METRO VANCOUVER - B.C.'s teachers are threatening to picket summer school, a move that could keep as many as 50,000 students provincewide out of the classroom, if a deal isn't reached.
The announcement Wednesday by B.C. Teachers' Federation president Jim Iker comes as the Labour Relations Board considers a government application to designate as an essential service summer school for high school students who have failed classes. A ruling on that is expected by the end of this week.
"I still believe that a fair deal is attainable, but getting there will require new movement from government on the critical issues of class size, class composition, and staffing levels for specialist teachers," Iker said at a news conference. "This was not a decision we made lightly."
The wrinkle comes as the B.C. Teachers' Federation and its employer were about to sit down for exploratory talks Wednesday afternoon to discuss the union's call for mediation and how to move forward.
Education Minister Peter Fassbender responded to the BCTF announcement by saying the two sides are still "miles apart" and that "mediation will only work if you have the parties closer to a settlement.
"We are not going to go into deficit to fund what we think are unreasonable demands by the BCTF," Fassbender said.
Iker said the BCTF has only made a decision to picket summer schools and did not comment on the year-round or alternate education settings, which the government has also asked the LRB to designate as essential. Iker said all teachers will participate in the pickets, and said individual locals would determine how picket duty would affect individual teachers' holidays.
The province's largest districts, Surrey and Vancouver, are going to wait a few more days before deciding whether to cancel summer school.
“We won’t make the decision to cancel until we no longer believe we can get the curriculum covered. Summer school starts July 2. We would not make a final decision until July 3,†said Surrey school district spokesman Doug Strachan. “However, this always depends on the context, what information we have as we go.â€
Provincewide, about 50,000 students take summer school each summer, including about 27,500 in the two largest districts of Surrey and Vancouver. That includes students taking remedial courses, trying to improve grades and international students in special programs.
In Vancouver, there are more than 17,000 registrations for summer classes at eight Vancouver elementary schools and 10 secondary schools. A very small number are enrolled in remedial classes and there are 320 international students enrolled in academic summer school who have paid a total of $360,000 in tuition fees that would be lost if summer school is cancelled. There are 285 international student visitors who were enrolled in a summer camp program that has already been cancelled, meaning the district has lost $405,000.
In Surrey, there are 1,300 remedial students, 125 international students and 9,075 other students registered for summer school this year.
Summer school is generally free in B.C., though there may be a deposit or completion fee. International students pay between $620 and $1,300 per summer course in Vancouver and $800 per course in Surrey.
Of increasing concern is the potential damage to B.C.'s reputation as a destination for international students, especially if students have already booked flights or paid for their homestays.
"It's an incredibly competitive market for international students all over the world and if we have students arriving here to find they have no classes, that is going to do some harm to our ability in the future to attract students," said Patti Bacchus, Vancouver school board chairwoman.
In Surrey, revenue from international students for the current school year was about $9.5 million. In Vancouver, international students are expected to contribute $17.65 million in revenue next year — about 3.5 per cent of the district's budget.
While the school year is almost over, frustration is still growing among parents and school trustees.
The Vancouver school board wrote a letter to Premier Christy Clark, Education Minister Peter Fassbender and Jobs Minister Shirley Bond, saying that the dispute is eroding confidence in the public education system and urging them to appoint an Industrial Inquiry Commissioner to resolve the dispute and issue non-binding recommendations in a public report.
Earlier this week, the B.C. School Trustees Association and the B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Committees also wrote letters calling for the end of the dispute.
The government and BCTF have spent 16 months trying unsuccessfully to sign a new collective agreement. Teachers began rotating strikes last month and escalated action to a provincewide shutdown of schools last week.
-With a file from Rob Shaw
For more stories from the Vancouver Sun, click here.