Job Action Information and Updates
December 7, 2011: Message from the Superintendent on Report Cards
December 2, 2011: Grade 12 Marks
November 7, 2011: Report Cards
September 21, 2011: Newsletter frequency in the coming months
September 15, 2011: Supervision, Parent/Teacher Conferences & Early Dismissal
September 6, 2011: FAQ and teacher duties impacted by job action
September 2, 2011: Recess still on despite job action
September 1, 2011: Update on job action
December 7, 2011: Message from the Superintendent on Report Cards
Dear Parents / Guardians of Grade 12 Students:
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with an update on report cards and to seek feedback from you on whether or not you have a student in grade 12 who requires marks for post-secondary applications at this time of the year.
As you may be aware, the school year began with teachers in phase 1 of a legal strike and the job action continues to this day. This phase 1 action includes teachers choosing to not perform a range of tasks as identified by the Labour Relations Board (LRB). One of the duties that teachers have decided to not carry out is the preparation or distribution of report cards. Earlier this month, the Deputy Minister of Education wrote a letter to all school district superintendents directing schools to print report cards for parents. These report cards would provide attendance data, and teacher contact information as well as a reminder that parents may wish to contact their child’s teacher if there are any concerns or questions about achievement or other matters. Attached to this letter is a report card which includes a copy of your child’s attendance.
The Essential Services Order issued by the LRB recognizes that grade 12 students who are applying for post-secondary institutions may require marks at this point in the school year. In keeping with the Order, teachers will provide assessment data to school administrators for grade 12 students who self-identify that they require their marks for graduation, post-secondary applications or for scholarship purposes.
If your child is in grade 12 and requires their marks at this time for graduation, post-secondary applications, or scholarship applications we ask that you sign the form below.
Students are then asked to take this form to their school office where timetables will be available. Students may then take these timetables to their teachers who will write on the timetable, the student’s course marks and teachers will initial the forms to verify accuracy.
Any student who then needs support for post-secondary applications may work with their parents and school counsellors as normal to continue the process of application.
Yes, my child requires his/her marks for graduation, post-secondary or scholarship applications:
Grade 12 Student’s Name: ___________________________________
Parent’s Name: ___________________________________
Parent Signature: ___________________________________
Email address ___________________________________
Phone number ___________________________________
For more information about the job action, see:
http://www.vsb.bc.ca/district-news/job-action-information-and-updates
If you have any questions about this process, please contact your child’s school or email jobaction@vsb.bc.ca.
Thank you for your understanding.
Sincerely,
Steve Cardwell
Superintendent of Schools
December 2, 2011: Grade 12 Marks
Many parents and students are seeking more information about how Grade 12 marks will be impacted by Job Action. Application deadlines for post-secondary and scholarships are coming soon so it is important that any students or parents who want Grade 12 marks proactively self-identify themselves to their teachers.
In the coming week, students will be receiving report cards which provide attendance data, teacher contact information as well as a reminder that parents may wish to contact their child’s teacher if there are any concerns or questions about achievement or other matters. These cards will also have a form attached. This form will outline the current job action situation and allow parents to request their student’s Grade 12 marks for graduation, post-secondary or scholarship applications.
Once filled out by their parent or guardian, students are requested to bring the form directly to their school’s office. Once submitted, students will be given a marks gathering form listing their courses.
Once students have picked up the marks gathering form they can go to each Grade 12 teachers and ask them to provide their marks. Teachers will then write their mark on the form area for the course and place their initial beside the mark.
Once students have gathered all of their Grade 12 marks, they can visit their school counselors for help on submitting the marks and rest of their admission or scholarship application packages.
As always parents are encouraged to contact their teachers for progress up-dates; both for Grade 12 and for younger students.
November 7, 2011: Report Cards
You are likely aware that teachers are presently involved in a labour dispute, phase one of which commenced on the first day of the current school year. As part of this action, members of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) in every school district in the province are choosing to not prepare report cards. The Labour Relations Board (LRB) ruled that during the current job action, teachers need not prepare or distribute report cards; or provide any student assessment data to principals or school office staff, except for Grade 12 marks required for graduation, post-secondary applications and scholarship purposes.
The School Act requires that parents receive a minimum of three written reports per year. It is for this reason that schools throughout the province have been directed to send home report cards. Accordingly, the report cards we send home will likely only include the name of the teacher(s), subjects/courses and attendance information.
During this phase of the job action, teachers are continuing to plan, teach, gather and record assessment and evaluation information related to your child. Teachers are also continuing to communicate progress to their students through individual feedback, marks on assignments, tests and other indications of progress.
We encourage you to contact your child's teacher directly or contact the school office to leave a message asking that the teacher contact you, should you have any questions about your child’s progress.
Teachers are participating in a legal job action. We appreciate that these situations can be difficult, however we remain committed to providing excellent learning experiences for our students in safe and caring learning environments. We further hope that the two parties will reach a mutually negotiated settlement and that the current labour dispute will come to an end soon.
September 21, 2011: Newsletter frequency in the coming months
Many Vancouver parents are used to receiving a regular school newsletter giving them up-to-date information on what’s happening in their child’s school. Unfortunately, due to the difficulty of sending out newsletters without teachers’ help, the distribution of many newsletters may be disrupted and/or delayed. We’re encouraging all parents to check your school’s website frequently for updated information. If you have an iPhone, iPad or iPod, consider downloading the VSB App for push notification of school events.
September 15, 2011: Supervision, Parent/Teacher Conferences
& Early Dismissal
Supervision
It’s a busy time for everyone as we head back to school. One thing many parents have expressed concern about is how supervision will be handled during the first phase of job action. The good news is we don’t anticipate any problems providing supervision for our students and management staff have been deployed to schools to support supervision. If there are any absences or extra supervision requirements, the VSB is ready to deploy additional staff. Rest assured your students will remain properly supervised in a safe and engaging learning environment for the remainder of job action.
Parent Teacher Conferences
Many parents look forward to meeting their teachers early on each year. Parent Teacher Conferences, Meet the Teacher Nights and Parent Walk Abouts are all great opportunities to meet your child’s educators, get a sense of their teaching philosophy and learn more about how your child is doing in their classes. Unfortunately, due to job action, teachers won’t be participating in these meetings. For the time being, that means any official parent/teacher meetings will likely need to be postponed until job action finishes. This means that you can expect the early dismissals that usually accompany Parent Teacher Conferences to be postponed to another time.
Grade 8 Field Trips
Grade 8 field trips are wonderful opportunities for students and teachers to connect. For many Grade 8s, it is a highlight of the year. We want to make sure it continues to be so, even with the current job action difficulties. Schools and teachers will continue to run these camps throughout the first phase of job action and we know students will enjoy these activities.
Fundraising
Some parents have asked us if it’s ok to continue to raise money for their schools through their PAC. The short answer is: yes. While job action means your child’s teachers may not be participating in fundraising, that doesn’t mean that parents can’t help raise money.
September 6, 2011: FAQ and teacher duties impacted by job action
Schools opened today to tens of thousands of students across Vancouver. In our schools, we are facing many questions which are about what the exact impact of the job action will be.
The first phase of the job action is guided by a decision of the Labour Relations Board which states the things that teacher will or will not do during phase 1 of the job action. The intent of this update is to answer some common questions from the public and to provide a detailed list of the things may or may not do as a result of the Labour Relations Board Ruling. At the end of this update is a list of items covered by the Labour Relations Board in their definition of activities that teachers may or may not do. The Questions and Answers are from BCPSEA’s website which is has a page dedicated to Essential Services.
Q: Which activities will continue as normal?
A: Under Phase 1 BCTF members will continue to prepare and plan lessons, assessment, evaluation and marking, and teacher discipline, evaluation, and investigation meetings. They will also continue to communicate with Administrative Officers regarding student health and safety and be available in the event of an emergency or disaster situation.
Q: Will Phase 1 affect extracurricular activities?
A: Teachers may continue to participate in extracurricular activities at their discretion.
Q: Will there be any picketing?
A: There will be no picketing under Phase 1 job action.
Q: What about the ongoing discussion about attendance?
A: BCPSEA’s position is that teachers should transmit attendance records in the normal manner. The BCTF believes that this should be the responsibility of the Employer. Both BCPSEA and the BCTF have filed written submissions, however, the matter remains in dispute. As a result, the LRB will convene an oral hearing to conclude the matter as quickly as possible.
Q: What happens if the BCTF wants to escalate job action past Phase 1?
A: In this event, the BCTF will inform the LRB. The LRB will review and determine essential services for the BCTF bargaining unit. Any strike activity that has not been through the essential service designation process should not take place.
Q: Will BCPSEA be providing more information on the essential services process and potential strike issues?
A: Yes. We are currently updating our Labour Dispute and Essential Services Manual and will be organizing information sessions to be held in Vancouver, Victoria, and Kelowna in August. Those information sessions will discuss the essential services process, how to implement any Phase 1 designations, and strike management issues. Additionally, we will be providing Essential Services Updates to school districts on a regular basis.
Q: What does school startup look like?
A:Teachers will participate in a normal manner in the class/program composition and formation from the beginning of the school year until September 10, 2011 for elementary students and until September 17, 2011 for secondary students. This includes communications and meetings with the principal for the purpose of preparing for the upcoming school year.
After those dates, teachers will not be required to perform a variety of administrative duties or interact with Administrative Officers.
Labour Relations Board Decision on Duties Teachers will or will not perform during phase 1 job action:
- Participate in meetings or interviews with parents/guardians and/or district teaching staff outside of instructional time, or during instructional time unless coverage is provided
- Participate in meet the teacher activities outside of instructional time, or during instructional time unless coverage is provided
- Prepare or distribute report cards
- Provide any student assessment data to Administrative Officers or the school office, except Grade 12 marks required for graduation, post-secondary applications and scholarship purposes
- Complete and submit student referral forms outside of instructional time
- Attend staff meetings
- Attend staff committee meetings
- Attend any meeting called by School District management
- Participate in any standing or ad hoc District committees
- Attend school based meetings called by an Administrative Officer, unless the meetings are related to an emergency
- Provide Administrative Officers with any routine printed, written or electronic communications
- Accept any printed, written or electronic communication from an Administrative
- Officer, unless it relates to an emergency
- Participate in the preparation or the organization of assemblies outside of instructional time, or during instruction time unless coverage is provided
- Participate in any accreditation activity
- Participate in any School District or Ministry in-service
- Participate in any professional development that is not teacher directed
- Participate in any school photo organization.
- Provide coverage for a teacher who is absent, except for a Teacher on Call hired specifically for that purpose
- Administer or supervise FSA or any District or Ministry test
- Collect money from students or participate in fund raising
- Order supplies, textbooks, etc., unless needed immediately to effectively maintain ongoing instruction
- Assist the Administrative Officer in administrative tasks like building timetables or computer organization
- Do inventory
- Organize textbooks.
- Answer school office phones
- Supervise detentions before, during or after instructional time
- Prepare overviews or previews for the Administrative Officers, except when associated with a teacher evaluation process
- Distribute School District or administrative letters, newsletters, memos or announcements to students, unless it is health and safety related
- Pack up classrooms to facilitate painting, renovations or maintenance
- Perform department head/position of responsibility duties except during allocated time in the time table.
September 2: Recess still on despite job action
The Vancouver School Board is not currently contemplating moving or cancelling recess at this time. The Vancouver school district has always employed Supervision Aides, rather than teachers, to supervise elementary students during lunch and recess. At secondary schools, the district has enough administrative staff to properly supervise students.
September 1, 2011: Update on Job Action
As you are probably aware, the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF), which represents the province’s public school teachers, is involved in negotiating a new collective agreement with the BC Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA), the bargaining agent for the province’s school boards. These discussions to date have not produced a settlement and the parties have indicated that they are not close to an agreement. As a result, the province now faces job action. The BCTF has said that the job action will be in phases. The first phase is a “teach-only” campaign which will restrict teachers’ ability to participate in administrative duties and other non-instructional activities.
Despite these challenges, the good news is that schools will remain open. While job action may be frustrating for all, it is important to keep in mind that students will not be put in an unsafe or harmful situation. No matter what happens as a result of job action, your children will continue to be educated in a safe environment in the care of dedicated professionals in the classroom, the school office and on the playground.
We continue to hope for a speedy resolution to the contract negotiations. In the meantime, the Vancouver School District will keep parents informed of any developments around job action and its possible impact on student learning. As more information becomes available, please check back to our website where we will be posting updates.
The district is committed to keeping parents informed of developments and providing current information. As a demonstration of this commitment, we have recently developed an app for the iPad and iPhone. The app will give parents current information and updates from your children’s schools. You will find a link to this app on our website and we welcome your feedback.
For information and updates regarding bargaining positions, see the BCTF website and the BCPSEA website.
