Parents and Students
The cancellation of the annual April Running Club is a disappointment to many of us. The reasons given from Cambridge Staff for the cancellation of Running Club are 1) Teacher Job Action and 2) Lack of volunteers. Please let me comment on this.
The prime reason for cancelling the Running Club is the Teacher Job Action. The Teachers have withdrawn their involvement for the Running Club event and that decision has an impact on the Running Club. The impact that the PAC executive has been dealing with is that we will need many more volunteers than any other year to help run this event. The PAC Executive made a decision on Thursday morning that taking on this event was not possible based on the number of volunteers needed, the assuming of responsibilities for running a school program and the number of volunteers who indicated their availability.
Running Club is an all month event. Having enough volunteers is not just for one day but every day. Many parents at Cambridge have been generous with their time and parents did indicate their willingness to help with Running Club on the permission form sent home in late February. Last April`s Running Club saw the number of volunteers dwindle rapidly over the weeks and few parents were left to shoulder all the work everyday. This is not acceptable.
A suggestion was made to perhaps only hold Running Club certain days of the week – the same concern is present in terms of having enough volunteers. I have tried to explain the number of volunteers need to run the event below.
Teachers have been legislated back to, once again, supervising the 15 minutes after the 2:40 school bell but that does not involve Running Club which goes for 30 minutes. There is a mandatory level of supervision that is required for such an event that in previous years was done by the teachers. We would need one person in charge of the entire event so they could organize information and schedule volunteers. We need guaranteed set up and take down of the course each day; supervisors in hi-vis vests along the course for safety and supervision. Parents signing booklets and issuing ribbons. We would also need to guarantee a first aid person present and available on all running club days.
What is next? The BCTF/STA School Union Representative at Cambridge is Ms. Neovi Patsicakis patsicakis_n@sd36.bc.ca. My understanding from Ms. Patsicakis is that effective immediately teachers are completing any volunteer activities that they have started and will not be starting any new volunteer work. Running Club was volunteer work for the teachers involved. There is an important vote on April 16-18 for the Teachers. Decisions will be made at that vote on what will happen next with the Job Action. Parents are welcome to email or call Ms. Neovi Patsicakis directly. Cambridge Phone number 604-595-4036
The next Cambridge PAC meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 16th. We are considering changing the date so that the results of the teachers voting will be known and Cambridge School Union Representatives can attend the meeting to explain the results.
Please plan to attend the PAC Meeting – stay tuned for the rescheduled date.
Lynda Bennett
Cambridge PAC President
