According to the Prince George Citizen’s editorial on Friday, September 9th:

Prince George’s district is one of only four in the province whose union staff is taking action by refusing to perform administrative duties – which could lead to missing report cards if left too long – as well as refusing to supervise students during recess.

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/article/20110909/PRINCEGEORGE0302/309099988/-1/princegeorge03/a-precarious-position

This is not fully accurate information. The teacher’s union is taking action across the province, not just in four districts. In six districts (at last notice) the school districts have cancelled recess, as a reaction to the job action, due to difficulty in replacing teacher supervision at recess time.

For more information about recess, please see:
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2011/09/07/more-b-c-school-districts-cancel-recess/

There are additional resources about the teacher job action posted on this website.

From Janet Steffenhagen’s Vancouver Sun Report Card Blog:

“Job action always tends to make people worry. I know many parents in Vancouver and across B.C. are concerned about what it will mean for them and their children.

“The good news is that initially it may not mean very much at all. Schools will stay open and at this point there will not be picket lines. In fact, some BCTF representatives say the “teachonly campaign” will enable teachers to focus more attention on students by freeing them from other administrative roles and from their daily interactions with school administrators and district managers.

“However, while teaching will continue, parents can anticipate less communication as some teachers may choose not to participate in “meet the teacher” evenings and choose not to prepare report cards. Other teachers may refuse to collect money for fees and fundraising. Fortunately, at this stage, it looks likely that many extracurricular activities will continue if teachers choose to participate in them.”

Read more:

http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/reportcard/archive/2011/09/01/the-bctf-teach-only-campaign-and-students-don-t-worry.aspx

As the new school year begins, BC teachers are disappointed that the employer has not returned to the bargaining table with a mandate to invest in public education through enhanced funding for services to students and a fair increase to wages and benefits for teachers.

Despite an April 2011 Supreme Court decision that ruled BC Liberal laws stripping class-size and composition clauses to be unconstitutional, the provincial government has done nothing to rectify the situation. By removing class-size limits and guarantees of services to students with special needs, the contract-stripping legislation enabled the government to cut vast sums each year from the education budget: an annual amount equivalent to $336 million in 2011 dollars.

“These funds have been illegally taken away from students, from teachers, and from the public education system,” said Susan Lambert, president of the BC Teachers’ Federation. “Teachers are determined in this round of bargaining to regain these lost services, jobs, and resources to meet students’ needs.”

Although negotiations began in March and the collective agreement expired in June, to date there has been absolutely no progress in bargaining. “Government continues to come empty-handed to the table, persisting with their sub-zero mandate. Government spending decisions are a question of priorities, and we believe children should be the number one priority.”

In order to increase pressure on the employer, the BCTF will file strike notice today to take effect at 7:00 a.m. Tuesday, September 6, 2011. Phase 1 of job action means that teachers will not be performing administrative tasks such as filling out forms, collecting data, meeting with principals or other administrators, supervising on  playgrounds, or writing report cards. 

“Teachers’ attention will be totally focused on the students in their classrooms, and not on the many bureaucratic and administrative tasks that take away from the joy of teaching and learning,” Lambert said, adding that teachers will be in close communication with parents if the need arises.

Lambert called on Education Minister George Abbott and Premier Christy Clark to send their negotiators back to the bargaining table with a new mandate to achieve a negotiated settlement that will meet the needs of students and teachers alike.

She noted that BC teachers’ salaries have fallen far behind those of colleagues in other provinces, and benefits have not been improved in more than 15 years. Funding cuts also mean scarce classroom supplies, including basics such as photocopy paper and textbooks.

“If the Premier is serious about her ‘Families First’ agenda, she cannot say there is no money for public education. It’s the single most important service to the health and well-being of the province’s children,” Lambert said.

B.C. students returning to school next month will likely face a reduction of services but a prolonged teachers’ strike isn’t something the government will let stand for long, said Education Minister George Abbott.

Abbott told reporters Tuesday he’s not optimistic that a contract agreement between the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association will be reached before start of the school year, resulting in limited job action by the teachers.

This website, from the BC Public School Employer’s Association, has information as to regards job action and education as an essential service.

http://www.bcpsea.bc.ca/bc-teachers/teacher-collective-bargaining/essential-services.aspx

According to Tuesday’s Prince George Citizen:

Elementary school students will go without a formal recess if teachers proceed with their job action when classes begin next week, School District 57 superintendent Brian Pepper confirmed Monday.

Teachers have said they will refuse to do administrative work or attend meetings with management if an agreement is not reached and Pepper said supervision at recess is among those duties.
Principals and vice principals and other non-union or “exempt” staff will simply be too busy to take up the slack, said Pepper, who noted exempt staff numbers have declined in the past few years.

“We have really skilled teachers and our teachers will recognize that sometimes groups of students or individual students will need a more frequent break than is provided by recess and lunch even right now,” Pepper said.

“So, our teachers will provide opportunities for a stretch, a trip to the washroom, a trip to grab a snack. Our teachers do that anyway.”

Prince George and District Teachers Association president Matt Pearce confirmed that recess supervision is among the duties teachers will refuse to perform but questioned the school district’s decision to drop supervision by non-union staff.

“I would argue the point that they don’t have enough administrators to do it,” Pearce said.

“They have enough administrators to cover all of the schools before and after school and at lunch hour, they’re choosing not to cover the schools at recess.”

Pepper held out the hope teachers won’t launch job action next week, but Pearce said that’s unlikely given the slow progress on contract negotiations between the B.C. Teachers Federation and the provincial government’s bargaining agent, the B.C. Public School Employers Association.

“They began a series of bargaining sessions on the 23rd, it was going to be nine straight days, and word is nothing substantive happened in the first five days, so I would think it’s a virtual lock that there’ll be job action on the sixth,” Pearce said.