teachers

Thursday March 12, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 12, 2020

As virus outbreak spreads, schools face a dilemma

When the new coronavirus surfaced at Saint Raphael Academy after a school group returned from a trip to Italy, officials decided to close the Rhode Island Catholic high school for two weeks.

February 4, 2020

Instead of cancelling classes, the school in Pawtucket instituted “virtual days” where students are expected to work from home, check for assignments through an online portal and occasionally chat with teachers.

A few miles away, a public charter school also closed after a teacher who attended the same Italy trip awaited test results. But at Achievement First, the two days off were treated like snow days — no special assignments and no expectation that kids keep up their schoolwork.

As more schools across the United States close their doors because of the coronavirus, they are confronted with a dilemma in weighing whether to shut down and move classes online, which could leave behind the many students who don’t have computers, home internet access or parents with flexible work schedules. As the closures accelerate, children at some schools, like Saint Raphael, will be able to continue some form of learning, while children at schools with fewer technological or other resources, may simply miss out.

September 3, 2013

The deep technological and wealth gap that exists nationwide between poor and affluent students has made the coronavirus outbreak even more challenging for school officials, who are wrestling with not only health and safety decisions but also questions about the ethics of school closures.

These deliberations have been playing out in schools all around the country during the outbreak, from urban districts in New York, Seattle and Los Angeles to rural ones in Nebraska and Pennsylvania.

“If we shut down for a week or two weeks, and some of the kids can do it but some can’t, what do you do?” said Edward Albert, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools. “There are some places that don’t even have phone service.”

Although widespread closures are a new development in the United States, they are already a reality in nations that have been hit harder by the virus. The United Nations’ education agency, UNESCO, says nearly 300 million children in 22 countries on three continents were being affected by school closures last week. In response, it has begun supporting online learning programs. (PBS) 

Meanwhile, Ontario’s elementary teachers are set to resume contract talks with the government on Wednesday, but they’re warning that if bargaining doesn’t produce an agreement, the union will resume job action after March break. (CBC)


 

Thursday March 5, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 5, 2020

I’m An Ontario Teacher But I Chose To Go Where Teachers Are Respected

February 4, 2020

“One of my kids threw a chair today.”

“My kid locked himself in the classroom at lunch and then threatened to run away.”

“A parent told me I should have noticed the signs of her daughter wanting to self-harm.”

It was 2018, and my college classmates and I were swapping horror stories as the final year of our teacher’s program came to a close. Tales like ours were the norm — 70 per cent of educators see or experience similar situations  in their classroom — so I would often think of the teachers I’d admired in my youth and wonder, “Were we this difficult for them?”

May 6, 2015

I always hoped I’d be like those teachers, one day: kind, fun and respected by all. But, I realized that I would not be able to start my mission to be that kind, fun and respected teacher if the drama outside the classroom continued to escalate in Ontario’s education system, year after year.

For all its prestige, I knew I couldn’t root my career in Ontario.

A job there didn’t always seem undesirable. I’d accepted my offer to a concurrent teacher’s college program straight out of high school in 2013, with the intent of graduating and immediately securing a job teaching French in Ontario. It was an easy decision: I loved working with kids, I wanted to use my French at work. I even dreamed that I’d teach at my old elementary school.

May 26, 2015

Yet, over the course of teacher’s college, I saw the reality facing Ontario teachers.

My mentors were burnt out from dealing with a lack of funding, administrative miscommunication, overly demanding parents, and governments that didn’t value the students’ opinion in their education. They arrived at school in the morning dreading the day ahead, tired from the work they took home the night before.

They often said that their work outside of the classroom detracted from their job inside of it. Even as a student teacher, I felt the same — and I didn’t even have to take the lead in all of it. It affected my mood  and the atmosphere in the classroom, and I knew that was no good. I would not be able to teach my students well like this.

Despite the challenges, the public expects teachers to be complacent when the government wants to make cuts that hurt the kids more than they do us.

August 20, 2012

Teacher contract negotiations always blow up into a province-wide scandal. It happened when teachers went on strike in 2003, and again in 2012 and 2015. Each time, I had to hear my family members and the public voice their discontent.

Naysayers drag the profession through the mud and harp on the pay, benefits, retirement packages and vacation time that teachers earn. What isn’t considered as often is how much of their own money teachers all over Canada spend  on their own class supplies and resources, and how many of the activities they do are voluntary.

November 13, 2019

In the latest strikes, Ontario teachers are once again taking action with students in mind. Since Premier Doug Ford assumed his role in 2018, the changes to the education system have been moving the province backwards: increasing class sizes, reducing funding for school programs and moving away from a much-needed inclusive curriculum. A student-teacher ratio reaching as high as 40:1 and e-learning won’t set students up for success.

I’ve seen this drama play out over and over again in Ontario, and I decided I wasn’t going to be part of it. After graduating in 2018, I moved to China instead. (Continued: Huffington Post) 

 

Wednesday February 19, 2020

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday February 19, 2020

Ontario’s newly-designed license plates just hit a speedbump. Call it Plate-gate.

A little background: The Canadian province’s new design was unveiled by the provincial government — led by center-right Ontario Premier Doug Ford — last year.

April 9, 2019

Almost immediately, people started comparing the plate design unfavorably to a box of Q-tips.

The plates also had a new slogan – “A Place to Grow” – which drew the ire of some critics, who preferred the previous “Yours to Discover” which the plates had sported since 1982.

Then there was the palette: Observers noticed that the new plates had the same blue color scheme as Ford’s Progressive Conservative Party.

Journalists at Toronto’s CTV network wanted to see if they could recreate the problem, so they shined a light on the new and old plates while slowly moving away. In their video, the old plate remains plainly legible, while the letters on the new one quickly disappear into a blaze of white.

In an emailed statement, Ontario’s government says it “consulted with key stakeholders to test the readability, reflectivity and functionality of the new high definition plate design. Ontario’s new high definition licence plates were tested using advanced plate reader technology under multiple visibility conditions, and plates were successfully read under those conditions.”

But it acknowledged that “some Ontarians are reporting concerns with readability to the naked-eye under certain light conditions,” and says it is looking into the issue.

One silver lining? The plates are so new that very few vehicles have them. (NPR) 

Meanwhile, Students, parents, the government and school boards prepare for a province-wide strike by teachers set for this Friday. (CTV) 

 

Tuesday February 4, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 4, 2020

Ford blames union leaders again as teachers plan week of walkouts

Ontario Premier Doug Ford again dismissed the widespread walkouts planned this week by the province’s three largest teacher unions as a matter of union bosses forcing their beleaguered members to march against their will.

January 18, 2020

“They’re getting frustrated that the heads of their unions are forcing their teachers to walk out,” Premier Ford said in Wiarton on Sunday morning, insisting he has teachers telling him they don’t want to strike. “I have had numerous texts from teachers saying ‘I don’t want to be doing this.’”

Negotiations between Ford’s government and the unions have seen little progress since the summer, as he is asking all unions to accept larger class sizes, a hard one-percent cap on wage increases, and two mandatory e-learning courses for all secondary students.

His argument that union leadership is forcing teachers to engage in strike action flies in the face of strike votes held by all three unions, where between 95 and 98 per cent of members in each union voted in favour of strike action.

“I support the frontline teachers I think the men and women who are serving out there work their backs off, they do a great job,” Ford said. “I don’t support the heads of the unions who are causing all these problems right across the province.”

November 22, 2019

Ford said he takes his tone from what hears from the public, and said that all over Ontario, people keep telling him “don’t buckle” to the teachers, who are asking for wage increases in line with inflation.

For their part, the unions say they are acting in the interests of students and the public is behind them.

Ontario Secondary School Teacher’s Federation (OSSTF) President Harvey Bischof said on Sunday that he is “convinced” his members want to engage in strike action, and if Ford feels they’re being forced, he has things he can do to find out.

“If he believes I am the impediment to a deal, he has the right to put a vote directly to my members, to require them to vote on his offer. So let’s see if his offer of reduced course options, larger classes and mandatory e-learning are things my members are willing to accept.”

The three largest teacher’s unions in the province are planning strikes that will impact some or all of the GTA’s school boards every single day this coming week. (CTV) 

 

Wednesday November 13, 2019

November 13, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 13, 2019

There’s still time to avoid school strikes in Ontario

On the surface,  there isn’t much reason for optimism in the ongoing labour standoff between Ontario’s government and educators.

August 29, 2019

The unions are uniformly unhappy with progress made to date in negotiations. Most have already held strike votes and received strong mandates, and those that have not will soon.

The government insists it is being reasonable and remains ready to negotiate and reach agreements.

In other words, contract talks are proceeding as they tend to – slowly, painfully and stressfully.

But looking a little deeper yields some reason for optimism.

First,  there is the government’s newly announced desire to govern reasonably as opposed to with a draconian heavy hand.

After a disastrous first year, Doug Ford has become the least popular populist in Canada.

All sources agree – he doesn’t like that.

March 19, 2019

He doesn’t want his government to be or be seen to be ideologically extreme. He wants to fulfil his agenda but not like a bull in a china shop. He’s seen how well that worked his first year as premier.

While it’s true that Ontarians take a dim view of school strikes, it’s also true the blame for them is typically apportioned to both sides.

In fact, given the unpopularity of many Ford initiatives so far, there’s a good chance he and his government will be blamed more than teacher unions if we do end up with one or more strikes.

If he’s bothered by how unpopular he is now, just wait until school strikes are factored in.

No doubt, as is the case with most labour negotiations,  there are a host of issues on the table. But most are probably not strike-worthy.

October 8, 2019

Typically, only a couple of issues are worth taking that big step to the last resort.

In this case, one is class size. On this, the government should yield.

It has already agreed to reduce its target of 28 students per average class to 25, compared to the current 22.5.

But that offer contained a poison pill that would have required unions to sign off all control on class size caps and trust the government to do the right thing.

That’s not going to happen, nor should it.

The class size issue has nothing to do with educational outcomes and everything to do with saving money.

The larger average size will eliminate 10,000 teaching jobs. It will do nothing for students and families.

According to last week’s financial statement, the provincial deficit is about half of what Ford previously claimed it was.

That, plus higher than expected revenues, should allow the government to back away from this particular savings scheme.

Then there’s money, of course.

The province wants to cap all public-sector wage increases at one per cent. Teacher unions want two per cent. Inflation is running just under two per cent.

A full percentage point below the rate of inflation is not reasonable and won’t fly with most public sector unions as it amounts to a pay cut.

The government has already signalled that its one-per-cent cap is an aspiration not a hard deal breaker.

There should be room here for a compromise that can avoid a strike, and all the negative fallout that entails. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)