Teachers’ Union Says School Lockout to Cause Activities Cancelations

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The head of the B.C.’s teachers’ union, Jim Iker, has alleged that senior exams, graduation ceremonies and year-end activities including concerts, theatre productions and sports tournaments might be let go off according to the provincial government’s plan to impose a partial lockout of teachers beginning Monday.

Addressing the reporters at a news conference held on Thursday, the President of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation referred to a letter addressed to the BCTF from Michael Marchbank, public administrator for the B.C. Public School Employers Association, one day earlier. According to the letter, the partial lockout will mean that teachers will not be allowed to come to work more than 45 minutes before classes start or stay later than 45 minutes after classes end except for an urgent safety issue. In case no agreement is reached, a full secondary school lockout is scheduled for June 25 and 26 followed by a lockout for all schools on June 27. Whereas, many provincially-required exams for Grade 10 and 11 students are taking place June 24.

In his statement, Mr. Iker alleged that “in effect, what they’re saying is there will be no marking of exams.” He revealed that being locked out of work sites 45 minutes before and after school will also mean no more extracurricular activities. He elaborated that “in adopting this strategy, Christy Clark could be the cause of many cancelled field trips, sports tournaments, theatre productions and many other events that many B.C. kids were looking forward to.” It was added that, there is also concern that graduation ceremonies will be among those activities.