York Region parents ‘outraged’ at government's ‘disconnect’ from reality: teachers

Sandy Glassford from OSSTF wants to know details on how the ‘largest consultation’ in Ontario's history on education was carried out

Yorkregion.com
March 25, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb

York Region’s president of District 16 Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation is “disappointed” following the announcement made by Ontario’s Education Minister Lisa Thompson last week.

Sandy Glassford told York Region Media on March 21 that not only was Thompson's announcement of holding the “largest consultation of its kind in Ontario history” vague, but it was bereft of any “technicality” to explain how her ministry will translate the so-called reforms into reality.

After engaging with 72,000 Ontarians through open submission forms, online surveys and telephone town halls to give their opinion on what ought to be changed, Thompson’s new education vision, announced on March 15, includes bringing math back to basics and renewing focus on STEM, skilled trades and financial literacy.

While class sizes for kindergarten to Grade 3 will remain unchanged, class sizes for grades 4 to 8 will grow to be in line with the Tories' goal to cut costs.

“We are hearing complete outrage at this point of time from our members and from the public,” Glassford said in regards to the prospect of larger class sizes.

“We were approached by parent groups who want to work with us and to strategize on how to make this announcement not come to fruition,” he added. “At this point of time no legislation has been passed and no budget has been announced so it is just that.”

Glassford also questioned how this “historic” consultation was ever conducted as he is “struggling” to see where the Tory government is getting its confident from that people are OK with larger class sizes.

“They may have held the largest consultation ever but I guess the only way to get an answer is through an FOI,” he said.

Charline Grant from Vaughan, a known parent activist, who is also running in the upcoming byelection in April in hopes of being a school trustee, said there is a “disconnect” coming from the ministry especially after Thompson’s latest statement, saying larger class sizes will make students more “resilient.”

“Kids already have enough to be resilient (against),” she said. “It’s a disconnect for the ministry of education to say that, because marginalized students are already facing other issues.

“To say larger classes sizes make students more resilient, it won’t.”

Like Glassford, Grant says the parents she is encountering during her canvassing don’t want larger classes for their sons and daughters.

“Personally going door to door, people are against larger class sizes, even if it is one (extra student),” she said.

Citing the rise in youth suicide rates, Grant said students need more “one on one” attention especially when it comes to math.

“Some kids get embarrassed when they don’t understand and ask questions in larger classes,” she said.

Grant also questioned the consultation since she didn’t receive anything from her three children’s schools.

“I would like to see the proof of that, because I didn’t get anything through my children's schools, any forms to fill out,” she said.

Glassford questions implementation

For Glassford, who is experienced in the nitty gritty details of education, he says he has no idea how all of this is going to be implemented, especially when the school boards haven’t received any “technical paper” to explain how to go forward.

He says it’s unclear how no “teacher” is going to lose his or her job in the upcoming four-years Thompson described as the “phasing period.”

“There has been no technical paper to this point of time, and the ministry hasn’t given the board any idea of how it is going to implement this,” he said. “People are just scrambling as far as how we make this work.”

He also said this will create "inequity" in classes and pit one teacher against another, since on average there needs to be a 28 class cap “across the system.”

This could lead to some classes being loaded with as high as 38 students while others as low as 17, he explained. Worst, elective courses “traditionally run with small numbers” such as wood shop or cosmetology might not run at all.

Glassford also said that he isn’t “entirely sure” what bringing math back to basic means. “It sounds like something that might resonate well as a sound bite but if you actually delve into what that actually means” he said. “We aren't getting any details on what that exactly means.”

Glassford also questioned: “Are we going to do this in lieu, for example not going to teach calculus anymore? We are going to do this basic course?

“Well that would do disservice to those students who want to go to university and want to go to physics or applied sciences and they aren’t going to be ready.”

In the same time, he said everyone needs the basic understanding of math as it’s a necessary life skill irrespective of career choice.

Larger class sizes is also a bad omen for mental health for students, Glassford says. He said “at a time where we were really starting to get a handle on the stresses kids are under” the Tories take steps backward.

Thompson finds some support

Skills Ontario recently said that it supports the ministry’s announced changes to address the math challenges that Ontario students face.

“Strong math skills are vital to Ontario’s economic success. Math skills are essential to skilled trades and tech careers that are in very high demand,” the CEO of Skills Ontario, Ian Howcroft, said on March 19. “Strengthening math curriculum and making it more relevant will only help people find good quality jobs in trades and tech.”

Howcroft described “many students” as “unaware of how rewarding and beneficial careers in the skilled trades and technologies can be.”

On March 15, five Tory MPPs have lent their support to Thompson’s provincewide new vision.

But for Glassford, he has some reservation over the mandatory e-learning courses since “not everybody in the province has technology at home whatever the family socioeconomic situation is.”

“Also, when we think of our rural area, not everybody has high-speed internet, some are still operating on dial up.”

However, increasing class sizes and cutting funding on education remains the most contentious issue even prior to Thompson’s announcement last week.

“By making this announcement, the ministry isn’t not changing the class caps in the collective agreement, they are changing the funding so they are purposefully underfunding the system so we can’t achieve these class caps,” he lamented.

From her side, Grant has launched the "Kids are not sardines" online petition three weeks ago against larger class sizes, about 300 signatures have been collected so far.