B.C. labour board rules educators must teach remedial summer classes

VANCOUVER – British Columbia's labour board has ruled striking educators must teach summer classes for high-school students who failed a course during the year.

The board wrote in a ruling that teachers must hold classes for students from Grades 10 to 12 who can not take the failed course during the next school year.

However the board is also asking the government to lift lockout conditions — such as reduced pay — for educators who will teach during the summer.

The province also asked the board to force educators to teach in a handful of schools that hold classes all year round and don't break for the summer, but the board is postponing a decision on that.

However teachers have agreed to take down picket lines around those schools, meaning those classes could resume next week.

More than 40,000 public school educators in B.C. started a full strike on June 17, cancelling classes for more than half a million students across the province indefinitely.

The staying points in the dispute are class size, pay and classroom support staff.