Welcome to the CUPE BC K-12 Presidents’ Council site
The K-12 Presidents’ Council represents 57 CUPE locals in school districts across British Columbia.
CUPE represents more than 30,000 education workers including: education assistants, school secretaries, custodians/caretakers, Indigenous support workers, IT workers, Strong Start facilitators, trades and maintenance workers, and bus drivers.
We strive to protect quality public education for all.
The provincial government will be moving forward with fully integrating before- and after-school care into B.C. schools, staffed by K-12 school support workers.
This initiative will use existing school space as well as school district resources and staff to provide seamless care without additional pickups and drop-offs for families.
CUPE BC President Karen Ranalletta joined Premier David Eby to announce the project this week in Victoria.
“We are excited to partner with government to help make lives easier for parents and continue to offer the same high-quality support to children before and after school that they receive during school hours,” said Ranalletta. “We recognize the need that families face in finding childcare and our members are proud to be part of the solution.”
Three school districts have been selected to pilot the initiative this fall: Chilliwack, Nanaimo-Ladysmith and Nechako Lakes. Education Assistants, Early childhood educators and other support staff in these school districts will provide learning and care for children in classrooms and school spaces. This will mean more hours for school support staff in these districts, and provide much needed childcare in their communities.
Each district will create a model of care that meets provincial guidelines and local needs. The initiative will be evaluated and lessons will support ongoing expansion in other districts across the province.
The K-12 Presidents Council held elections for the executive board last week. Executive positions are for a three-year term and are voted on by CUPE presidents or designated representatives for K-12 sector locals in B.C.
President
Paul Simpson – CUPE 379
Vice-President
Jeanette Beauvillier – CUPE 4990
Secretary Treasurer
Stacey Robinson – CUPE 716
Recording Secretary
Dawn Armstrong – CUPE 3500
Membership Officer
Warren Williams – CUPE 15
Trustee
Dave Bollen – CUPE 409
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LIF provides an ongoing multi-year commitment from the provincial government for additional resources to the K-12 public education system, specifically targeted to support students with diverse needs.
All B.C. School Districts are required to engage in genuine consultation with locals on how its LIF allocation will be used. School districts must meet with locals, and report back to the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) by June 7, 2024.
For it to be a genuine consultation the district must meet with the school support staff union local in an honest and respectful manner. Consultations between respective school districts and locals must:
School districts are required to confirm with BCPSEA that consultations were (i) held with mutual respect and cooperation, and (ii) there is legitimate intent to take into account the concerns of both parties.
It is important to note, that while school districts are required to confirm genuine consultations took place, school districts are not required to confirm that the parties have agreed upon the usage of the LIF.
School districts are required to complete a Confirmation of Genuine Consultation form and submit to BCPSEA by June 7. To be complete, the form must be signed by a representative of the school support staff union local. By signing this form, the union will be confirming that genuine consultations took place that met the required criteria.
Information of the LIF allocations for each B.C. School District can be found on the provincial government website and bcschools.cupe.ca. The genuine consultation form can be found on bcschools.cupe.ca. The LIF regulation, including what it can be use for, can be found here.
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The Public Interest Disclosure Act came into effect December 2019, and is being phased in to cover provincial public sectors over a five-year period. On December 1, 2023, PIDA began covering the K-12 sector.
PIDA provides a legally protected avenue for employees and former employees to report serious or systemic wrongdoing to their supervisor, a designated officer, or the Ombudsperson.
The BC Ombudsperson, an independent officer of the BC Legislature, is mandated under PIDA to investigate allegations of wrongdoing from public sector employees, and complaints from employees who believe they have been subject to reprisals for reporting wrongdoing, seeking advice about reporting, or participating in an investigation
PIDA requires that all School Districts have at least one Designated Officer to receive and investigate disclosures.
Employees can seek advice or report wrongdoing to their supervisor, the Designated Officer, or directly to the Ombudsperson office. Employees can report reprisals only to the Ombudsperson.
Members can also seek advice from their union. It is important to note that a union’s role under PIDA is to provide general information about what is involved in making a complaint, but not to assess whether allegations would meet the threshold of wrongdoing.
School districts should be informing the Local and members about their procedures for assessing and investigating disclosures. If your school district has not already done so, you may wish to raise it with them.
Reporting wrongdoing to the BC Ombudsperson
If you make a report of wrongdoing to the BC Ombudsperson, an investigator will contact you within 2 business days to clarify the details of your report. You can submit a report of wrongdoing in writing by completing this form.
Once you have submitted your report, you can expect the following:
Review & Assessment
The Office of the BC Ombudsperson will review the information provided to determine if there is a reasonable basis to launch an investigation. This includes assessing whether, if proven, the allegations meet the threshold of wrongdoing under the law. Not all allegations will qualify as potential wrongdoing. Your identity will be kept confidential during this process. You will be informed of our decision to investigate your report.
Investigation
BC Ombudsperson investigations are conducted in a timely and fair manner. This includes providing any person who is the subject of an investigation with notice of the allegation and the opportunity to respond. If your report is investigated, additional contact with you will depend on the individual circumstances of the investigation. All investigations are completed as quickly as possible.
Report & Recommendations
Following an investigation, the BC Ombudsperson will issue a report containing any findings and recommendations to the public body involved. The discloser, or person who report the wrongdoing, will also receive a summary of conclusions and findings. If in the public interest, the BC Ombudsperson may report publicly on the outcome.
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Since the pandemic, education workers have seen a dramatic increase of violence and harassment in schools. To understand this development, CUPE National’s Research Branch is collaborating with scholars at the University of Ottawa on a new nationwide study that examines education workers’ experiences of physical violence and harassment. In particular, the study explores how intersecting factors such as gender, ethnicity and dis/ability influence those experiences.
This will be the largest study of its kind ever conducted in Canada and one of the few studies to examine the effect of the pandemic on rates and impacts of violence and harassment in schools. We are asking CUPE locals to share information about this research with their membership and to encourage as many education workers as possible to get involved.
Participation entails a 40-minute, online survey that is entirely anonymous and confidential. The survey will ask respondents about their experiences of explicit forms of physical violence as well as other manifestations of harassment, including slurs, insults, put-downs, being ‘ganged up’ on, and damaging accusations. No personal information about who members are or the school(s) in which they work will be collected. The survey can be completed in French or English, and a report on findings will be available in the summer of 2024.
Click here to launch the survey, or copy and paste the link below into your internet browser.
https://uottawapsy.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3kMOhVp9rd8l9no
We have linked a poster and a social media shareable announcing the study to this email. We encourage you to distribute them widely to spread the word about this important research.
View PDF here.
