Toronto: No report cards were issued to elementary students as teachers are on job action that includes partial withdrawal of services.
Talks between the provincial government and teachers’ unions are deadlocked over austerity measures proposed by the Ford government, including job cuts, larger class sizes and less funding for some schooling programs.
Both sides maintain the other side hurts the students.
Stephen Lecce, Ontario Minister of Education, responded to the lack of report cards for elementary students by saying: “Yet again, teacher union leaders are risking student success and preventing parents from seeing valuable information about their child’s performance in class. It underscores our government’s insistence that teacher union leaders cancel these strikes that are hurting our kids. And it only strengthens our belief that parents want our government to invest in front-line services, not in compensation and other demands, for some of the highest-paid educators in the country.”
He also criticized the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) one-day province-wide strike.
“We fully recognize the negative impacts teacher union escalation is having on families. It is why we are calling on these union leaders to end these strikes, given the adverse effects on students and financial hardship on parents. While this union-led escalation happens far too often, we are committed to negotiating deals that keep students in class, while providing financial support for families for child care needs.”
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