A Delta school facility user group has been spared a huge potential financial impact from the teachers' strike.
The Delta Life Skills Society, which uses rooms in several schools throughout the district every summer for a special needs program, was informed it would be able to use at least one classroom at Sands Secondary, but were told they wouldn't be able to use Delta Secondary if picket lines remained there.
The school district also indicated it would try to accommodate the group in other facilities, said society board member Lori Rowe.
The non-profit society was in a great deal of uncertainty about its program set to begin this week because of the contract dispute.
For over 20 years the society has helped children and young adults with a wide range of disabilities, such as Asperger's Syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, developmental delay and seizure disorders. Its main program is a summertime program aimed at continuing their daily structure and routine with recreation, developing life skills in a fun atmosphere.
The summer program runs for six weeks in July and August, running Monday to Friday, several hours a day. The program has several sites running out of schools in North and South Delta. Each rent-free site consists of approximately five to eight participants with an average of one-on-one support for each participant.
"It costs us about $5,000 per kid to go through the program. The parents pay a thousand and we basically fundraise the rest," said George Bates, the society's vice-president whose child attends the program.
Bates noted the parents have been remarkable in raising money for the program,
but the uncertainty about picket lines created angst. However, the society vowed to proceed this summer no matter what, he said.
The B.C. Teachers Federation promised to continue pickets outside schools during the summer if a deal wasn't reached in the bitter contract dispute. Picket lines would not only impact summer school, although the province had remedial summer school declared an essential service, but also other programming that would involve teachers or CUPE staff. The Delta Life Skills Society program uses educational
assistants, but those assistants are members of CUPE, meaning they wouldn't cross picket lines.
The society, which receives no government funding and relies heavily of year-round fundraising efforts by parents, had to scramble to find alternative locations in venues such as church basements. The society's summer program was to begin this Thursday and parents weren't sure if they would have had to use those backup venues. It seemed clear striking teachers would make no exception and allow the program to proceed for the special needs children in the schools. Rowe, whose son is a participant in the program, said having to go through with renting the alternate facilities would have added between $30,000 to $40,000 in costs.
"If we're paying for facility rentals, our facilities would be spread out and we'd need to book more buses for further transportation. It would cost us. We wanted to see what would happen with summer school but if there was still a picket line CUPE wouldn't cross it," she said.
The district, meanwhile, said it would delay the start of summer school until next Monday in the hope the contract dispute would be resolved.
