Work to rule campaign ends!

Hello everyone! I'm sorry for not posting for the past couple of weeks -- our family was travelling. I hear that the Halloween Howl was terrific. I know that was thanks to all those who volunteered their time, made donations, and came to enjoy the event.

You've no doubt heard on the news that the teacher's union has called an end to its work to rule campaign in light of the tentative labour deal that was reached yesterday with the government. I know we're all very glad to see the end of this disruption. The students will receive report cards, with comments, in December. Details in this Toronto Star article.

Phase 3 of teachers' work-to-rule strike begins Monday

The ETFO has directed teachers to escalate their work-to-rule/strike activity starting Monday.

CTV news has the details on what this means. In a nutshell: no meetings with parents unless there's a specific concern; no blogs, websites or newsletters; no changes to IEPs after the initial deadline; no report card comments; no extra-curriculars on Wednesdays.

The TDSB posted this information for parents about the labour negotiations.

The union is threatening rotating strikes in October if no agreement has been reached by then.

Two more weeks of summer!

Hello everyone -- I hope you're having a wonderful summer. Can you believe there are two more weeks left?

You've seen news reports on the status of negotiations with the teachers' unions. Here are the details of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario's work-to-rule campaign, phase 2, which begins in September. This FAQ for teachers provides more detail.

School support workers (members of CUPE) are also in negotiations and may be in a strike position in September.

Report cards after all!

Great news -- we will need to be patient, but parents will be seeing our children's grades after all. According to this letter from the TDSB, marks will be mailed to our homes in July. These reports won't include learning skills or comments, but it's better than nothing!

I'm not sure who will be working overtime to make this happen, but we parents are grateful. Thank you.

A Q&A is coming tomorrow. I will update this post with the Q&A link when I have it.
UPDATED: here is the Q&A

Q&A re the report cards situation

Thanks to K.G. for sharing this Q&A regarding the report card situation:

http://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/0/AboutUs/docs/TDSBReportCards_QA.pdf

It's official: no report cards this year

It's official: there will be no report cards this year. 

This letter from the TDSB is reportedly coming home today.

Report cards?

There's no official word from the TDSB yet, but the Toronto Star is reporting the possibility that there will be no report cards this year, only letters stating that students have advanced to the next grade.

According to the Star's report:

The Ministry of Education is expected to provide boards with some advice this week on what is expected, given the work-to-rule by elementary teachers, and boards will also encourage parents to speak to teachers to get more information.

However, sources say if marks are not entered into the computer system for this final report, students may never find out how they did.

The Toronto District School Board says it has not made a final decision, but principal sources have said that inputting grades for all 155,000 students up to Grade 8, in a number of different subject areas, realistically cannot be done.

Teachers step up their work-to-rule campaign (UPDATED)

According to the Toronto Star, starting next week the elementary teachers will step up their work-to-rule campaign by "by refusing to plan field trips for next year, take part in meetings about students’ transition from one grade to the next or participate in professional development programs at the end of June or the start of September."

There will also be no comments on report cards this year -- only grades.

UPDATED: here is more detail on what the teachers union will and won't allow the teachers to do:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/266660788/ETFO-internal-memo-on-new-curriculum

Teachers will work-to-rule starting Monday; school remains open

The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (the teachers union) is starting a work-to-rule campaign starting Monday May 11. Schools will remain open and teachers will continue to teach their classes. The union has instructed teachers not to supervise EQAO testing or to participate in any "ministry of Education initiatives."

This letter explains what the TDSB knows so far.

The union put out a statement which indicates that extra-curricular activities and field trips will continue "for the duration of phase 1." It says that the job action is "incremental in nature," so presumably the situation will change whenever they decide to move into phase 2.

Teachers to continue protest

Members of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario today voted to continue their protest against the contracts imposed by the Ontario government.

This report is from People for Education:

Elementary teachers decide to continue protest On Thursday afternoon, the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) announced that the union would continue their protest against imposed contracts. While ETFO acknowledged that the talks are progressing, they felt that a better "tone" was not enough. In a press release, ETFO President Sam Hammond said, “While we have experienced a marked and welcome change in the Wynne government’s approach to addressing its relationship with teachers, this has yet to translate into real change,” said . “In these circumstances, ETFO’s advice regarding voluntary/ extra-curricular activities remains unchanged.” To read more about extracurricular activities, click here.

For more information:

• The Toronto Star's news report
• CBC News
• ETFO's news release
• The official response from Minister of Education Liz Sandals
• Latest labour information from TDSB (nothing new there yet, but presumably they will update it eventually)