Kimberley students will not be in school Friday as SD6 teachers take part in a second wave of rotating strikes, as the two sides in the labour dispute — the B.C. Teachers Federation and the B.C. Public Schools Employers Association — remain far from a settlement.
But some Kimberley students were not in class yesterday morning either as they took to the streets outside their school to demand an end to the labour dispute.
Chanting “Our voices count” about a dozen students congregated outside McKim Middle School on Wednesday morning.
Their signs said, “We are tired of the labour dispute” and “Don’t put us in the middle, resolve your conflict”.
When asked if they knew the issues, the students said yes, they support their teachers but they want the contract troubles to stop affecting their school life.
“We want the strike to be over,” one said.
“They cancelled math group and I failed my test,” another said.
About 25 students also walked out of Selkirk Secondary and marched through the Platzl.
A few of them dropped by the Bulletin office and echoed the sentiments of the McKim students — frustration at not being able to get extra help at exam time, extra-curricular sports being cut and more. But this group also said they supported their teachers and thought they were doing the best they could.
Most school districts across the province informed parents that if their children did walk out they would be considered to be skipping school and marked as absent as schools could not be responsible for the safety of students who left the premises without permission.