Brandon teachers turn back plan to expand school day

Brandon public school teachers have fought back a move by the division to increase the work day by 30 minutes.

“We think this is a huge victory,” says Sherilyn Bambridge, president of the Brandon Teachers’ Association. “We really seemed to have the sentiments of the public on this issue.”

The issue arose last fall when the school division began pondering ways in which it could accommodate new phys-ed requirements. One of the options was to lengthen the high school day by 30 minutes. And that sparked discussion about how it could be applied to all grades.

Brandon teachers were not consulted in the preparation of the options related to the phys-ed requirements and only became aware of what was being considered when a survey was sent to schools.

The survey asked teachers about the need to meet the needs of such courses as music and phys ed. It then ended with a question asking teachers if they would agree to extend the school day by 30 minutes.

Bambridge and the teachers’ association, with help from The Manitoba Teachers’ Society, immediately began mobilizing, contacting all members to ensure that they did not fill out the survey, obviously designed to pave the way for the lengthening of the school day.

Teachers began sending emails and letters to school board trustees and the survey was quickly pulled.

The idea of extending the school day, however, was still alive and more than 80 teachers showed up at the next school board meeting to oppose the idea. In the meantime, Bambridge contacted every trustee individually to explain the association’s position.

“We needed to show them why this was a bad idea,” she says, citing numerous problems from day care and after-school programs to bus pick-up and drop-off schedules and, of course, adding to teacher workload.

While workload was an important issue, it wasn’t emphasized in the association’s campaign. In fact, the issue touched on so many areas, it went beyond just the length of a teachers’ workday.

Faced with the opposition, the school board then decided to increase the day by 12 minutes, cutting back the time students had to change classes between periods.

Students themselves, timed how long it took them to get from class to class and found it couldn’t be done in the time allotted under the new plan. Many students got onside, opposing the plan as well.

Petitions went to the school board, one signed by every high school teacher. The association ran an ad in the Brandon newspaper and Bambridge was doing a series of interviews with the media.

And letters and emails were being sent from teachers, students and parents to trustees.

“They did not receive one letter in support of extending the school day,” says Bambridge.

The proposal finally went to a vote at a January school board meeting attended by more than 50 teachers and a dozen students.

The board defeated the proposal 5-4 and indicated it would strike a committee, including teachers this time, to look at the needs of the division and possible solutions.

The meeting at which the idea finally went down in flames left some teachers shaking their heads after at least some trustees admitted the whole issue was handled poorly.

“I think the process has been atrocious,” trustee Brian Mayes was quoted as saying in the Brandon Sun. “I don’t think we know what the hell we’re voting on.”

Trustee Linda Ross echoed the sentiments: “This has been a fiasco.”

On that, Brandon teachers found they were in agreement with the board.