B.C. teachers' strike: When will schools reopen?

A tentative deal has been reached in an effort to end the B.C. teachers' strike, but a lot remains to be done before schools can reopen.

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Both sides need to finalize the details of the tentative pact, whichis expected to happen sometime on Tuesday.

Then the province's 41,000 public school teachers will have to vote on the proposed contract.

A date for a ratification vote has not yet been announced, but B.C. Teachers'Federation spokeswomanNancy Knickerbocker tweeted that teachers could vote on the tentative deal on Thursday.

• Tentative deal in B.C. teachers' strike could reopen schools

David Komlenjovic, president of the Kamloops/Thompson Teachers' Association and a member of the provincial bargaining committee says he expects classes to resume next week.

"The executive still has to ratify it provincially, recommend it to the membership, and once the membership has ratified it, students could be back in school by Monday."

Lots of work to be done

Vancouver School Board trustee Mike Lombardi says school administrators have been doing what they can to prepare for a swift return to classes, but it will take time.

He says there may be specific details regarding the back-to-school protocol in the tentative dealifthat's the case, theywould dictate how soon classes can begin.

Administrators need to assign teachers to classes, and then those teachers will need time to prepare for students.

School counsellors also need to draw up new schedules for students, in particular those who were unable to make up classes at summer school.

"In our secondary schools, the administrator is not the one who does the timetable. The timetable is specifically done by the counsellors, and so the counsellors are part of the union. So we're going to have to wait until we see exactly what kids' courses look like."

Lombardi says there may be difficulty working out missed summer school courses for some students.

In addition,administrators say schools, which have behind picket lines for three months, need to be cleaned.

It all suggests students could be back in school likely Monday next week.

Some schools have professional development days scheduled for Monday and it remains unclear what will happen in those cases.