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ys Tt was: | the ¢ opening performance of the’ year i in ‘the -
~RIESM, Lee. Theatre, and-one the board of trustees for.

~ School: District, 88 are re unlikely to forget for a while.

shave

moved ‘to the theater in “order to

. aecommmodate. more « than. 200

+ people. “who ‘showed -up.: The .

'- board,: ‘with. ‘trustees- Barbara
- Johnson: and Kirsten. ‘Chapman
“absent, took. up ‘positions

around a table on ‘the: stage, and
“the normal order of business was:
_ reversed with questions from the

“public, ‘being taken at the be-
" ginning of the meeting.
: Board: Chair Val Napoleon

-begari with a brief address sum-

-Inarizing the status’ of the labor

: dispute that had, at that. point,

closed district schools down for
“a week, “This meeting is not an

- open: debate ‘or a ‘replacement

for the- -bagaining table,” she

nated.

During the question: ‘and an-

- wer: session that followed, ma-'

jor: concerns ‘expressed were lo-

~ ¢al control of education, teacher °

salaries, the pace of negotia-
- tions, the board’s use of a hired
negotiator, . and arrangements

for senior students to take pro-—

vincial exams if the strike con-

. tights’’.
trol”,
- “Through elected representa: .
‘tives, the community influences
- and © directs education,” she
‘said. ‘If we lose that, we've lost

_ tinues past Jan. 25.

a a coup in this district." "
, ‘Money. -

We. can’t, ignore . ‘the dol- ;
; lars,’ Napoleon said. “‘There’s

a big-gap, and somebody has.to

~ Management rights

- Napoleon ‘said the board.
‘“‘views as. very. ‘serious some.
fundamental issues’? over which .
teachers ‘and - trustees: are at -
- odds, primarily the issues: she -

described. as “management

and “community con-

the right to be responsible. For
education,’’

When asked. what TDTA pro-
-posals. the board is refusing to
negotiate, Napoleon mentioned.
-€ point system for class size and —-
“other. things we. couldn't live. 7

with”, oo
Greig Houlden, a member of
the TDTA’s bargaining commit-

-tee,. countered from the audi-

ence that “these, things are not
novel concepts. The board says
we want total control, but prin-
cipals or the superintendent can
overrule, We’re not interested in

~., pay.’ At that date the board
had: ‘offered | the TDTA 12.4
“percent over two’ years. The
“TDTA had not countered the :
Offer, with: their only tabled

demand. being the proposal” in. §
. the: ‘original package put to-
-gether i in September for 24° per-
- Cent over 18 months.”

The. audience, consisting q m

- largely : of - striking teachers,
CUPE members, parents and.
students, directed few questions
.Tegarding. salary issues to the ~

board:

~ Trustee: John Pousette called _*

12.4 percent ‘‘a pretty fair settle-

ment in today’s world’’.

Negotiations, negotlators.
Parents, students and teachers

week — while the board waited
for the results of a strike vote
supervised by the Industrial Re-
lations Council — and the
board’s.responsé to the offer of
intensive bargaining during the
Christmas holidays.

‘Napoleon responded at one
point by reminding the ‘audi- .

ence, ‘The. board did not call
this strike.??

Kitwanga trustee Delbert
Morgan, who headed the board

bargaining committee until the

end of December, was visibly
upset by accusations that the

board was dragging its feet-on:

negotiations. Morgan noted that
he resigned the position after

obtaining employment in De-—

cember, at which point trustee
Lavern Hislop took-over.’

‘“We have been up against a
campaign of propaganda by the
TDTA,” he argued. ‘They
make it seem as though the
board is dragging its feet, but
there has to be a date pattern
sét... there were many times
when we couldn’t coordinate,
both sides had dates when they
were unable to meet. Ask the
TDTA leaders about dates be-
fore the holidays that they

turned down.” _

STUDENTS: The ti third party in the 9 depute.

*

4 4

‘ ecg is re 2 penn ST REE EE ECE er te wn eT ee
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wes one

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alike concentrated on the lack of &
‘negotiations during the previous

- Giesbrecht,
tained that there is no law on the

NAPOLEON, HISLOP: Community o control of ‘education at

. $take,

Trustee Edna Cooper also”

spoke in the board’s defense.
“Who stalled?*” she asked. “We
started in March and didn’t get
the TDTA proposal until Sep-
tember. Why isn’t anyone angry
at the teachers for not negotiat-
ing through the summer?”’. * -

With’ regard to ‘the IRC:
‘supervised strike vote, Cooper
said, ‘‘We had to go through the
process, we cannot decide which
laws to obey. I’m very disap-
pointed in the TDTA (for boy-

cotting the IRC). What kind of .

an example is it for students
when teachers say it’s okay to
break the law?”’

TDTA president Helmut
however, main-

books that prevented the board
from negotiating during the time
between the IRC declaration
and the point at which the legal
strike vote results were in.

The board also came. under

- attack for using a paid negotia-

tor, Mary Saunders from the
Vancouver law firm of Camp-

-ney and Murphy. Under ques-
<| tioning from. several parents,

Napoleon repeatedly declined to
reveal how much the board is

“paying Saunders for her ser-
vices, saying :‘‘That’s not ‘an
-issue.”’

Napoleon also resisted an-
swering repeated questions re-
garding the negotiator’s pres-
ence at a bargaining session
scheduled for the following
Thursday. ,

Several parents stood up and
levelled equal responsibility for
the problem on board and teach-
ers alike, ‘‘I am disturbed and
disillusioned that both sides are
so deeply entrenched,’’ one said.
“‘Neither side is negotiating in
good faith,” said another. ‘A
more positive approach is

‘needed from both sides."

One parent asked if the strike

could be. called off while inten-
- sive negotiations take place, but

he was informed that under the
bridging agreement signed last

~ year all.terms.are.invalidated.in .. .

the event of a wie stoppage.

The teachers have no contract.

Students and exams

A large contingent of junior
and senior high school students

used. the meeting to remind
teachers and trustees that they

are the reluctant third-party in
the dispute.

~ “Neither side. is 100 percent

right or wrong, but what are we

supposed to do?’’ asked one.

Grade 12 student from Cale-
donia.

Grade 12 provincial exainina-
tions, which make up a large’

part of students’ final marks,

are scheduled for Jan, 25, Cale-.

donia principal Bill Sturn ex-
plained to the group that the
Ministry of Education was con-
sidering options at that time, but
later in the week it was an-
nounced that the exams will be
held on Jan. 25 regardless of the
status of the labor dispute.

More than an hour after the’

meeting began it was called to a
close by Napoleon in the midst
of disorderly shouting and acri-
monious comments from the
audience.

At the conclusion a represen-
tative for the Caledonia student
council invited teachers and

trustees to a meeting Thursday

evening to discuss the situation
with students. Two represen-
tatives for the teachers appeared’
at the meeting to speak to about
40 students, but no board
representatives appeared,

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