To: The Honourable Peter Fassbender Minister of Education

The Board of Education of School District No. 53 is very concerned about the current state of negotiations between BCPSEA and BCTF. We hope that the Ministry of Education will do everything in its power to bring this labor dispute to an end as soon as possible, and for a negotiated settlement to be reached before the start of summer school.

We are especially concerned about our vulnerable students who will miss out on the opportunity to attend the reading program during summer school and who will now lag even further behind when school resumes.

We know that the current situation is having a negative impact on teachers, administrators, and staff morale and also on the strong relationships that we seek to form with all of our partner groups. In our communities the public is losing faith that a negotiated settlement will be reached soon and the current disruption puts the reputation of public education in jeopardy.

Our Board urges the parties to explore and appoint a mutually agreed upon mediator. It is our hope that this will ensure that the negotiations move forward in good faith so that a negotiated settlement, that will benefit all parties and the students of our province, be reached in a timely fashion.
Yours truly,

From: Board of Education School District 53 Marieze Tarr Chairperson