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Meet-the-teacher night, a September ritual for tens of thousands of Ottawa parents and their children, is a casualty of the ongoing work-to-rule campaign by Ontario’s public elementary school teachers.
The informal evenings are traditionally held within the first two or three weeks of the start of school. But not this year, said Peter Giuliani, president of the Ottawa-Carleton Elementary Teachers Federation.
“We’re not going to have meet-the-teacher night, but teachers will still communicate with parents before and after school if they need to,” Giuliani said. “That doesn’t mean teachers are going to call every single parent and introduce themselves over the phone, either.”
Jessica Hanna takes a photo of Madison Burtt , 6, who is starting Grade 1 at Bayview Public School.
Losing meet-the-teacher night doesn’t sit well with parents like Lori Stewart, with a daughter in Grade 4 at Bayview Public School and a son in Grade 7 at Fielding Drive Public School who has an individually tailored learning plan.
“It’s the first chance we have to meet their teachers and with my older son, especially, we’ve got concerns. We want to be sure the teacher knows what his issues are so that they can deal with them,” Stewart said.
Ryan Smith rushes with six-year-old Iona Smith for the earlier start time on the first day back to school at Bayview Public School.
“And my daughter loves school. For her, it’s huge. You get to go in and see where she sits … she loves introducing us to her teacher. School is such a huge part of her life and to know it’s not happening — she’s sad and she doesn’t understand why,” Stewart said.
“It’s kids being used as pawns.”
Public elementary teachers have been without a contract for more than a year and this fall have expanded their work-to-rule campaign, Giuliani said. In addition to cancelling meet-the-teacher nights, teachers are not booking field trips, answering board emails outside the regular school day, participating in classroom fundraisers, or filling in for principals when the principal is out of the school.
Students get off the bus and head to meet up with their friends on the first day back to school at Bayview Public School.
“We’re not going to replace principals under any circumstances,” Giuliani said. “The principals will have to do their jobs. We’re not going to do that.”
Extracurricular activities have not been affected.
The elementary teachers’ union was negotiating on Tuesday with the Ministry of Education and the Ontario Public School Boards Association on central issues, but the talks are under a media blackout.
Two friends give a little hug on the first day back to school at Bayview Public School Tuesday.
The Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association, which represents both elementary and high school teachers, and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation both reached tentative deals on provincewide issues in late August and are bargaining on local issues. Ratification votes on the central issues — which include big items such as salaries, class size and prep time — are expected to be held in mid September.
The public elementary work-to-rule campaign also affected report cards, since teachers refused to input data last spring, leaving the job to be completed by principals and other non-union board employees. Those marks were compiled over the summer and about 40,000 “mark summaries” were mailed out to parents last week. Those have begun to arrive.
The public elementary teachers are waiting for a central deal to be reached before bargaining on local issues, the “unsexy” items such as the staffing process and employee input on management decisions. Giuliani says “slow, steady and respectful progress” has been made at the local level.
For parents upset at the job action, Giuliani says, teachers “are not going to jeopardize the safety of the children. We’re going to teach them, which is what we are supposed to do.
“Right now we’re doing our best to direct all our actions at administration and the government. If there is no resolution at all, then obviously we will look at stepping up our action.”
bcrawford@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/getBAC
查看原文...
The informal evenings are traditionally held within the first two or three weeks of the start of school. But not this year, said Peter Giuliani, president of the Ottawa-Carleton Elementary Teachers Federation.
“We’re not going to have meet-the-teacher night, but teachers will still communicate with parents before and after school if they need to,” Giuliani said. “That doesn’t mean teachers are going to call every single parent and introduce themselves over the phone, either.”
Jessica Hanna takes a photo of Madison Burtt , 6, who is starting Grade 1 at Bayview Public School.
Losing meet-the-teacher night doesn’t sit well with parents like Lori Stewart, with a daughter in Grade 4 at Bayview Public School and a son in Grade 7 at Fielding Drive Public School who has an individually tailored learning plan.
“It’s the first chance we have to meet their teachers and with my older son, especially, we’ve got concerns. We want to be sure the teacher knows what his issues are so that they can deal with them,” Stewart said.
Ryan Smith rushes with six-year-old Iona Smith for the earlier start time on the first day back to school at Bayview Public School.
“And my daughter loves school. For her, it’s huge. You get to go in and see where she sits … she loves introducing us to her teacher. School is such a huge part of her life and to know it’s not happening — she’s sad and she doesn’t understand why,” Stewart said.
“It’s kids being used as pawns.”
Public elementary teachers have been without a contract for more than a year and this fall have expanded their work-to-rule campaign, Giuliani said. In addition to cancelling meet-the-teacher nights, teachers are not booking field trips, answering board emails outside the regular school day, participating in classroom fundraisers, or filling in for principals when the principal is out of the school.
Students get off the bus and head to meet up with their friends on the first day back to school at Bayview Public School.
“We’re not going to replace principals under any circumstances,” Giuliani said. “The principals will have to do their jobs. We’re not going to do that.”
Extracurricular activities have not been affected.
The elementary teachers’ union was negotiating on Tuesday with the Ministry of Education and the Ontario Public School Boards Association on central issues, but the talks are under a media blackout.
Two friends give a little hug on the first day back to school at Bayview Public School Tuesday.
The Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association, which represents both elementary and high school teachers, and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation both reached tentative deals on provincewide issues in late August and are bargaining on local issues. Ratification votes on the central issues — which include big items such as salaries, class size and prep time — are expected to be held in mid September.
The public elementary work-to-rule campaign also affected report cards, since teachers refused to input data last spring, leaving the job to be completed by principals and other non-union board employees. Those marks were compiled over the summer and about 40,000 “mark summaries” were mailed out to parents last week. Those have begun to arrive.
The public elementary teachers are waiting for a central deal to be reached before bargaining on local issues, the “unsexy” items such as the staffing process and employee input on management decisions. Giuliani says “slow, steady and respectful progress” has been made at the local level.
For parents upset at the job action, Giuliani says, teachers “are not going to jeopardize the safety of the children. We’re going to teach them, which is what we are supposed to do.
“Right now we’re doing our best to direct all our actions at administration and the government. If there is no resolution at all, then obviously we will look at stepping up our action.”
bcrawford@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/getBAC
查看原文...
