The province’s Education Minister is calling on teacher unions to cease the escalation of job action and focus on reaching a deal that provides stability for students.
Stephen Lecce is responding to a withdrawal of some services by elementary and Catholic teachers as well as the cancellation of Grade 9 math exams at some schools.
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation is also staging another round of one-day strikes today, impacting 22 school boards including Keewatin-Patricia District School Board.
Lecce says students shouldn’t be in the middle of the dispute, stressing “this is not a game”.
He adds the union action is hurting our children the most.
“These kids should be learning every single day and my hope is that all the unions would accept that and remain focused at the table to get a deal,” says Lecce
Lecce says undermining the learning potential of students won’t build any favour among parents.
The president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation disagrees.
In a video message to his members. Harvey Bischof says they’ve been tracking public opinion through various surveys.
“Those surveys tell us that a significant majority of Ontarians support our efforts to defend publicly funded education against the Ford government,” says Bischof.
He adds the public’s not buying the Minister’s assertion the dispute is all about compensation.
“The polling consistently tells us that while very few Ontarians believe the government on education issues, a substantial majority does trust educators,” says Bischof.
Bischof also indicates a conference call was held with local teacher reps to discuss next steps but doesn’t indicate what those will be.
