Student safety a concern under teachers’ job action, says Education Minister Liz Sandals

Job action by ETFO, the elementary teachers’ union, will soon escalate to one-day strikes

Thestar.coM
Sept. 28, 2015
By Richard J. Brennan and Louise Brown

Education Minister Liz Sandals acknowledged Monday that she has concerns about student safety given the threat of strike action by elementary teachers.

“One of the things we have been keeping a close eye on is the safety issue and that’s why the staff at the ministry have almost daily conversations with the directors in the English public boards to monitor the situation,” she told reporters, adding that so far the situation is “manageable.”

The Ontario Principals’ Council has warned that with teachers refusing to cover for absent colleagues as part of their work-to-rule, some schools could be unable to supervise children adequately if they can’t find supply teachers, especially if there are more absent teachers than the principal and vice-principal can cover for.

“We are sure that parents would be very distressed if they knew that their children could be left in a gym, library or cafeteria receiving little or inadequate instruction, being supervised inadequately, due to the strike action of the union (Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario or ETFO),” said the council in a letter to Sandals.

The principals’ council is calling on Queen’s Park to provide extra funds to hire trained adults to fill in for absent teachers if the supply list is exhausted, as well as money to hire more secretarial help to deal with the paperwork backlog.

However, ETFO said its members continue to provide daily instruction and have the safety of their students as a prime objective, despite principals’ allegations.

“If a teacher is absent, it is up to the administration to call in an occasional (supply) teacher as they would normally do and there are certainly many occasional teachers ready to work at a moment’s notice,” said ETFO president Sam Hammond.

With other teacher unions having reached deals, Sandals said it is up to Hammond to tell the public what his members want that is different from what the other unions have ratified in their agreements.

ETFO has warned it will escalate to rotating, one-day strikes in October - which could hit as early as this Thursday - if the government and school boards don’t return to the bargaining table.