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.

Curriculum night

In case you missed the notice over on the school blog: unfortunately curriculum night has been postponed until the work-to-rule situation has been resolved.

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

School Council meeting tonight (May 20, 7pm)

A message from School Council chair Irit Hartman:

Dear Clairlea Families…

Here are the minutes from the April meeting.  Please have a look through and as always we want to hear your comments so please contact us via clairleacouncil@gmail.com   Other places to look are; The School Council bulletin board located outside the Main Office  and the School Council Blog http://clairleacouncil.blogspot.com to keep up to date of what is going on! 

The next school council meeting is tonight Wednesday May 20^th from 7pm-8:30pm. Free child minding is available.  All are welcome and we hope to see you there!    We will have a guest speaker tonight from FoodShare to discuss our new snack program.  FoodShare is a non-profit organization that gets good healthy food and food education to schools and communities.  www.foodshare.net.  

We will also be discussing whether to move forward with FunFair this year given the work to rule situation in place.

Please be advised that we will not have a meeting in June and this will be our last meeting for this school year.

Tonight’s Agenda for the School Council meeting:
6:55pm – 7:00pm Sell 50/50 tickets (optional)
7:00pm – 7:20pm Steve - Student Nutrition Community Development Animator FoodShare Toronto
7:20pm – 7:45pm Administration Report (Mr. Mcgilvray)
7:45pm – 7:55pm Treasurer’s Report (Tina)
7:55pm – 8:05pm Fundraising Report (Joanne)
8:05pm – 8:25pm Open Discussion (All)
8:25pm 50/50 Draw
Meeting will adjourn at 8:30pm

Best Regards,

Irit
Clairlea School Council

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.

Possible strike on Monday? (updated)

According to the CBC, the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario is planning to launch strike action on Monday.

This CBC report quotes the ETFO president as saying that "parents will be told what they can expect from the job action by Thursday night or Friday morning."

So far I do not see any official word from the TDSB on this, but interested parents might wish to follow their Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/tdsb. 

UPDATED May 6: Apparently this letter will be sent home in backpacks today. Also, this Toronto Star article suggests it will more likely be work-to-rule than an outright strike.

Teachers' contract negotiations

High school teachers in Peel Region are currently on strike.

Some parents may be wondering whether Clairlea will be affected by any job action. The elementary teachers' union is not in a legal strike position until next week, but it is possible that there will be job action after that. According to the Toronto Star, the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario is displeased with the offer currently on the table and could decide to strike or work-to-rule.

School buses running normally today

According to TDSB, school buses will run normally today. School bus operator Stock has reached a tentative deal with their union.

Possible school bus strike tomorrow

As you've no doubt heard on the news, there is a possibility of a school bus strike starting tomorrow (May 1, 2013).

This will affect some but not all of the students that are bused to Clairlea. There are two different school bus operators (Stock and First Student) and this affects only the buses operated by Stock. (At Clairlea, this means the small school buses only, but that will not necessarily apply to students at other schools.)

If your child is on a Stock school bus, this letter will be in his/her backpack tonight. If not, then you should be ok.

The TDSB suggests that we listen to the news, follow @TDSB on Twitter, visit  www.tdsb.on.ca or call  416-397-3000 for the latest updates.

It's over!

Great news! The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario has "suspended its advice regarding participation in voluntary / extracurricular activities." Read their media statement here. 

I'm pretty sure this means extracurriculars are coming back to Ontario's elementary schools. At least, that's how the Globe and Mail is reporting it. Hooray! 

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)

Safe arrival today

Despite the fact that buses are not running today, my understanding is that the school's safe-arrival procedures still apply. I'm sure that the school will appreciate a call (416-396-6165) as usual if your children are going to be absent.

CORRECTION - School is open today Friday Jan 11

According to news reports and the TDSB web site, the decision has been reversed and schools will in fact be open today, Friday January 11.

There will be no bus service.

Details on the TDSB web site and twitter page: http://www.tdsb.on.ca/_site/ViewItem.asp?siteid=10639&menuid=41024&pageid=34390 

Teachers to strike again on Friday

The elementary teachers' union has announced a "one-day political protest" this Friday January 11. Schools will be closed on Friday. This letter was emailed to parents today.