Some B.C. teachers say their charter right to free speech was denied when officials ordered them to take off black armbands they wore to protest mandatory testing.

The president of the Kamloops-Thompson Teachers Federation, David Komljenovic, said four teachers wore black armbands to school in the southern Interior community in a quiet protest last year, until school administrators told them to take them off.

'That's in our mind no different than somebody wearing a religious symbol.'—David Komljenovic, Kamloops-Thompson Teachers Federation President

"It was fairly innocuous. To the teachers it represented their displeasure with the [mandatory tests]. The board said because that was a contentious issue, they weren't permitted to do so and were directed to remove them," he said.

Many B.C. teachers and their union oppose the provincewide tests known as Foundation Skills Assessments, which are given each year to Grade 4 and Grade 7 students, saying they are not useful and inaccurate. They also question the way they are used to rank schools.

"It's unfortunate that our school board feels at least that once teachers walk into a school building they don't any longer have freedom of expression rights," said Komljenovic, who compared the armbands to religious symbols a teacher might wear to class.

"It was fairly subtle. And in one circumstance the students had asked the teacher what that represented and the teacher had explained it to them. But again, that's in our mind no different than somebody wearing a religious symbol and the student asking what does that represent," he said.

Heading to arbitration

Komljenovic said he's hopeful the issue will be resolved when it goes before an arbitrator in March, but he's not afraid to take it to the Supreme Court of Canada, if necessary.

School district superintendent Terry Sullivan said the matter is being handled by an arbitrator.

"There are two arbitrations that relate to the Foundation Skills Assessment last year. We've gone through the grievance process, it wasn't settled and now it's going to arbitration and that's where it will be dealt with," said Sullivan.

In February 2009, the B.C. Labour Relations Board ruled that teachers must continue to administer controversial standardized tests as part of their jobs, after some teachers refused to administer them.