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Teacher strike looming MONIQUE TAMMINGA Times Reporter
Natasha JONES/Langley Times
Flanked by Nelson Nguyen and Casey Fontaine on the left and Liam Lawrence and Chayna Harrison on the right, Shortreed student leaders Jack Lee and Jessica Brucker get ready to count and roll thousands of pennies. The students collected $1,150.46 for fellow student Nico Pike.
Change for the better Shortreed Elementary students raise $1,150 in a coin drive for an injured classmate NATASHA JONES Times Reporter
Good things are happening to Nico Pike and his family. Nine-year-old Nico was badly injured when he was struck by a pickup truck on 29 Avenue in Aldergrove on Feb. 3. He was unconscious but breathing on his own when B.C. Ambulance paramedics lifted him into an air ambulance. He has now emerged from a coma and started the long road to recovery. It will be made all the easier by the outpouring of financial and moral support from the community, especially from the
children in his school, Shortreed Elementary. Student leaders Jack Lee and Jessica Brucker began a coin drive, collecting $1,150.46 for Nico’s family to defray the cost of gas, parking and food associated with their visits to Children’s Hospital. Helped by support worker Gail Macklin, the students sorted pennies on Monday (Feb. 20), nickels on Tuesday, dimes on Wednesday, quarters on Thursday and loonies and toonies on Friday. After the students rolled the coins, PAC members tallied the total. “This is amazing, incredible,” said PAC president Lacey Warrington.
“I’m surprised how the kids in the school have come together to help another family in a tough time in their lives,” she said, adding that the students are living up to the school’s mission of caring for others. Nico’s parents have asked that no details about his condition be released, but a few of Nico’s school friends have visited him, and others are staying in touch by phone. Anyone who would like to make a donation to the family is asked to call Shortreed Elementary at 604-856-4167. Contributions can be made directly to the Nico Trust, care of Justina Pike, at TD Canada Trust bank quoting branch number 9035 and account number 6361303.
Langley teachers may walk off the job as early as Monday. Teachers were voting Wednesday at a Langley Teachers Association meeting at the Coast Hotel, as to whether they want to escalate job action to a full scale walk out. Already more than 600 teachers had taken part in advance voting on Tuesday, said LTA president Gail ChaddockCostello. “We have around 1,000 fulltime teachers and around 1,500 members in the district, so to get more than one-third of our members out voting so early sends a huge message. I don’t think that has ever happened Gail Chaddock- in this district or Costello anywhere else.” On Tuesday, the Labour Relations Board allowed the teachers to walk off the job, if they give two days notice. The initial walkout can be no more than three consecutive days, according to the LRB ruling. Any walkout in Langley would be tied in to provincial action. If there is a strike, all schools will be closed. “I will be sending a very strong statement to our members today to stand up for their profession. With what this government is doing, further stripping of our contract, there won’t be much of this profession left,” she said. She said the government’s ‘draconian’ legislation has left teachers little choice but to strike. B.C. Teachers Federation president Susan Lambert said provincial action will be dependent on what members decide in individual districts. continued, PAGE 6
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