Teresa Rezansoff was woken up in the middle of the night at her Grand Forks home today but she isn’t complaining about it. The president of the British Columbia School Trustees Association got the news she had been waiting months to hear: that the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association had finally reached a tentative agreement on a new contract and kids should soon be heading back to school.
While Rezansoff wasn’t allowed to reveal any of the details of the new agreement before teachers vote on ratifying the contract on Thursday (Sept. 18), she said she is very optimistic the strike will be settled soon.
“I think the fact that we’ve been able to get to a negotiated settlement with the help of Vince Ready is just absolutely fabulous,” she told the Courier over the phone Tuesday morning. “It is what trustees have wanted, it’s what teachers have wanted and both we’ve all been saying that we want a negotiated settlement and we got it. It look us a long time but we did and I think that is really the best news and I see no reason not to think our students will be back in school soon.”
Two school board trustees, Silas White from the Sunshine Coast’s School Board District 46 and Alan Chell from District 19 in Revelstoke, were both at the table during the late night negotiations.
“We wanted to ensure continuity and they have both been excellent representatives for us.”
