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What you need to know about the first one-day Ontario teacher strike of the new year

iHeartradio.ca/newstalk-1010
January 8, 2020
Katherine DeClerq

Ontario public high school teachers will hold their first one-day walkout of the new year on Wednesday.

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF) said the strike on Jan. 8 will impact eight English-language school boards, including Peel and Niagara, as well as six French-language school districts. Members of other school boards are also expected to hold information pickets in front of MPP offices and schools in their area.

This will be the fourth one-day strike held by teachers and educational support workers over the last few months.

Last week, OSSTF President Harvey Bischof said that the issues haven’t changed after more than eight months of negotiations. Despite a break over the holidays, the two sides have yet to come to an agreement.

What school boards are impacted by the strike?

The school boards affected by the strike include:

Schools within the Conseil scolaire de district du Grand Nord de l’Ontario, the Conseil scolaire de district catholique du Nouvel-Ontario, the Conseil scolaire Viamonde, the Conseil scolaire des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario and the Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est will also be impacted.

A full list of schools can be found here.

What does this mean for the EQAO tests?

The standardized math test is scheduled for next Monday, but as part of the work-to-rule campaign, teachers have stopped preparing students for the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) exam.

Officials with the Peel District School Board have told CTV News Toronto they believe it would be "extremely difficult" for schools to carry out the test.

Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce said that a decision regarding the test will be made "in very short order."

What’s on the table?

Both the OSSTF and the province have claimed the other party is not bringing any new proposals to the table. The issues being negotiated include high school class sizes, mandatory e-learning, and compensation.

“We proposed to them, though, that we would postpone the strike if the government would commit to last year’s staffing ratios for both the student-teacher ratio and the education worker-student ratio as well,” Bischof said. “We said that tomorrow’s strike doesn’t have to happen if they will commit to just last year’s status quo in terms of quality of education as measured by those staffing ratios. They rejected that proposal.”

Lecce said on Tuesday that the province is opposed to the escalating job action, saying their priority is to keep kids in schools.

“I find it regrettable that they are proceeding with this one day strike,” he told CTV News Toronto on Tuesday. “It’s unfortunate. My hope is that they will stay at the table and work with the mediator and work in good faith to make a deal.”

No date has been set by the mediator for future negotiations.