Many school districts in the province have taken the step of cancelling recess due to job action by teachers that takes them out of supervisory roles during recess and lunch the Prince Rupert School District has had administrators covering those duties, but Superintendent Lynn Hauptman said cancelling recess for students in Prince Rupert remains a possibility.
“It's one of the last things we want to do...We can all do extra supervision for a period of time, but after a while the work on the education side of things starts to fall behind,” she explained, adding that it could be looked at if job action continues.
“At some schools we have staff that are not eating lunch until four p.m. because they are covering recess and lunch and working during instructional time...We also have administrators from some schools going to other schools to help with supervision.”
Another possibility Hauptman outlined is starting school later or ending the school day sooner to make up for any lost recess time. That is something that the neighbouring Coast Mountain School District has done, as well as cancelling recess, with school getting underway 15 minutes later than previously due to the lack of recess.
The Cowichan Valley, Qualicum, Vernon, Prince George and North Okanagan – Shuswap school districts have also taken the step of cancelling recess.