Sir James Whitney teachers protest education cutbacks
Teachers from the Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf braved the cold Wednesday to demonstrate in front of the school on Dundas Street West. Passing cars honked their horns in support of the protesting teachers. Photo by Alan-Michael Steele, QNet News
BELLEVILLE – Teachers from Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf took to the streets Wednesday in a one-day strike against proposed education cuts by the Ford government.
Teachers waving signs formed a picket line and blocked both the main entrance to the school and the delivery gate around the back.
The protest mirrored job action by teachers’ unions happening across the province.
Teachers at Sir James Whitney are represented by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation.
Carol Huntin, the picket captain, told QNet News that the protest was about proposed increases in class size and a requirement that all students take some courses online, outside the classroom.
“Those cuts are really going to negatively impact our students and students across Ontario,” Huntin said.
There are several problems with the proposal for mandatory online courses, she said.
“We feel that there’s no research to back up why these courses would be implemented for the success of the students. And also, it would undoubtedly (result in fewer) teachers, and also these e-learning courses would be run through private business, so they would be profiting off of our students. And that’s not something we’re prepared to accept.”
The Ford government wants to institute between two and four e-learning courses for students yearly.
As for increased class sizes, teachers are concerned it will reduce the amount of support they can give individual students.
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