Strike blamed as Peel students lose chance to compete at regional meet
Track team at Brampton school lobbies furiously via social media
They are a group of track and field stars and some first-time competitors, and their hopes were set on taking part in a regional meet later this week.
But given the ongoing strike by teachers in Peel’s public high schools, the board says that can’t happen for the track team at David Suzuki Secondary School.
“We are definitely broken-hearted because our whole team has trained really hard for it,” said Grade 11 student Brittany Neilson, who competes in javelin for the Brampton school.
The track team worked furiously over the weekend to lobby the board via social media to keep all 40 of them registered for the event, but on Tuesday learned that their names would not be on the roster. “We are the fastest girls relay team in Ontario, #letuscompete,” read one tweet from @PeelCompetitors.
In total, some 300 Peel board athletes won’t be competing in the Region of Peel Secondary School Athletic Association meet on May 21 and 22.
“The students obviously are devastated, and so are we,” said Brian Woodland, director of communications and community relations for the Peel District School Board. “We want them to compete, but like students in many teams and sports, they can’t — there’s no way to support that.
“It’s not the only sport — there’s rugby, there’s soccer, there’s sport after sport. We are doing what we can do . . . but this is what happens in strikes. Students have lost musicals, they’ve lost sports and it’s incredibly regretful for us.”
Peel’s high school teachers walked off the job May 4. Local bargaining talks are ongoing, but sporadic.
In Durham, students have been off school for more than four weeks because of job action, and in Sudbury, three. Most students there are also expected to miss sports competitions — although in Sudbury, a provincial high school gymnastics competition recently went ahead, with 21public secondary students taking part.
A vice-principal who also coaches the team took the teens, and the event was hosted by the French Catholic board, where there is no labour strife, said Rainbow District School Board spokesperson Nicole Charette.
Woodland said rules dictate that a teacher or administrator must be present at sporting events and that the board simply doesn’t have the staff.
“There’s not enough of us to go around — we can’t save it all,” he added.
“If there was a way we could do it, we would do it.”
The board previously decided that administrators would help oversee exams for the International Baccalaureate, an enriched program used by many students to give them an advantage when applying to university.
Woodland said that the loss of all sports and other activities “is particularly infuriating for us,” given that Peel was one of seven boards singled out earlier this year for job action for what he said was “no real reason.”
“That’s what happens in a strike,” he added. “We lose things that are valuable for students.”
About 300 Peel public board students would have participated in the track meet, which also includes teens from the neighbouring Dufferin-Peel Catholic board.
Suzuki student Maddy Crawford said parents are considering legal action against the Peel board for potentially affecting students’ track scholarships and for causing stress to the kids.
Carlton Thompson, who is in Grade 9, was looking forward to the meet. “In all of our meets, I’ve been finishing in the top five, and I really wanted to go to (this week’s meet) to see how I match up,” said Thompson, who has run 400, 800 and 1,500 metres and in the relay.
By not taking part in the regional meet, students can’t move on to compete provincially, which puts them at a disadvantage.
“For a lot of them, they don’t really have another opportunity to get a (college or university) scholarship,” he said.