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Kootenay Lake Superintendent of Schools pens letter to parents

Contributor
By Contributor
November 29th, 2013

November 29, 2013

To Our SD8 (Kootenay Lake) Community

This letter is to follow up from the one I sent to you dated August 29, 2013. I have no doubt that you have been hearing in the media about the current state of our District’s negotiations relative to the CUPE collective agreement. The purpose of this message is to advise you that recently CUPE Local 748 has reaffirmed their strike mandate.

This means that in the event our negotiations do not satisfy the union membership and the School District, there is still a possibility that CUPE members could initiate strike activity.

Our CUPE staff members are highly valued individuals who provide important services that support our learners every day.

Bus Drivers, Clerical workers, Facilities and Maintenance employees, Technology Support personnel and Educational Assistants are among our employees included in this group.

In the event that our colleagues choose to take strike action, and remove all services, we will be unable to receive students in our schools.

Therefore, I recommend that while we hope for the best, we need to be planning for the worst-case scenario.

At this time I am advising parents that they should be considering childcare arrangements in the event of a full withdrawal of services by our CUPE colleagues.

The Board of Education has called a Special Regular Meeting at 6:30 PM on Monday, December 2.

At this meeting the Board will discuss the current circumstances and make a decision about next steps.

This meeting is open to the public and will occur at the Nelson Board Office.

Please keep listening carefully to local radio media, and keep an eye on our website (www.sd8.bc.ca) in order to see updates and current information about this matter.

Yours truly,
Jeff Jones
Superintendent of Schools

Categories: GeneralLetters

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