Gill Bexton was in the midst of what she laughingly called her "adventure day camp" - including "extreme" hopscotch, cookie baking and a short hike at Alice Lake - with her daughter Isabelle, 6, and three other "little darlings" when she paused and said in a serious tone, "We're making the best of it but hopefully it doesn't go on much longer."
"It," as most parents of school-aged kids in British Columbia can attest, was the three-day province-wide teachers' walkout that took place Monday through Wednesday (March 5 to 7). Teachers, who carried signs outside Squamish's eight public schools were back in the classroom on Thursday (March 8). They were scheduled to be there today (March 9) before taking a two-week spring break.
Bexton, a Brackendale mom, was like many who had to make alternate child-care arrangements during the walkout. Fortunately, her employer - digital marketing firm VentureWeb - was understanding, allowing her to take Tuesday off so that she could be at home that day and be part of a kid-swap arrangement among working parents. Another parent in the group took Monday and still another opened her home on Wednesday, Bexton said.
"We are going for a walk at Alice Lake and we've been outside in the backyard," she said of the schedule of activities for herself and the little ones. "We had the extreme hopscotch in the cul de sac we've baked cookies and delivered them to the neighbours and now it's quesadillas for the masses."
Bexton's other daughter Gemma, who is in Grade 6, spent Tuesday participating in one of the ski camps hastily organized by Whistler Mountain Ski Club in response to the strike.
Gill Bexton said she wasn't sure whom to support in the labour dispute - the teachers or the government. She just wanted to see it resolved.
"You know, I feel for the teachers," she said. "I'm not a big fan of unions and striking as a means of resolving disputes, but I just hope they can compromise a little bit and get past this so that the rest of the school year can be a positive one."
With classes not in session and schools only open "to oversee any emergent issues," a few of the hundreds of parents affected by the walkout took advantage of the extra day camps organized by the District of Squamish (DOS) recreation department in response to the situation.
The camps, which included swimming, skating, arts and crafts and fitness activities in the Brennan Park auditorium, included two instructors with a capacity of 12 children per day, said Tim Hoskin, DOS director of recreation services.
The camp was "just about full" on Monday and, as of Monday afternoon, still had space available for Tuesday, Hoskin said. He said he appreciated the efforts of recreation program staff for pulling the camps together on such short notice after the walkout was announced on Thursday, March 1.
Hoskin said getting the word out on short notice "was a bit of a challenge but we did our best," including announcing the camps on the radio and at the schools.
"We've got a good team here," he said. "We also run spring break camps. We anticipated that there would be a strong need for the camps during the job action and we were able to pull it together quite quickly."
