Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Monday, November 26, 2012

Government walks out of talks with high school teachers over supervision boycott

The head of the Ontario public high school teachers’ union said he is willing to return to provincial talks after being “flabbergasted” by the government’s decision to walk out early Monday.

The walkout followed the union’s refusal to call off its nascent boycott of supervision and after-hours meetings with parents.

“It blows me away that they ended discussions when there still were suggestions to be explored — we felt close on a number of issues,” said Ken Coran, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, which has just begun withdrawing services in 20 boards that are in a legal strike position — including Toronto, Durham and Halton — to protest a new law that limits bargaining rights and freezes wages.

But Education Minister Laurel Broten told the Star she pulled the plug on talks over more than just the teachers’ job action; she said the union was pushing for new teachers to move up the salary grid sooner, at a cost to be funded by having all teachers work fewer days.

“I was not willing to put the fiscal elements of our agreement at risk, or the classroom experience at risk … by teachers taking unpaid instructional days off,” Broten said. She has warned that her government will use the new law to end any job action that appears to put student safety at risk.

The teachers are refusing to fill in for each other if they have to leave for part of the day — to take a team to a tournament, for example — so principals, vice-principals and hall monitors are supervising instead. So far students have not noticed much disruption, noted Grade 12 student Hirad Zafari, of Toronto’s Don Mills Collegiate.

“We’re glad they’re putting pressure on administration instead of us, but of course we can feel the tensions growing between teachers and principals and parents and students,” added Zafari, a student trustee with the Toronto District School Board.

In Halton, where the union also represents school secretaries, the board has warned parents they may have to come and fetch a child who gets sent to the office if there is no one there to supervise.

“Say four or five students were to get into a fight and be sent to the office, but the principal and vice-principal are busy supervising students in the cafeteria or library — and secretaries have said they won’t do supervision,” explained Debra McFadden, the Halton District School Board’s chief negotiator. “We might have to call parents to come and pick up the student.”

Already the Ontario Principals’ Council has declared the situation unsafe.

“In secondary schools, inadequate supervision can result in an increase in bullying, vandalism, assaults, behavioral issues, theft, graffiti, drug activity, truancy and verbal abuse,” warned council president Ken Arnott. “If supervision is withdrawn, or if on-calls for absent teachers are not covered, schools will not be safe places for learning.”

Already trustees at one board — Trillium Lakelands District School Board in cottage country — have given senior board staff the power to lock out a school if it cannot guarantee students are properly supervised.

“It’s an absolute last resort,” stressed board chair Karen Round, “but there are always quiet corridors in any school that need to be supervised to keep kids safe, including from bullying, and if not, the safety of students can be at risk.”

In Durham Region, as in Toronto, many principals and vice-principals were having to go to classrooms to gather attendance sheets teachers now refuse to submit to the office.

The Halton board has postponed until January two evening workshops for student and parents about careers, apprenticeships and co-op programs.

Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Louise Brown

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