School is officially out for summer in New Westminster.
Robert Weston, the district’s director of human resources, confirmed to The Record Wednesday that the district is closing the doors to summer school at New Westminster Secondary.
“The reason is the essential service order makes it just impossible for us to proceed this summer,” Weston said, referring to the recent Labour Relations Board ruling from last week that summer school programs are essential, but only for Grade 10 to 12 students who failed a course last school year.
Only 24 New Westminster students fit that bill, according to the district’s secretary-treasurer Al Balanuik. For the rest of the approximately 570 students who registered for summer courses this year, the district is now in the process of issuing refunds.
Given the restrictions placed upon summer enrolment by the Labour Relations Board, there are too few students to operate a viable summer school program this year, according to the district.
“It’s just not a viable undertaking,” Balanuik said. “We do not have a single viable classroom to offer – we don’t have enough students in any course. We would have at the very most four students in each class.”
If students are already registered for online classes they can continue, Balanuik said, but added, “to my knowledge, students cannot register for an online course at this time.”
As for students who failed a course and need it to move forward next year, Balanuik said high school administrators are looking into timetables and learning opportunities for the new school year.
The district joins a growing list of Metro Vancouver school districts that have pulled the plug on summer school, including Vancouver, Burnaby and North Vancouver.
Meanwhile, relations between the province and the teachers’ union took a turn for the worse Wednesday after the two sides attempted to enlist Supreme Court Justice Stephen Kelleher as a mediator, but after exploratory discussions with the parties he had determined the parties were still too far apart.
For information about summer school refunds, visit district.sd40.bc.ca.
– with files from Cornelia Naylor
