“us
36,

WOE Oe

ce

Your Number One
Suburban Newspaper

w LAY-OFF PROCEDURES

Teach
against

ers revol

il 35

‘WEST VANCOUVER Teachers’ Association will poll: its

300 members next week to see if they are in favor of taking

By KIM PEMBERTON
News Reporter

job action to protest Bill 35.

The new bill gives school boards
greater powers to lay off teachers.
It was used last year in West Van-
couver in the precedent setting case
that laid off teacher Roger Callow.

_ ‘The bill affects districts failing
‘to reach agreement on lay-off pro-
cedures with their local teachers.

Association president Maureen
Ciarniello said if the bill remains in
West Vancouver, teacher job ac-
tion could run the gamut from a
petition to a withdrawal of ser-
vices.

Ciarniello. said teachers feel the
school district’s negotiating team is
trying to stall a lay-off procedure
agreement so it can continue to
operate under Bill 35,

But. a spekesman for School
District 45 said the board's
negotiating team would prefer to
negotiate. a lay-off procedure,
rather than act under the bill.

Margot Furk, chairman of the
 district’s bargaining . committee,
explained the board is having dif-
ficulties negotiating a lay-off pro-
cedure, because it would affect the
board’s position in an upcoming
court case.

Callow, a social studies teacher
with a J7-year career in the
district, was the first teacher in
B.C. to be laid off under Bill 35,
for not showing ‘‘current demon-
strated (teaching) ability.”

With the support of the B.C.
Teachers’. Federation, Callow is
appealing his lay-off, and will be
in Supreme Court April 21.

A lay-off procedure agreement
in the local school district must be

‘centre “gathered ‘Thursday

“pot honored by. the ni

reached by May 15.

‘Teachers are most upset about
their lack of rights in this district,’’
said Ciarniello, explaining that
more than 200 attended an
““emergency”’ meeting last week to
discuss the issue.

“Frankly, I'm really frustrated
at this point. We've been
negotiating the same agreement for
three years and getting nowhere,’’
she said.

“T think we've tried to be fair
and quict, but there’s a limit to pa-
tience."’

Ciarniello said West Vancouver
teachers want to settle the lay-off
issue before proceeding on teach-
ers’ salary negotiations, which
must be settled by May 1

“We haven't had a flat out no
(on the lay-off procedure), but we
feel every time we go back (to the
bargaining table) there’s more
obstacles in our way.

“We just don’t feel there’s an
urgency on the board's part, and it
makes us feel they’re going to stall
us unti! it’s too late for an agree-
ment,’’ she said.

But Furk said the board has
dealt honorably with the teachers,

“She (Ciarniello) is questioning
the legitimacy of the intentions of
the board in terms of our sincerity.

“She’s within her right to do so,
but I'd point out she shot out the

See Board
Page 10

ction they will take if their spa ence ‘are.
‘operators. of International Plaza fitness’ ‘centre

‘About, 150 spa members, attended: the meeting,

Circulation 086-1337

‘purchased . from: Sprint: and: the ‘Canadian . Fitness
. Club,

"Carson
Graham
celebrates
PAGE 35

fashion
Hair
PAGE 15

"62 pages “D5e

SE eT

an ” NEWS photo, Tom urtey
ROGER CALLOW, the’ West ‘Vancouver t¢ teacher laid off last year under Bill 35, discusses the new bill,
which gives greater powers to school beards, with 2 passer-by. Callow was photographed March 30 in
front of Vancouver's Hyatt Regency Hotel, where the B.C. Teachers’ Federation was holding its’ an-
nual general meeting. This month, with the support.of the BCTF, Callow is appealing the decision in
Supreme Court. The West Vancouver Teachers’ Association is also planning to protest the bill's use in
the district.

a annual membehin fees of ‘$120 to Sprint, after |
spa’ operators honor, memberships ing up | to > SI, 1200; for lifetime memberships: in: two...
: | See" Zalko- .

the - two previous ‘unsuccessful | Plaza ‘spa

Page 5