Supervision of Kamloops elementary school sports may soon not be teachers’ responsibility

KAMLOOPS – Teachers might not be required to oversee inter-school sports at the elementary level after a Kamloops Thompson school board vote Monday, June 13.

The school district is looking at allowing volunteers to take over responsibility of extra-curricular school teams at elementary schools when teachers aren’t able to. Currently volunteers can coach the teams, but a teacher is still required to oversee the team.

Supt. Karl deBruijn says some schools are finding it difficult to get teachers to fill the extra-curricular roles, but do have volunteers willing to take on the responsibility.

Under the new policy, a volunteer will be approved by the school’s principal, who will also help ensure proper supervision and safety precautions.

DeBruijn says the district has already discussed the policy with their principals, and the move is supported. He looks at it as a way to ensure students have an opportunity to participate in sports, like volleyball, basketball and track and field.

He says there’s still lots of teacher coaches, but this removes an obstacle for some schools looking to field more teams.

Teachers aren’t required to supervise secondary school teams.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Brendan Kergin or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.