B.C. teachers prepare for school year, despite ongoing contract negotiations

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It’s a time of excitement and anxiety for B.C.’s public school teachers who are busily prepping for the start of classes on Tuesday while keeping an eye on labour negotiations.

Angela Marcakis, who teaches grade seven at Creekside Elementary in Surrey, is preparing for the new semester.

“We are in a year of bargaining, as we all know. We are all closely following that and hoping to get the fair deal in time before the school year [starts], and just hoping things are smooth because everyone’s excited to get back into the classroom and meet their new students.”

But she says deal or no deal, she’ll be ready.

RELATED: B.C. teacher contract negotiation still unresolved

“I’ve been out there buying new school supplies and books and resources with my own money, and just a lot of preparing for new lessons and unit plans.”

Marcakis has been learning the updated curriculum. She says it’s a bit harder to plan without knowing exactly how many students she’ll have or if she’ll have split grades to deal with, but there’s a lot to prepare.

“Checking out new bulletin board ideas and then implementing those new ideas into your classroom, just to make sure it’s warm and welcoming for your new students when they enter the classroom too, so they’re excited too.”

Teachers have been without a contract since June 30. The most hotly contested issues surround class sizes and specialist-teacher ratios.