Today marks phase one of a "work to rule" action for public elementary school teachers across the province.
Students are still expected to be in school, as teachers will continue carrying out normal classroom duties. "The day-to-day life of a student in our classrooms should be relatively unchanged," says LKDSB Director of Education Jim Costello. "Teachers will be in school, they'll be assessing and they'll also be doing co-curriculars."
However, elementary teachers in public school boards will not be participating in ministry-related activities, like preparing report cards and administering EQAO testing. That's something Costello says they'll have to work around. "That poses a bit of a dilemna for us. We'll wait to hear what the ministry direction will be around EQAO tests. That's something we'll have to come up with a plan for pretty quickly."
The work to rule action was announced by the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario Friday, after eight months of bargaining with the provincial government has been unable to produce a new contract.
