Second one day teachers’ strike Wednesday

OSSTF members participating in the first day of strike action last week.

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) will be holding a second day of strikes throughout the province Wednesday, Dec. 11.

This time the strikes will rotate throughout the province. Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board has been designated as one of nine school boards affected this Wednesday.

“As a necessary consequence, all our secondary schools will be closed to students in Grades 9-12 on Wednesday, Dec. 11,” said Sean Monteith, Director of Education. “All school activities, including field trips and co-op placements, are cancelled for the day. Please be aware that any students who show up at school or co-op placements will be redirected home.”

For elementary students, schools will be open as usual, including for Grade 7s and 8s who attend classes at a high school.

“We recognize that events like this can cause a level of anxiety and apologize for the disruption to you and your child. We are following this situation closely and will do our best to communicate actions and resulting implications for our schools, families, staff, and of course our students, as timely and responsibly as possible,” said Monteith.

Updates will be posted on the school board’s website at HPEschools.ca, and shared through its Twitter and Instagram feeds at @HPEschools.

In a statement Tuesday, Scott Marshall, OSSTF District 29 President, stated members of OSSTF District 29, including teachers, occasional teachers and support staff, will engage in a full withdrawal of services Wednesday.

“It is regrettable that we are having to engage in a second full withdrawal of our services, however, the long-term losses for our students, if the cuts are unopposed, will be far greater than what we are losing today,” he stated, noting recent data clearly demonstrates that Ontario’s students are among the best both nationally and internationally.

“Cutting 5,000 teaching positions will compromise the current learning environment; eliminating class size caps will compromise the current learning environment, eliminating support staff positions will compromise the current learning environment, eliminating course options will compromise the current learning environment, and forcing a credit delivery model (eLearning) on all students, when data clearly shows it is not for everyone, is reckless and will hurt students.”