NEWS
www.nanaimobulletin.com
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Nanaimo News Bulletin
3
Report cards to be delivered mostly empty BY JENN McGARRIGLE THE NEWS BULLETIN
$7.9M contract awarded for water filtration “GE came out ahead in most of the criteria as well as having the lowest capital cost,” said Sims. The South Fork Water Treatment “Each supplier has a different Plant can advance to the design way of using membrane filters stage after a clear winner emerged because they have different conto provide the most critical com- figurations. The plant ends up ponent – the membrane filtration getting designed around how the membrane works.” system. City staff travelled to City staff sifted through several other Canadian three responses to its cities that employ simirequest for proposals for lar processes. While the a membrane system, setthree companies that tling on GE Water and responded to Nanaimo’s Process Technologies, RFP are the key manwhich proposed a total ufacturers in North capital cost, excluding America, Sims said HST, of $7.89 million. many municipalities Pall Canada and Siethey visited used the GE mens Industry had proSIMS system. posal costs of $10.4 milSecuring a membrane lion and $10.8 million, filtration contract is a critical respectively. Bill Sims, manager of water step in continuing with the design resources for the City of Nanaimo, phase of the water treatment facilsaid GE’s product floated to the top ity, which is mandated by Vancouin most of the evaluation criteria. ver Island Health Authority to
BY TOBY GORMAN THE NEWS BULLETIN
ensure clean drinking water for Nanaimo residents well into the future by meeting the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality. The $65-million facility is expected to be completed in the spring of 2015. Sims said the city was familiar with GE’s product, as it worked with the company two years ago during pilot testing. GE will now be required to give one final demonstration beginning next month before the contract is finalized. Once that is established, the design process, commissioned to Associated Engineering, can move ahead. The membranes are expected to last 10 years and come with a twoyear workmanship guarantee. The city is expected to receive $17.8 million through the federal Building Canada Fund. About $22 million will be borrowed. reporter2@nanaimobulletin.com
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Justin Green, Nanaimo District Teachers’ Association first vice-president, said the union expects teachers to communicate how students are doing with parents – just not in the form of a formal report card – and he finds it odd districts are being told to issue report cards even if they contain no information about student progress. As for the application to reimburse districts 15 per cent for work not done due to job action, Green said communicating with parents in alternative ways to the administrator-organized parent-teacher nights and report cards is more time consuming. “I’m not sure you could find any teacher out there working less during the strike,” he said. reporter@nanaimobulletin.com
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Laurel Toto, junior school manager of Canada’s National Ballet School, left, and Martine Lamy, artistic ballet teacher, observe students as they take direction from ballet teacher Talar Margarosyan, centre, during an audition session at Kirkwood Academy Wednesday. Canada’s National Ballet School is on tour searching for students in Grades 6-12 who have the skills and talent to join its professional ballet program.
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Pupils with potential
A negotiated settlement with teachers – collective agreements expired last June and the two parties have been at the bargaining table on and off since March – is still a long way off, said Deborah Stewart, BCPSEA spokeswoman. Discussions between the employers and the teachers’ union have centred around what issues can be bargained at local tables and what should be provincially bargained matters since the start of school, she said, and the two parties still have to discuss $2.1 billion worth of BCTF proposals. Justin Green of the NDTA said the parties have not yet reached agreement on any issue.
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Nanaimo students will receive report cards this fall, but how much information will be included on these documents is yet to be determined. Since September, teachers have refused administrative duties such as report cards or playground supervision. The B.C. Public School Employers’ Association is seeking a Labour Relations Board ruling that would require teachers to prepare and distribute report cards. The application also included a request that the B.C. Teachers’ Federation reimburse school districts 15 per cent of teachers’ gross salary and benefits per month for work that teachers are not performing as part of the strike. Deborah Stewart, association spokeswoman, said the BCTF has until Nov. 14 to provide the LRB with a submission on the application, then the employers’ association has until Nov. 18 to respond to that submission. The board will then decide whether the matter requires a hearing, she added. Dave Hutchinson, superintendent of schools, said the district was informed by the Education Ministry that school administrators will be expected to issue report cards even if the only information on them is attendance as required under the School Act. In some cases, if the labour board does not rule in the employers’ favour, the report cards will be nearly blank, but student progress information will be available on those students taught by principals or vice-principals, he said. Parents will receive a letter explaining the situation. Report cards are typically distributed around the end of November.
No settlement within sight