Classes Cancelled Due to Teacher's Strike (Journal Report)

I got the chance to speak to a couple of teachers and students of the TDSB and TCDSB about the potential teacher's strike towards the Boards.

---

Students joined teachers in striking against the two Boards of education.

Many students are enjoying an extra

long-weekend starting Monday morning

as teachers from across Toronto pick up

the picket signs and protest against the

school boards. To some students, the

strike provides them with a muchwanted

break; giving them time to relax,

enjoy the warm summer weather, and

granting them some extra time to finish

up assignments. However, to other

students, the various strikes across the

city stand as a curse.

“Strikes hurt everybody,” a teacher at

Blessed Cardinal Newman High School

states. “Those Grade twelve students

may not get their credits... the older

students, they have to worry about getting into postsecondary and the marks they get at the mid-term may be allthey have to show Universities,and many students do not get accepted.”

More than 60,000 students willbe home while teachers protestthe Toronto District SchoolBoard’s action to save moneythrough staff attrition. As ofmid-March 2015, more thantwo-hundred teachingpositions were eliminated,which include elementary,secondary, special education,and English as a SecondaryLanguage (ESL) teachers.

“These cuts are lowering the amount of money the

School Boards have to pay, but it’s at the expense of the

staff... the move is devastating to the teachers of the

schools being affected.” A grade-eleven teacher at Jean

Vanier Catholic High School explains. “The [School] Board

may have been losing money, but these teachers have

families to feed, rent to pay, bills to worry about. You will

definitely see me outside of the Board protesting among

the hundreds of others.”

“The Board said they’ll only cut down a small number

of jobs. However, they [School Board] have already done

so much more than that. They’ve cut down resource staff

to less than half of what it used to be.” Another teacher

at Blessed Cardinal Newman High School reveals.

While only three school districts are on current strike

action (Peel, Sudbury, and Durham), there are talks about

a number of other district school boards possibly going

on strike as well. This can lead to even more students out

of school, which can result in the largest teacher-walk out

that Ontario, or even all of Canada, has ever seen.

However, the financial issue within the province (which

faces just under an $11 billion debt) does not seem to be

the only issue that led the teaching staff to strike.

“We’re talking about working conditions. We’re talking

about learning conditions.” Paul Elliot, Union president

states. “There are issues we have been trying to deal with

for over ten years and we have come to a point of

frustration.”

As the teachers are speaking out, the students

stay in. More than 21,000 students in the Durham

region have been out of school for two weeks, while

their some 4,700 peers at the Sudbury region have

been sitting at home since as early as April 27. With

the days without schooling passing by, the fears of

an early-ending school year are becoming

overwhelming for students.

“I think I’m mostly worried about having to make

up for the school year in the summer.” A grade

eleven student of the Durham Region explains,

“Depending on how long this strike lasts, it’ll just add

more hours of work I will need to dedicate myself

towards in order to catch up with the school’s

curriculum. I really look forward to my summer

break and hope I won’t be spending it inside another

school.”

With the rate and number of strikes growing, it’s

difficult to see an agreement being confirmed

anytime soon.

A Peel Region teacher explains, “It’s a wreck. It is

unfair for us teachers due to the fact that we are the

ones providing education to the students. The youth

are constantly being pressured to get a good job,

and to get a proper education, but teachers are the

ones that allow them to get this education, so why

would the Board completely cut down jobs in order

to save some money? There are other ways to keep

up with the budget.”