Due to the popularity of the French Immersion program and limited space, a placement process using a lottery system will be used for new FI Kindergarten registrations.

There will be an information meeting for all parents interested in registering for Kindergarten French Immersion at 6pm on Thursday, January 16, 2020 at Deep Cove Elementary.

Registration requests received at your FI catchment school during Kindergarten Registration Week Monday, January 27 to Friday, January 31, 2020 will be included in the lottery.

The lottery will follow Saanich Schools enrolling priorities:

All prior Community Use events previously booked before the job action will continue as usual starting Monday, November 18, 2019.

The Board is very pleased to report that the agreement has now been ratified by both CUPE 441 and the Board of Education.

This ratified agreement is consistent with the province’s Sustainable Services Negotiating Mandate and reflects the following changes in relation to the employer’s previous offer tabled on November 5th and published on November 6, 2019.

1. CHANGE - Article 27.05 (Banding) – The ratified agreement reflects option 1 for banding as was tabled September 13, 2019, versus option 2 tabled on November 5, 2019. With this change, the number of bands remains the same, but the placement of the bands differs slightly.  For most positions, this results in small changes to the wage increases. With option 1, the percentage wage increase for education assistants (job 51) increases to 13.0% over the life of the collective agreement (versus 12.8% with banding option 2).
2. NEW - Letter of Understanding (LOU) 28 Unallocated JE Funds – in the event the provincial joint job evaluation committee allocates excess job evaluation funds to the district, this LOU clarifies that the district and union will meet to discuss allocation of those funds prior to distribution.
3. NEW - Letter of Understanding (LOU) 29 Employee Strike Support – This LOU clarifies that the provisions of Appendix A of the Provincial Framework Agreement will continue to apply to members of CUPE 441.
4. NEW - Letter from BCPSEA to CUPE 441 - in this letter BCPSEA has agreed to make certain recommendations to the provincial joint job evaluation (JE) committee, clarifying how BCPSEA expects the job evaluation process will be conducted.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

A tentative agreement has now been reached between School District 63 (Saanich) and CUPE Local 441, the union representing more than 500 support staff workers. This means that all Saanich Schools will be open as of Monday, November 18, 2019, for regular instruction.

We recognize that this has been an extremely frustrating and disruptive time for everyone, including our students and their families. We have a long established history of placing high value on the importance of people and relationships in our district, and understand that this disruption to the learning environment has created extra tension. As a district, we remain committed to the excellent education we provide as well as nurturing the relationships that make that happen.

Here are some school operational updates for your information:

• Schools and buses will be running on their normal schedules;
• Your child’s school will be confirming any changes to pertinent dates like Term 1 completion, report cards and semester change (for secondary schools). You can anticipate this information some time in the next few days;
• Schools will continue to keep parents updated on any additional changes to schedules or events once we are settled into a regular school routine.
• The scheduled Professional Development Day scheduled for Friday, November 22nd has been postponed to a date yet to be determined. All schools will be open on Friday, November 22nd for a regular day of instruction.

We are extremely pleased to have our schools open once again and look forward to re-engaging with our community and providing quality public education.

Sincerely,

Dave Eberwein
Superintendent of Schools

Elsie McMurphy
Vice-Chair, Board of Education