Final exams for grades 10-12 are being written at the local high school this week despite the teachers being in full scale strike action.
Secondary principals and vice principals will invigilate Grade 10-12 provincial exams along with help from other schools’ principals, vice principals and district non-union staff, confirmed Greg Luterbach, superintendent for School District 20 (SD20).
For J.L. Crowe Secondary graduating students, Friday marks the last day they may have in the high school, once the provincial English 12 exam is written in the school’s gym that morning or Communications 12 in the afternoon.
At this point in the teachers’ strike, the only students that will receive a report card this summer are the Grade 12s, every other grade will have to wait until the dispute is resolved or the issue is deemed an essential service.
“At this time, we have been informed by the teachers’ union that teachers will not be providing the district any marks/grades/performance indicators for any grade lower than Grade 12,” noted Luterbach.
The matter requiring teachers to provide school final marks for lower grades may go in front of the Labour Relations Board to be deemed an essential service later this month, he added.
“End of year reporting for grades K-11 is still a significant unknown for districts across the province.”
The school district will provide a Grade 12 report card as teachers are required to have the school-based mark submitted to the SD20 office by June 20, as per the essential services order.
However, the timing of the local Grade 12 report card is still up in the air as management staff has to handle entering marks into the system to generate the report cards, Luterbach continued.
Once those marks are then sent to the Ministry of Education, the student’s final mark is a blend of the school mark (60 per cent in Grade 12 English) and the provincial exam mark.
The blended marks appear on a transcript which students can access and print via their Personal Education Number (PEN) on the ministry’s website, explained Luterbach.
“One of the topics covered in the required Graduation Transition 12 course at JLC is how to submit a post-secondary institute form,” he continued.
“Which directs the ministry to send the transcript, when ready, directly to a BC post-secondary institutions at no cost.”