BCTF Strike: Information & Updates

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

The following SchoolConnects e-mail is currently being distributed District-wide to all parents:

Dear Parents/Guardians and Students:

Subject: BC Teachers' Federation Strike Action - All Classes Resume Thursday, March 8, 2012

We wish to confirm that all classes will resume tomorrow, Thursday, March 8, 2012. Schools in North Vancouver School District will open for instruction at their regularly scheduled times.

We encourage you to stay informed about any further strike action. Information updates will be posted on our School District website at http://www.nvsd44.bc.ca.

John Lewis
Superintendent of Schools

Thursday, March 1, 2012

This is an important letter. Please have it translated.

Dear Parents/Guardians and Students:

Subject: British Columbia Teachers’ Federation’ Strike Action – March 5, 6, and 7, 2012

The British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) served notice this morning that teachers throughout the Province of BC will strike for three days beginning Monday, March 5th and continuing through Wednesday, March 7, 2012.

Student safety is our first priority and a shared responsibility. Parents and guardians are advised to keep their child at home and/or make alternate arrangements for their supervision during the time that teachers are on strike. Although schools will remain open during the strike action by the BCTF, no instruction will be provided to students.

The BC Labour Relations Board has ordered:
• BC teachers may strike for up to three consecutive days without seriously disrupting students' education, as long as they provide at least two school days notice
• After that, they may legally withdraw their services for one day each week without violating the law that declares education an essential service
• The LRB ruling states that "during any job action, BCTF members will not picket, block access or egress or otherwise restrict or cause to be restricted in any way, the full and complete access to schools by members of all support unions or impede the operation of other employers who occupy the same premises as schools or school districts.”

Under the Labour Relations Board Order, community and private day-cares, preschools, before and after-school programs, lessees, renters, and contractors that are located at schools or School District facilities are not to be impacted by the BCTF strike.

Next week was scheduled as Education Week in North Vancouver School District, a week-long celebration of students, teaching, and learning. Several extra-curricular events were planned. Unfortunately, we may be required to cancel or reschedule events. We will do our utmost to keep you informed of all changes.

The Government has introduced legislation to resolve the strike action. If Bill 22 is passed into law, it will impose a cooling off period until August 31, 2012. We will provide parents with updates at the earliest opportunity as more information becomes known. Information updates will be posted on our School District homepage at http://www.nvsd44.bc.ca. We encourage you to stay informed.

We hope that labour negotiations will be speedily concluded so that normal school operations will resume as quickly as possible.

Yours sincerely,

John Lewis
Superintendent of Schools
North Vancouver School District
Superintendent@nvsd44.bc.ca

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

North Vancouver School District #44 has posted a new item:
February 28th announcement from Ministry of Education at http://blog44.ca/superintendent/

You can read the post in full here:
http://blog44.ca/superintendent/2012/02/28/february-28th-announcement-from-ministry-of-education/

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Please read Letter to Parents/Guardians - Student Assessment and Reporting Student Progress

This has also been sent through SchoolConnects February 23, 2012 @ 5:00pm

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Upcoming Parent/Teacher Interviews

Our second parent/teacher interview session was originally scheduled for Thursday, February 9. Given the ongoing BCTF strike our teachers will not participate in the interviews outside of instructional time. Similar to November, we will maintain our early dismissal schedule for both Thursday, February 9 and Friday, February 10 and students will be dismissed at 1pm. As such, if you wish to arrange a meeting after 1pm on either Thursday or Friday or have questions regarding your child’s progress, please contact the appropriate teacher directly. Further, teachers continue to assess and evaluate student progress on a regular basis and can provide you academic updates upon request. Please visit our school website (www.seycove.ca) for a complete list of teacher contact information.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact Dr. Overgaard for Grades 8 to 11 and Mr. Karim Hachlaf for Grade 12.

This has also been sent through SchoolConnects January 31, 2012 @ 5:00pm

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Please read Letter to Parents/Guardians - November Report Cards 2011 11 24

This has also been sent through SchoolConnects November 24, 2011 @ 4:00pm

Monday, October 17, 2011

Dear Parents:

Thank you for your ongoing patience and attention to school related matters during Phase 1 of BCTF strike action. I have had a number of questions from parents about when, where and how you can communicate with teachers about the progress of your children.

The North Vancouver Teachers’ Association (NVTA) has indicated that teachers will continue to focus on instruction and will continue to assess student progress. The Labour Relations Board essential services order provides that teachers need not:

• Participate in meetings or interviews with parents/guardians outside of instructional time, or
• Participate in meet the teacher activities outside of instructional time, or
• Prepare or distribute report cards, or
• Provide any student assessment data to principals or school office staff, except Grade 12 marks required for graduation, post-secondary applications and scholarship purposes

The NVTA has confirmed that teachers may continue to communicate with parents in informal meetings, phone calls and emails to discuss student progress. Although we will not be conducting our formal parent/teacher interviews we will maintain our early dismissal schedule for both November 3rd and 4th and students will be dismissed at 1pm. As such, if you wish to arrange a meeting after 1pm or have questions regarding your son’s/daughter’s progress, please contact the appropriate teacher directly. Further, although teachers need not prepare or distribute report cards during Phase 1 for Grades 8 to 11, they are assessing and evaluating your son/daughter on a regular basis and can provide you with up to date progress status in the curricular areas of instruction.

If a concern arises regarding communications between teachers and parents, parents may wish to contact the NVTA office (604-988-3224) for clarification, or contact myself or David Overgaard.

As the strike continues, I will provide regular updates to you and encourage you to go to our Parent Advisory Council meetings and websites listed on the school page for up to date information. Again, I thank you for your ongoing support to the school and for your patience at this time.

Sincerely,

Karim Hachlaf
Principal