Province breaks off talks

Secondary teachers, including those in Halton, Toronto and Durham, refuse supervision duties

The head of the Ontario public high school teachers’ union said he is willing to return to provincial talks after being “flabbergasted” by the government’s decision to walk out early Monday.

The walkout followed the union’s refusal to call off its nascent boycott of supervision and after-hours meetings with parents.

“It blows me away that they ended discussions when there still were sug- gestions to be explored — we felt close on a number of issues,” said Ken Coran, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, which has just begun withdrawing services in 20 boards that are in a legal strike position — including Toronto, Durham and Halton — to protest a new law that limits bargaining rights and freezes wages.

“I was not willing to put the fiscal elements of our agreement at risk, or the classroom experience at risk, which would have been compromised by teachers taking unpaid instructional days off.”

LAUREL BROTEN

EDUCATION MINISTER

But Education Minister Laurel Broten said she pulled the plug on talks over more than just the teachers’ job action. She said the union was pushing for new teachers to move up the salary grid sooner, at a cost to be funded by having all teachers work fewer days.

“I was not willing to put the fiscal elements of our agreement at risk, or the classroom experience at risk . . . by teachers taking unpaid instructional days off,” Broten said. She has warned her government will use the new law to end any job action that appears to put student safety at risk.

The teachers are refusing to fill in for each other if they must leave for part of the day — to take a team to a tournament, for example — so principals, vice-principals and hall monitors are supervising instead.

So far, students have not noticed much disruption, noted Don Mills Collegiate student Hirad Zafari, a student trustee with the Toronto District School Board. “We’re glad they’re putting pressure on administration instead of us, but of course we can feel the tensions growing between teachers and principals and parents and students.”

In Halton, where the union also represents school secretaries, the board has warned parents they may have to come fetch a child sent to the office if there is no one there to supervise.

“Say four or five students were to get into a fight and be sent to the office, but the principal and viceprincipal are busy supervising students in the cafeteria or library — and secretaries have said they won’t do supervision,” explained Debra McFadden, the Halton District School Board’s chief negotiator.

The Ontario Principals’ Council has declared the situation unsafe.

“In secondary schools, inadequate supervision can result in an increase in bullying, vandalism, assaults, behavioral issues, theft, graffiti, drug activity, truancy and verbal abuse,” warned council president Ken Arnott. “If supervision is withdrawn, or if on-calls for absent teachers are not covered, schools will not be safe places for learning.”

Trustees at one board — Trillium Lakelands District School Board in cottage country — have given senior board staff the power to lock out a school if it cannot guarantee students are properly supervised.

“It’s an absolute last resort,” stressed board chair Karen Round.

In Durham Region, as in Toronto, many principals and vice-principals have to go to classrooms to gather attendance sheets teachers now refuse to submit to the office.