Public elementary schools in Timmins will be closed to students Friday.
The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) announced yesterday their rotating teacher strikes would hit District School Board Ontario North East (DSB1), which covers Timmins and the surrounding area, Friday, Jan. 24.
In a labour update on the board's website, it says that withdrawing the services "causes significant impact" to the elementary schools.
As such, all of the public board's elementary, and Grade 7 and 8 programs in Grade 7 to 12 schools will be closed. The elementary schools will re-open Monday, Jan. 27.
"This labour action does not impact secondary schools. Schools remain open for students in Grades 9 to 12," reads the notice.
All four of Ontario's teachers' unions negotiating new contracts with the province are now engaged in job action.
ETFO members upped their job action last week.
Public elementary teachers are no longer supervising extracurricular activities unless scheduled during the regular school day, and not taking part in field trips. Members are also not arriving at work earlier than 30 minutes before the start of the instructional day are leaving within 15 minutes of the end of classes. They are not planning or participating in assemblies, unless it's to provide supervision to students.
The Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA) is staging a province-wide, one-day full withdrawal of services Tuesday, Jan. 21.
For the strike, Northeastern Catholic District School Board (NCDSB) elementary and high schools will be closed to students.
OECTA's job action started Jan. 13. Its members are not completing report cards, participating in EQAO-related activities, and attending or taking part in Ministry of Education initiatives.
While the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) strike Jan. 21 isn't affecting Timmins-area schools, its members are starting new job sanctions Jan. 20.
Teachers and occasional teachers won't be performing on-calls, members won't take on any additional work or responsibilities as the result of an absent members except for if students with special needs are reassigned between educational assistants, members won't assume responsibility for finding replacements for absent employees, and members won't perform the work of another bargaining unit.
Since November, OSSTF members have not been doing standardized testing or prep, completing Ministry of Education Data Reports, participating in school board professional activities, taking part in unpaid staff meetings outside the regular school day, commenting on report cards, or performing work of another bargaining unit.
French-language teachers at Association des enseignantes et enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO) also started the first phase of its administrative job action last week.
