BC Teachers will have their day in the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Court decided Thursday morning to hear the long running case on class size and composition.
PG Teachers Association President Richard Giroday says the system has been in decline since 2002. “There are a lot of students who really do need the support that was stripped out of the education system when the government in the day, with Christy Clark as Education Minister in 2002, actually stripped our contract.”
The two side have exchanged court victories. Most recently, the BC Court of Appeal overturned a 2014 ruling that said Teachers constitutional rights were violated when class size limits legislated out of the contract.
Giroday says the needs around class size and composition mean more than ever. “We have seen a real change in the demographics of our student population over the last 5 years. Even 3 or two years. We’ve had teachers who had been off on leave for a year, come back and say ‘wow I can’t believe the school has changed that dramatically.’”
He added that the most recent teachers job action brought the issue to the forefront when local teachers began speaking out.
According to the Child Development Centre, 54% of children in the South Fort George Bowl Area hit kindergarten with some form of developmental delay or special needs.
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