Thousands of kids forced to miss races
Board abandons bid to have staff fill in for teachers at cross-country meets
On your mark, get set — never mind. (About half of you, that is.)
More than half the Toronto elementary schools that normally participate in fall cross-country meets will not take part this week because they aren’t registered, largely because of scattered teacher boycotts. They will not be permitted to attend under the rules of the teachers’ group that runs the popular events.
The Toronto District School Board has decided not to let unregistered schools attend, despite many parents’ offers to supervise, in order to comply with the safety rules for track meets set by the Toronto District Elementary School Athletics Association (TDESAA), the teachers’ group that volunteers to organize the fall runs.
The board’s last-minute decision Monday caught many families by surprise the night before two meets are to take place. An earlier plan last week had suggested that all schools could attend by having head office staff help run the events.
But while the final tally of registered runners this year is just 11,000 students, down from 20,000 last year — hailing from 157 schools instead of 406 — the sites are still at full capacity according to TDESAA regulations, said board officials.
“It’s clear that for safety reasons, and the need to honor the integrity of competitive meets, that the TDSB must respect the TDESAA constitution, and so only students from registered schools will be able to take part,” spokesperson Ryan Bird said in a memo that went out to principals Monday afternoon.
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario has asked members to take a “pause” from extracurricular activities to protest the province’s new law that freezes teachers’ wages and lets the government stop any job action for the next two years if it chooses. But after-school activities are voluntary and not something Queen’s Park can force teachers to lead.
Athletic meets in other boards have been similarly affected; one of four track meets at Durham elementary schools was cancelled last week, and registration at the remaining three is about half what it usually is, noted spokesperson Andrea Pidwerbecki. In York Region, several qualifying meets next week have been merged due to lower numbers, said spokesperson Licinio Miguelo, and parents cannot replace teachers for reasons of safety and liability.
TDSB officials are considering alternate meets for unregistered schools later this fall that would give those children the chance to participate at a big event, he said, although it’s not clear how many unregistered schools would want to go.
At least one parent told the Star he plans to bring his unregistered young runner to the meet anyway. The Scarborough father asked that his name not be used because he plans to go Wednesday to the Ashbridge’s Bay run to see if he can find a way for his son to join in.
At Sunnylea Junior Public School in Etobicoke, some students were planning to express their disappointment over the situation to teachers Tuesday morning by bringing signs that say, “Wish I was running cross-country today,” and “We want to represent our school; why don’t our teachers?”
Parents such as Joanne Di Nardo at Fern Avenue Public School, which is not registered, said the patchwork nature of the teacher boycott makes it hard for children to understand why some schools can go to the Tuesday meet at Centennial Park in Etobicoke, while others can’t.
“My daughter was really looking forward to it and we continued to train even after teachers began their pause. My greatest concern is the inconsistency across the board — some teachers coaching and others not.”
The situation largely excludes schools where teachers are not coaching. A handful of such schools will still take part, either because their principals agreed to take the students, or staff registered the team before they launched their “pause.”