B.C.'s teachers and the government's bargaining agent are locked in yet another dispute over what exactly the government's back-to-work order means -- this time over whether teachers must produce all the report cards they've declined to do over the school year as well as the final one still ahead.
Both sides were at the Labour Relations Board on Monday as a lawyer for the B.C. Public School Employers' Association argued teachers should write missed report cards so parents know about their children's progress.
Delayne Sartison compared the situation to other types of strikes, including letter carriers who must still deliver mail after a job dispute or health-care workers whose actions would result in cancelled surgeries that must be performed afterwards.
"Surgeries that were delayed during a strike will be forever delayed. You cannot go back in time. They are not made permanent because of a strike," she said.
"Student achievement records that were blank during the strike cannot remain blank."
However, the BC Teachers' Federation said struggling students are always identified at the beginning of a school year and given the help they need and that the employer's demand is insulting.
Carmela Allevato, a lawyer for the teachers' union, told the board it's unfair to compare teachers to other workers because nurses, for example, aren't exempt from any of their duties during a strike.
She said the teachers' contract was legislated, meaning there wasn't any discussion on how they would handle "struck work" when they resumed their duties.
Forcing them to write report cards from the beginning of the school year will push them further behind, she said, suggesting teachers won't be doing the extra work for free.
Allevato said the final report card will be "summative," encompassing a student's progress for the entire year, although Sartison maintained that's not yet clear.
Teachers have provided parents with feedback throughout the school year, Allevato said as she pointed to an example of a Prince Rupert kindergarten teacher who has written letters to parents and invited them into the classroom.
"There is no crisis," she said. "Teachers are teaching and students are learning."
She said the facade of a crisis has been manufactured, "not by the employer, although they've been complicit. It's been manufactured by the (education) ministry. It has nothing to do with kids but with power and politics."
Sartison told Michael Fleming, the associate chairman of the board, that the employer rejects any notion that its application is politically motivated and that such suggestions are a red herring to distract him from the real issue.
Teachers began limited job action in September to protest lagging contract talks and among the administrative duties they refused to perform was writing report cards.
The B.C. Liberal government passed legislation last month ordering them to resume their full duties and also appointed a mediator to deal with the dispute, although the teachers' union has asked the board to quash that appointment, saying Charles Jago is unqualified and biased.
While the union argues teachers should not have to make up work lost during the job action, Sartison said the lack of report cards means administrators can't plan for classroom needs and struggling students aren't getting support.
"Teachers cannot continue to refuse to enter marks and write report cards. That was part of the job action and that is over."
Sartison said the employer is asking the board to debunk the myth that work teachers didn't do and were paid for during their strike can be left undone after the legislation was imposed.
Several school districts have already directed teachers not to prepare report cards except for the final one in accordance with a BCTF directive, she said.
Students need the marks, she said, noting students enrolled in online classes in a program called Surrey Connect didn't get their assignments marked during the three-day walkout by teachers in March, and they include Grade 12 students applying for post-secondary education.
Teachers begin voting Tuesday on a plan to withdraw all voluntary extra-curricular activities to protest the government's back to work legislation.
Teachers' union president Susan Lambert said that might affect some graduation ceremonies, but that parents could step in to help.
Meanwhile, Education Minister George Abbott lashed out at the NDP Education Critic Robin Austin in the legislature on Monday for questioning Jago's qualifications.
"It is absolutely appalling, Mr. speaker, that this member, I'm sure as a shill for the BCTF, takes this opportunity to degrade Dr. Jago's ability to deal with these issues."
