The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation has announced two job actions for Monday, the first day back after a week off for students. The first is province-wide withdrawal for teachers from any of their regular extracurricular activities before, during and after school. The second is a continuation of the one-day withdrawal of noon-hour supervision affecting Saskatoon’s School Divisions, along with the School Divisions for North Battleford, Moose Jaw and Meadow Lake and surrounding areas and the Northern Lights School Division, which covers the north. The details are below.
STF President Samantha Becotte says students need support around classroom complexity, so they can be successful, and teachers have no other way to guarantee this than to apply sanctions to move the process forward. Both the province and the Saskatchewan School Boards Association believe that the funding should be outside of the contract, however Becotte explains that if it isn’t included it can’t be guaranteed over time. She adds that the SSBA has advocated for predictable and sustainable funding for complexity in the past. “But they have been unable to secure better conditions for students and schools across our province through that advocacy. If they had been more successful, teachers might not be pushing this as such a high priority.”
The Minister of Education has alluded to new funding to be announced in the budget next month, but not as part of the teachers’ contract. Becotte says, “We need to know in the long term. These aren’t political problems. They should be looked at as policy problems and it shouldn’t depend on who is elected in these positions. We should be making these decisions in the best interest of kids across the province.”
Parents and caregivers are invited to attend a virtual Information Night on Monday at 7 p.m., where Becotte will talk about the status of contract negotiations. Space is limited to 5,000 registrants. You can register here.
Withdrawal of noon-hour supervision will involve teachers who are members of the following local associations:
• Northern Area Teachers’ Association – All schools in Northern Lights School Division
• North West Teachers’ Association – All schools in Northwest School Division
• Prairie South Teachers’ Association – All schools in Prairie South School Division
• Saskatoon Teachers’ Association – All schools in Saskatoon Public Schools and Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools
• Tri-West Teachers’ Association – All schools in Living Sky School Division, Light of Christ Catholic School Division and Sakewew High School (North Battleford)
