Eight local youth off to BC Summer Games in Nanaimo this weekend — 12-13
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Weds., July 16, 2014 www.revelstoketimesreview.com Vol. 117, No. 29
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TIMESReview
$1.25
TrailStoke – 15
Out of the heat, into the cool
Swimmers bask in the coolness of Williamson Lake to escape from the heat wave that hit southern B.C. last week. The temperature reading at the Revelstoke airport peaked at 32.4 C on Sunday, July 13. Temperatures through the heat wave have been 6–8 degrees above normal, but not record levels, according to Environment Canada meteorologist Allan Coldwells. The hottest July 13 ever was in 1945 when the thermometer peaked at 37.2 C. Still, he noted that because of the weather station’s location at the airport, the recorded temperature is likely several degrees less than it was in town because of the cooling effect of the Columbia River. The ridge of high pressure causing the heat wave is expected to break down on Thursday, bringing temperatures back to normal levels in the mid-20s, and some rain too, which should be a relief for the province’s forest fire fighters. Alex Cooper/Revelstoke Times Review
Trustees respond to teachers’ passionate plea for support ALEX COOPER
editor@revelstoketimesreview.com
They came, they spoke, they pleaded, and for an hour, Revelstoke school trustees sat there listening, mostly silent, save for board chair Alan Chell. Revelstoke teachers filled the board room in the basement of the Revelstoke School District building last Wednesday, there to support their colleague Sarah Newton, an elementary school teacher who wrote a passionate letter to the Board of Education in early June. They wanted an expression of support from the board. They wanted to hear their response to
Newton's letter. Her letter, which pre-dated the teachers' strike that pre-maturely ended the school year, expressed her frustration over recent events in negotiations between the B.C. government and the BC Teachers Federation. It was about how she felt disrespected by the government. About her disgust at being locked out of the school during recess and lunch — times she helps struggling students — and being docked 10 per cent of her pay because of this. Newton asked for the board to say they don't support the government's negotiating tactics and that it's harming public education. "I do feel the foundations of
B.C. society have been breached and education in our province is being undermined by the very department charged with its promotion," she told the board at the start of their July 9 meeting. She talked about the struggling students in her classroom that she tries to help, and how the lockout hurt them. "When will our trustees break with protocol and stand up to the tactics that our government believes will bring resolution to the teacher dispute?" she asked in her letter. "I'm asking you as trustees, I truly am," she told them in person. "You have an honourable and important role. You've been elected.
I've read your site about what a trustee does." It was Alan Chell who responded for the board. First, he apologized for not replying to Newton's letter, saying he was tied up in negotiations and faced with media blackouts. Then, he went into a lengthy prepared response on the roles of a trustee, the different groups they belong to and the state of negotiations. He spoke of the roles of the BC School Trustees Association, which acts as a provincial advocacy group for school trustees; and the role of the BC Public School Employers Association, the arm of trustees that served the role of
employer until its board was fired a year ago and replaced by a government-appointed administrator. He explained the money available for public sector unions is set by the Treasury Board and that the hands are tied by that mandate. And he talked about where the two sides stood in negotiations. It was a factual explanation, short on opinion. Chell explained the situation, but he didn't address Newton's request for a statement of support. And he was called out for it. "Is that your response to her letter, because you haven't answered
see Teachers, page 9
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