Student accolades Nanaimo reps win four gold, four silver at B.C.’s. PAGE 24 On the road Popular band Big Wreck together again after 10 years apart. PAGE 31 Weekend split VIBI Mariners looking to string together more victories. PAGE 3
Abduction alerts PAGE 5
www.nanaimobulletin.com
TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 2012
VOL. 23, NO. 154
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Grievance filed over extended spring break
Nanaimo resident recognized for saving dad’s life with CPR
A father’s saviour
BY JENN McGARRIGLE THE NEWS BULLETIN
BY RACHEL STERN THE NEWS BULLETIN
T
homas Brockman pressed his face against the cool glass of his bedroom window to escape the heat coursing through his body. “I was burning. I was on fire,” he said. He noticed his daughter had arrived home and then collapsed. Samantha heard crying as she arrived home around midnight. “I heard my dad’s girlfriend say, ‘Oh God, he’s not breathing’ and at that point I just opened the door and saw the situation,” said Samantha. Samantha, who was 19 at the time, was in shock, then some prompting by her brother to use the CPR skills she learned as a City of Nanaimo lifeguard moved her into action. At that point adrenalin kicked in and she didn’t have emotions. She just did what she had to do to help save her father’s life. ◆ See ‘SHE’S’ /4
You never know when it could happen. You don’t even think it will happen. You can save a life just by knowing what to do.
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– Samantha Brockman, B.C. Ambulance Vital Link award recipient
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RACHEL STERN/THE NEWS BULLETIN
Samantha Brockman received the B.C. Ambulance Service’s Vital Link medal Saturday during a ceremony to acknowledge her effort to resuscitate her father, Thomas Brockman, after he collapsed at his home last April and went into cardiac arrest.
The Nanaimo teachers’ union is seeking compensation for members affected by last year’s two-week spring break. Derek DeGear, president of the Nanaimo District Teachers’ Association, said the union filed a grievance over the school board’s decision to extend spring break and the matter goes before an arbitrator on May 24. He said the issue is that the board did not consult with the union to adjust the collective agreement to reflect the altered school calendar. “They changed the calendar, but they didn’t make the appropriate adjustments in our collective agreement,” said DeGear. “We would like to see a remedy for that.” The altered calendar mainly affected teachers-on-call and specialty teachers such as music teachers, who provide preparation time for regular classroom teachers, he said. For example, teachers-on-call had to work an extended school day – the district lengthened the work day to make up for the extra time off – but were paid the same as the shorter day, said DeGear. Neither did the district alter the number of days it considers as a full-time year for TOCs, despite taking five days out of the calendar, said DeGear, which meant employees had to work for more than a year to get a year’s experience. “If 160 days of work counted as a year for TOCs and there’s five less days in a year, we need to acknowledge that there’s 155 days in a year,” he said, adding that this is significant because raises are based on years of work. ◆ See ‘UNION’ /6