B.C. Views Gas: the other pipeline showdown. p6
Share opinions on Hammond’s future. p3
THE NEWS
Education Aboriginal awards honour students. p15
www.mapleridgenews.com Wednesday, June 11, 2014 · Serving Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows · est. 1978 · 604-467-1122 · Delivery: 604-466-6397
Monisha Martins/THE NEWS
B.C. Premier Christy Clark spoke at a ceremony in Pitt Meadows Friday, honouring the city’s citizens of the century.
Heads up
Let’s talk about kids: Premier
Pitt Meadows firefighters take aim at an attacker during the annual Pitt Meadows Day parade water fight Saturday along Harris Road. See story, p12.
Christy Clark questioned about teachers at city event by M on i sh a M ar ti n s staff reporter
Colleen Flanagan/ THE NEWS
Another round of school strikes Students in Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows out Thursday by Nei l Corbe tt staff reporter
Teachers will again be on strike in Maple Ridge on Thursday, and the rest of the school year could be lost as job action threatens to escalate. Teachers across the province took a full strike vote on Monday and Tuesday. Results were to be announced Wednesday morning.
With the requirement that the B.C. Teachers Federation give its employer 72 hours strike notice, the earliest a full strike could commence would be Monday. “It’s always hard to predict, but I expect it’s going to be a pretty strong ‘yes’ vote,” Maple Ridge Teachers’ Association president George Serra said Tuesday. The most immediate effect would be to final exams for high school students, and whether yearend report cards will be filled out and issued. The government has applied to the Labour Relations Board
to have final exams for Grades 10-12 and report cards declared essential services. The application to the LRB says without final grades, graduating students Serra would be ineligible for scholarships, and might not meet admission requirements to post-secondary institutions. “The lockout is having a huge
impact on report cards,” noted Serra. Teachers are not to be in school 45 minutes before or after the work day begins, and are not to work during lunch hour. Serra said that has made it difficult for teachers to finish assessing students. The local school board is in a holding pattern, waiting for strike notice from teachers, and the ruling by the LRB. Most schools around the province are set to break for the summer on June 27, so only about nine schools days would be missed. See Strike, p11
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B.C. Premier Christy Clark was in Pitt Meadows Friday to honour the city’s 100 citizens of the century, but couldn’t escape questions about the potential of a full-scale strike by public school teachers. Following a short speech and group photograph with the feted 100 Friday, Clark was asked if the government was bringing anything new to the table since bargaining resumed between the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association. The BCTF had already scheduled a third week of rotating strikes, which will close public schools in every district in B.C. for one day this week, including Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows on Thursday. Teachers also voted Monday and Tuesday on increased job action that could include a full-scale strike as early as June 16. See Premier, p13
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