disruption.

The School District No. 27 website (www.sd27.bc.ca) will remain the best place to find the most current information. If a provincial agreement is reached or there is other emergent news, we will inform parents about the status of schools as quickly as we can through our website and local media outlets.

You can also check for updates on:

www.bcpsea.bc.ca
www.bctf.ca

This continues to be a difficult time for all involved. We are all hopeful that schools will be up and running soon, but at this time, we are unsure when classes will resume

Courtesy of the School District #28 (Quesnel) website:

Schools in the Quesnel School District will not open on Tuesday, September 2, 2014 as a result of the ongoing labour dispute. The School District will continue to monitor the negotiation process,
however it is it does not seem likely that schools will open the first week of September.

As soon as the first day of school is announced the District will inform the public through the School District website (http://www.sd28.bc.ca) and the local media.