We have heard concerns from many secondary teachers about the significant disparity in student contact hours between Grade 8/9 and Grade 10/11/12 courses. We have raised these concerns with senior management, but their current plan is not to make any changes to school schedules for the second quarter. However, they are interested in hearing from teachersRead more
Blended learning raises many issues, and we are having ongoing discussions with the employer about various issues that members have brought forward. We can report the following: It no longer seems that all elementary blended classes will end in January. Since the program was a response to parent demand for a blended option, and that demand is likelyRead more
We are working hard to bring forward concerns from Surrey teachers to district administrators and to Fraser Health. There are schools where teachers feel relatively safe now that we have settled into daily routines, and there are schools where teachers continue to be alarmed and anxious, given continued exposure notices and many unanswered questions. One concern involves contact tracing, andRead more
We are thrilled that our pressure worked and the FSA tests that were scheduled for October are postponed. Of course, a pandemic is not the time to hold standardized tests for so many reasons. As you well know, we have been running yearly campaigns to ask parents to withdraw their children from these Grade 4 and 7 tests.Read more
Wednesday, September 30 was Orange Shirt Day. This is a day set aside for remembering the treatment of Indigenous peoples at residential schools in Canada. Indigenous children were forcefully removed from their homes and taken to residential schools. At the schools they were not permitted to speak their own languages and often forced to do menial work. Many wereRead more
We have received calls informing us that principals are planning to have teachers supervise lunch eating with their classes so that older students don’t enter the cohorts, or so that kids are not eating in a common area. According to our collective agreement we have a duty-free lunch break, so teachers are not required to doRead more
The Advocate is a seasonal publication for members. The Advocate contains a report from the President, information from the table officers, updates, and information on current educational issues and issues of importance to Surrey teachers.
