VANCOUVER – While the prolonged teachers strike has come to an end and thereby ending the unnecessary suffering parents and students as well as teachers had to go through but with three weeks missed in this school year and two weeks missed at the end of the last one – there is much work to be done by all involved in education of BC’s 500,000 students to make sure that the lost time will not affect them academically, especially the grade 12 students who will be making the shift to the real world next year.
Most school districts will open the schools on Monday to begin the process of getting students back into the routine of school life.
More than 31,000 B.C. teachers voted Thursday on the tentative agreement reached with the government earlier this week, with 86 per cent of them voting to accept the deal, reported CBC News.
B.C. Teachers’ Federation president Jim Iker said it was a tough round of negotiations and a difficult time for those on strike, but the job action is now over.
“With the ratification of the new collective agreement, the strike and lockout are now over,” he said. “Teachers and students will be back in school on Monday.”
For some school districts — Vancouver, North Vancouver, Surrey, and Delta included — Monday will be a day of student orientation, and classes will start Tuesday. Parents are advised to check with their local school boards for details about the new school calendars.
Iker said the deal wasn’t perfect, but said it did provide gains for teachers, protects their charter rights and increases support for students.
“There will be more classroom and specialist teachers in schools to help our students. Our teachers teaching on call will get fair pay for a day’s work, and all our members will get a salary increase,” he said.
B.C. Education Minister Peter Fassbender emailed a statement following Iker’s announcement of the ‘yes’ vote result.
“On behalf of government, I want to thank and congratulate B.C. teachers for voting in favour of the agreement reached earlier this week between the BCTF and BCPSEA bargaining teams,” Fassbender said.
“We have one of the best public education systems in the world, and that’s in large part because we have such great teachers. We can now focus on the path forward.”
