The B.C. government has ordered public schools to prepare and distribute report cards this fall as usual, even though they may contain little more than the student’s name and attendance record due to teacher job action.
In an email to school superintendents, deputy education minister James Gorman said regular report cards are required by law and if teachers won’t prepare them, then principals and vice-principals must do so.
“Report cards are an important educational tool for both parents and students,” Gorman writes. “A report is to be issued to every student regardless of the teachers’ strike, indicating at a minimum, the student’s division, teacher(s), courses, attendance and reports and/or grades for any classes taught by administrators.
“Parents should also be provided contact information to follow up directly with the teacher(s) if they wish to do so and to the extent possible.”
School districts are required to provide three written report cards and two informal reports during the school year, the deputy states. “The duties of principals and superintendents remain unchanged by the teachers’ strike.”
Jameel Aziz, president of the B.C. Principals’ and Vice-Principals’ Association, said report cards for the youngest students will be mostly blank because there are no marks in the early grades and reports are anecdotal, which can’t be drafted without teacher involvement.
In schools where principals and vice-principals also teach classes, marks will be provided as usual.
Public school employers are headed to the B.C. Labour Relatios Board today to seek an order that would compel teachers to prepare report cards.
Over the summer, teachers decided not to write report cards, attend staff meetings or communicate with administrators as part of a job action intended to pressure government to open its purse at the bargaining table. The contract with the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) expired June 30 and while talks with the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association continue, there’s been little progress.
To read the entire Vancouver Sun article, click here.
Requirements for formal and informal reporting are based on ministerial orders and regulations authorized under the School Act. Schools must follow the specific requirements for reporting student progress as outlined in Ministry of Education policies.
Requirements under the School Act entitle a parent of a student of school age attending a school to be informed, in accordance with the orders of the minister, of the student’s attendance, behaviour and progress in school.
Be it resolved that the Minister of Education, and parties responsible, be held accountable to parents for the failure of the education system in its requirements to parents under the School Act.
Sincerely
Reece Jorgensen