The union representing Windsor-Essex's elementary school teachers will rally on Tuesday evening to protest proposed budget cuts by the English public school board.
The Greater Essex Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) will hold a rally outside the Greater Essex County District School Board's headquarters in Windsor, responding to a planned slate of cuts approved by the board at its early November meeting.
Greater Essex ETFO President Mario Spagnuolo told WindsorNewsToday.ca that the union chose Tuesday evening for a purpose.
"[Tuesday] is also the organizational board meeting where the trustees will elect their chair and vice-chair," said Spagnuolo. "It's symbolic as well to let the trustees know that we will continue to push back and bring attention to the issue, and also to hold them accountable for the decision that they made on November the fifth."
On that day, the trustees approved a financial recovery plan required by the Ontario Ministry of Education, since the board agreed to run a deficit of almost $6.4-million. The plan includes cuts to 62 positions in special education.
Spagnuolo said those cuts, if they go through, will have a devastating impact on special education students.
"It's to bring attention to families and parents who are very concerned about what's going to happen in September, when the special education program known as RISE in the elementary school system, is eliminated," said Spagnuolo.
RISE, which stands for Reaching Individual Success and Excellence, allows students to work on mathematics and language arts in a partially integrated classroom within their home school.
Spagnuolo said that if RISE is gone, it will severely hurt students needing help.
"They're going to be in the larger class sizes, with little to no support compared to when they're in a special education classroom that is capped at 11 students, where they are able to receive the one-on-one attention that their Individual Education Plan requires," said Spagnuolo.
Other programs that may be affected are the International Baccalaureate (IB) program and speech pathology.
The rally begins at 5:30 p.m. outside the GECDSB headquarters on Park Street West.