No plans to extend the school year amid ongoing strikes

Elementary teachers have been very active locally when it comes to strikes, having spent five days picketing since the beginning of this year. File photo by Sarah Cooke, QNet News

By Robert D. Champagne

BELLEVILLE – With rotating teachers’ strikes picking up pace and frequency across the province, parents and caregivers might be worried about how their children could make up time in the classroom.

“We are not aware of any plans to extend the school year at this time,” Kerry Donnell, the communications manager for Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board, told QNet News this week.

“We understand that parents, guardians, caregivers and students may be anxious about students making up time for the missed school days,” she said.

According to Donnell it will be up to Ontario’s provincial Conservative government to table legislation to extend the school year.

The time that has been missed already will be made up “through normal classroom activities and learning.”

“The teachers will manage their classes as they normally would,” said Donnell.

Since the beginning of 2020, the number of strikes has picked up, with four unions across the province currently taking, or planning to take, job action.

The unions announced Wednesday that on Friday, Feb. 21, there will be a provincewide strike of all teachers.

One of those unions is the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation.

Harvey Bischof is the president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, which is currently deadlocked with the government on negotiations since Dec. 16. Photo courtesy of the OSSTF

Its president, Harvey Bischof, told QNet News: “I understand that nervousness (of parents) and appreciate it as a parent myself. I would say that if we allowed this government’s destructive agenda to go forward, the long-term negative impact on their children will be far worse than what arises from the single days of action that we have taken.”

Ingrid Anderson, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, told QNet, “We recognize the impact of union escalation on families is real. We continue to stand up against the withdrawal of services to students across the province. That’s why our government launched its Support for Parents initiative that puts money directly into the pockets of parents.”

The Support for Parents program reimburses parents for child-care expenses incurred due to the strikes.

The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario has been one of the most active unions locally. So far elementary students in the Hastings and Prince Edward school board have missed five days of school in 2020.

Both the Catholic schools and secondary schools have had only one strike in the new year.

Both parties blame the other for the breakdown of negotiations. The OSSTF and the government haven’t been at the negotiating table since Dec. 16.