VOTE TH SEPT. 30
for Kamloops City Council Kathy SINCLAIR Fo r a c i t y w e ’ r e p r o u d o f • w w w. k a t h y 4 k a m l o o p s . c a A ut hor i z ed by f inancial ag ent Mar sha S t ewar t , sinc lair c am paign2017@outlook .c om
KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK THURSDAY
kamloopsthisweek.com kamloopsthisweek kamthisweek
30 CENTS AT NEWSSTANDS
|
SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 | Volume 30 No. 116
Space crunch equals more mobile classes JESSICA WALLACE
STAFF REPORTER
jessica@kamloopsthisweek.com
DAVE EAGLES/KTW
FRIED FORD
The engine of this pickup truck went up in flames Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot of the Aberdeen McDonald’s. Kamloops firefighters managed to quickly douse the blaze before the flames could spread. There were no injuries reported.
TODAY’S WEATHER
Sunny and warm High 27 C Low 12 C
Classrooms designated for elementary school music and computer teachers were a “luxury,” according to Kamloops-Thompson board of education chair Meghan Wade. “I think we got used to having a separate classroom and I have an extreme faith in our teachers,” she told KTW in response to increased enrolment leading to some schools having to turn computer labs and music rooms into general classrooms. In some schools, the music and computer programs have become mobile. Teachers now wheel mobile carts into classrooms while using offices and staff rooms to prep. “So, instead of going into the computer lab, the computer lab is coming into your classroom. It’s the same as our music programs,” Wade said. Asked if students lose anything from not having a specific classroom for such subjects, Wade said: “They’re still getting it.” She noted secondary schools have classrooms for band and choir because they are “actual courses in the timetable. “But, quite typically, some of the computer work, the music, the P.E., this
BREWLOOPS HAS ARRIVED IN THE CITY
is done through prep time,” Wade said. As the first month on the academic calendar flips, schools in the district continue to feel the pinch of overcrowding. Wade said schools are crowded, but noted classrooms aren’t. “We are meeting the small class size and composition as dictated by the Supreme Court decision,” she said, referring to the October 2016 Supreme Court of Canada decision that ordered the provincial government to restore clauses deleted from the B.C. Teachers’ Federation contract by the Liberal government of Gordon Campbell in 2002. Those clauses deal with class size, the number of special-needs students who can be in a class and the number of specialist teachers required in schools. Valleyview secondary is 130 per cent over capacity and Wade called portables a “short-term solution.” Other issues include complicated scheduling of bathroom breaks. “We are making the best of it, as are the teachers in that environment, until a long-term solution is found,” Wade said. Senior staff are reviewing shortterm facility solutions, with a report expected before the board in December, while a campaign for more capital funding amps up. See SD73, A2
TOUGH TIMES
Read all about the various events on offer
Businesses want help in eliminating street-level woes
A13
A5