Striking teachers came out in force to back Bill Forst, Sunshine Coast Teachers' Association president, at the Oct. 11 meeting of the school board.
In his presentation, Forst asked the board to take a position on the B.C. teachers' current labour troubles.
Forst said the local school board has "always been proud of its relationship with its employees.""That relationship has been soured, through no fault of this board," Forst said.
Sunshine Coast teachers have joined their colleagues province-wide in participating in what the courts have ruled an illegal strike.
The teachers are protesting Bill 12, which has arbitrarily imposed extension of the current contract until June 2006.
While the contract allows for a zero increase in pay, teachers here as elsewhere in the province say money is not an issue.
The 40 or so teachers in attendance at the meeting voiced strong concerns over class sizes. From teachers decrying the number of students in secondary physical education classes to alarm expressed on the skill levels of students coming into secondary school, the group focused mainly on safety and learning opportunities for students.
Later in the meeting, trustee Lori Dixon brought a motion to the floor to send a letter to B.C. Labour Minister Mike de Jong "urging him to have the parties, B.C. Public School Employers' Association and the B.C. Teachers' Federation (BCTF) re-engage in meaningful negotiations."
Several of the trustees expressed support for a negotiated settlement as opposed to an enforced settlement. The motion passed to a long round of applause from the teachers.
Trustee Pat Pratt made a further motion to send a copy of the letter going to de Jong to all the other school boards in the province. Teachers again signaled their approval with loud clapping.
In a subsequent interview, Forst said the teachers felt support for their position.
"Our board at least understands what our position is about," he said.
According to Forst the biggest concern locally is "absolutely class sizes" particularly at the intermediate and secondary levels.
"[The teachers] also talk about old resources, old textbooks," he said.
School District No. 46 (the Sunshine Coast) is in a unique position in the province.Forst said the board works with a school-based budget. "Our board gives most of the grants to the schools where it's up to the principals to allocate," he explained.
In other parts of the province, the funds are budgeted to the district rather than the school.
"Our district goes down another level, and who gets the flak for school sizes? It's the principals," Forst said.
When pressed for details on class size being a detriment Forst said there are close to 100 kids when all the Grade 8s get gym together at Elphinstone.
Another concern Forst, a past counsellor at Elphinstone, talked about is the lack of counselling available at elementary schools on the Coast. Presently only three out of 10 schools have regular counsellors. He worries that kids at risk from depression or anger issues will fall through the cracks.
The other concern in local schools is the lack of library funding. Although it's increased somewhat in the past year, Forst said it's "nowhere what library funding was like four years ago."
He'd like to see funding restored to help the local board's goal of improving student literacy.
While the BCTF waits to see what penalties the courts will hand out to its striking members, the local union vows to continue its stand against the enforced contract.
Local labour unions indicated their support when they joined with the teachers in a show of solidarity on Thursday afternoon at a rally at Rockwood Centre in Sechelt.
