Work-to-rule campaign delays school breakfast programs in Peel
Board says secretaries won’t collect money, caretakers won’t clean floors during labour dispute
Peel elementary schools are cancelling breakfast programs — affecting thousands of children — with the board blaming the work-to-rule campaign by support staff and elementary teachers.
Education Minister Liz Sandals was upset the labour dispute has gotten so bad and called the situation “absolutely appalling."
“There’s just no world in which you can say, ‘we’re not disrupting student learning’ if you disrupt the breakfast club, because we know there’s scads of research that shows that kids can’t learn on empty stomachs,” she told reporters Wednesday.
“That’s why we have breakfast programs. If kids get proper nutrition, they learn better, so to disrupt the breakfast program is just unforgivable,” said Sandals, who has previously said she’s concerned about student safety because of the job action.
A letter sent to families from Peel’s Director of Education, Tony Pontes, warns of a number of cancellations — not just nutrition programs in 100 schools but also open houses, fall fairs and fundraisers, as well as parent council meetings and elections.
“There may be some exceptional situations . . . but otherwise, expect to hear of postponement or cancellations from your child’s school . . . principals and vice- principals have been directed to cancel or postpone all but the core work of the school,” said Pontes’ letter.
The York Region District School Board also alerted parents to brace for their own cancellations, though it says such decisions will be made on a school-by-school basis.
In Toronto, senior board staff at the public board are monitoring schools and say breakfast programs will continue for now, but not pizza lunches which are often used as fundraisers.
CUPE workers — custodians and secretaries among them — ramped up their job action this week, with caretakers refusing to clean hallways, entrances or do any yard upkeep. CUPE workers are also not to collect any money.
Elementary teachers, too, have been directed not to collect money and to focus on classroom work.
In response, the Peel board has told principals to focus on classroom learning and keeping schools safe and open.
“We believe we have reached a point where we can’t ask principals to do any more, and it’s not reasonable to expect that it will be business as usual,” Pontes said in a telephone interview.
“We have over100 schools that have a morning breakfast program, some elementary, some secondary,” he said. “We typically have combinations of teachers and other staff helping out, also some parent volunteers, and we typically ask for a 25-cent donation toward those programs.” Without staff to help with the money or supervise, “we, unfortunately, have to pause those programs.”
He acknowledged “there will be an impact in that some kids may be getting hungry by the middle of the day. There might be local solutions where someone might put out energy bars that kids can help themselves to — I suspect there will be local solutions to help keep our neediest children supported.”
In Peel, CUPE local 2544 leader Dan Bouchard said classrooms are still being cleaned, as are washrooms, and said principals could be running the breakfast programs. Just last week, the Ontario Principals’ Council appealed to Sandals to provide additional money and staff to help them deal with the job action by the two unions.
Bargaining has continued with CUPE. A mediator from the Ministry of Labour is now trying to find dates for negotiations with the elementary teachers’ union, education ministry and school boards’ association.
In York Region, the Markham Fair has adopted a discounted “field-trip pricing” scheme for its four-day festival, worried about how the no-field-trip sanction will affect attendance.
The province’s Catholic schools are also affected by the CUPE job action, though their teachers have ratified a central deal.