Teachers in School District 43 will be returning to the classroom Tuesday refreshed and looking forward to the new school year - including the extra-curricular activities that make school special for kids - says the president of the Coquitlam Teachers' Association.
And despite some unhappiness about the way in which a new contract was reached late June, most teachers are relieved that the dispute-ridden 2011/'12 school year is behind them, Teresa Grandinetti told The Tri-City News yesterday.
"I think that most people, although they weren't happy with the way the agreement was settled, they were happy there's an agreement," Grandinetti said, referring to the eleventh hour agreement before the summer break began that provided some small improvements to benefits but no wage increases or improvements to class size and composition.
Grandinetti said the CTA will be monitoring classroom organization to make sure classes are balanced and the district keeps to its promise of 30 kids or fewer in Grades 4 to 12. In younger grades, class size limits are still in place, she said, but there are no longer caps to the number of students with an individual education plan permitted in a class.
HAS FAITH
"Generally, what most schools do is they try to spread things out... they will try balance classes," Grandinetti said, although she noted it's easier to do in elementary grades than in high school due to timetables in the older grades.
She credited the school district for sticking to class size limits (except for band and choir, where larger classes are considered appropriate for learning) and she acknowledged that the board has made an effort to put more money in schools to keep classes moderately sized.
"I have faith," she said. "Our district has been careful with it but we'll be doing monitoring. If there are ones that are out of whack we want to get on top of that."
While most teachers will likely resume volunteering, Grandinetti she will caution against them taking on too much and burning out. "You should do it because you want to do it, not because you are guilted into doing it," she said.
Grandinetti said teachers will support the school district in its efforts to establish its new Learning Without Boundaries vision and many are already working on projects that support differentiated learning styles and personalized learning that meets individual needs.
She's also waiting to see the provincial government flesh out its education plan with its promise of reducing the number of learning expectations, so teachers and students can go deeper into a topic.
But she acknowledges that a new government may be setting the education agenda in the near future.
"Let's face it, this government might not be around in eight months."
