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Teachers file more grievances over classroom conditions

COAST MOUNTAIN school district teachers  say they continue to deal with classes that are too large and contain too many students who have specific and complex needs.

It’s led to more than 130 grievances being filed this year alone, says Cathy Lambright from the Terrace District Teachers’ Union.

Provincial regulations state that classrooms should contain no more than 30 students and have no more than three students in the room requiring individual education plans.

But the regulations are being routinely broken or ignored, said Lambright.

“In the majority of the cases it’s class composition,” Lambright said about the nature of the complaints.

“We have one of the largest population of identified students in the province,” she added in referring to students requiring special care.

According to Lambright these issues are yearly repeated by the school district, and complaints are not dealt with in a timely manner.

“By the time a grievance is corrected the students have already passed on to the next grade,” Lambright said in noting the union still has outstanding grievances from up to four years ago.

Arbitration awards concluded in past years resulted in teachers being given paid days off as compensation.

It meant the school district had to bring in substitutes.

School district official Brent Speidel, said  having more than three  students having individual education plans in a class can be unavoidable.

“If you look at the percentage of our population that are identified as special needs we would have to have class sizes of 15 across the whole district,” Speidel said, stating the district doesn’t have the money for classrooms that small.

“I’m sure we would all like it to be a hard and fast three [special needs students],” he continued.

Speidel said the district has added people and resources worth approximately $600,000 to try and meet class size and composition requirements since the regulations were brought in in 2006.

When a class is over-sized or fails to meet composition standards, the principal is required to consult with the teacher and then send information on the situation to the superintendent  who must approve the class is an appropriate learning situation for students.

“The legislation doesn’t say you can’t have it,” Speidel said of larger classes.

He said there are situations where over-sized classes can be  appropriate, such as a band class, or a physical education class, where learning disabilities might not come into play.

Even though teachers may be asked for their opinion, they may not agree with class size and composition decisions of the school district and that can lead to filing grievances.

Human resources manager for the school district, Greig Houlden, said he was unable to confirm the number of grievances in the district because until they go to arbitration they are not public information.

A school district report at the start of the school year indicated there were 161 secondary school classes with more than three students having individual education plans.

And there were 27 secondary school classes with more 30 students.

There were 36 elementary level classes with more than 30 students or containing more than three students with individual education plans.

In one Grade 7 class at Cassie Hall Elementary there were 11 individual education plan students out of 27 children.

The most recent grievances that went to arbitration here resulted in arbitrator James Dorsey ruling in favour of teachers.

Eleven teachers received paid days off.

The school district in Cranbrook is the latest to undergo a similar set of arbitrations and those hearings continue.

In 2009/2010 province-wide there were 5,000 classes exceeding the limits set out for number of students in a classroom and number of students identified as having special needs.