Dear Supporters of Toronto Public Schools
In this issue of my TDSB Trustee Update there is information on:
– Co-curricular activities,
– Seniority in hiring teachers,
– Feeding Toronto’s Hungry Students Week,
– an initiative to promote a National Strategy for Child and Youth Nutrition,
– links to help students with math, sciences, french and other subjects.
In each section, you’ll find some “Suggested Actions:” that you might consider taking.
As always, I welcome your questions, comments, and insights.
(And I hope that all who observed Yom Kippur had an easy fast and a joyful fast-breaking.)
Howard Goodman
TDSB Trustee, Eglinton-Lawrence
Howard.Goodman@tdsb.on.ca
www.tdsb.on.ca/goodman
@HowardGoodman
Co-Curricular Activities in Schools
My apologies for the delay in providing you with an update on this. The situation has been so fluid and confused for the past couple of weeks that I frankly haven’t known what to say that might not be proven wrong tomorrow. The situation contains to change daily, but despite the uncertainty I felt that you needed an update.
As I’ve described in earlier updates, Bill 115 (best known in the media for restraining teacher pay and removing the banking of sick days) includes provisions that:
– transfer power from the Legislature to the Minister,
– interfere with the ability of School Boards and Unions to agree to practices support local student needs, and
– prevent courts from questioning decisions made under Bill 115.
Many teachers are extremely upset about these provisions, and some are using a standard technique to protest – withdrawal of voluntary services such as supervising school clubs and teams. (Keep in mind that not all teachers have chosen this method of protest. Many teachers throughout TDSB and elsewhere continue to supervise clubs and teams, despite their anger over Bill 115.)
While I share many of the teachers’ concerns about Bill 115, I find this “withdrawal of voluntary activities” strategy to be completely misguided. Public attention is being diverted away from the legitimate concerns with Bill 115. Instead, parents and others are focusing on the damage the protests are doing to students. Perhaps most importantly, this strategy is driving a wedge between teachers and their greatest natural allies – the parents whose children they teach. (Have a look at this excellent analysis from the Globe written by Gerald Caplan, and the bottom half of this column from Rick Salutin in the Star.)
Parents have been asking me four common questions:
– Is this legal?
– How long will this continue?
– What can parents do?
– What are Boards and Trustees, and Principals, doing?
Q: Is this legal?
A: In a word – yes.
While the teacher’s work day extends beyond the “instructional day” of the student (often well into the evening and on weekends), teachers get to decide for themselves whether or not they are interested or able to supervise a club or team. In ordinary times, the majority of teachers do contribute their time generously, but each individual is free to decide that any given activity doesn’t fit in her/his schedule.
Q: How long will this continue?
A: Impossible to say. I hope that the teachers will soon understand that this is not an effective protest to achieve their goals, and that there are better ways to express their outrage to those MPPs who supported Bill 115.
Q: What can parents do?
A: There are two things you might do – one to provide activities to the students in the short-term, the other to speed the return to normal relationships within your school community.
1/ To provide support for your children and their friends, you can organize a group of parents to arrange for permits to run activities that you would like to see. Click here for information on permits. We have put in place an “express” 1-day permit approval process to get these groups running as quickly as possible (go through your Principal to access this express approval process).
2/ To restore relationships, this is the time to build bridges, not burn them. Schools depend on the relationships between students, parents, and teachers. Angry words are not soon forgotten. Adding your upset about the loss of clubs and teams, to the teachers’ outrage about the terms of Bill 115, will just make things worse for your school when this protest ends. Take some time to understand why teachers are protesting, and if you share any of their concerns, let them know. If your children are old enough, help them understand the issues too.
Do whatever you can to help restore relationships in your school community. This will take different forms in each school, and each person will feel comfortable with different actions. If you have any ideas on ways to protest Bill 115 that would preserve or strengthen the in-school relationships, discuss these within your school community (and let me know too).
For more information from a variety of perspectives on concerns related to Bill 115, have a look at the following:
– People for Education,
– Secondary Teachers,
– Elementary Teachers,
– Ontario Public School Boards Association,
– Who Is In Charge of the School House, and
– Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
Q: What are Boards and Trustees, and Principals, doing?
A: Public comment by School Board members about collective agreement negotiations and labour relations is rarely a good idea. But the absence of words or visible action does not mean that there is no effort. My colleagues and I are working behind the scenes in every way that we can to get past this problem and restore school relationships to normal as quickly as possible.
For Principals this is a particularly hard time. For the good of the students, they are committed to building excellent relationships between all groups within the school community – not an easy task in times of conflict and anger. They already have a full work-load, but the current uncertainty makes their job of promoting student achievement and well-being that much harder. Add to that their uncertainty as to how Bill 115 will affect them (and it will). This would be a great time to show your appreciation to the Principal and everyone else in the school office.
SUGGESTED ACTIONS:
1/ Learn about the objections being made to Bill 115.
2/ Rebuild frayed relationships within your school community
3/ Consider organizing parents to provide activities under a permit.
The Renewed Fight against Seniority Hiring Provisions
This is not as immediate a concern as the loss of clubs and teams, but in the long run seniority hiring provisions can do considerable damage to our schools’ ability to place the best possible teachers in front of our students, your children.
Like the proverbial cat, the provisions that were removed from Bill 115 related to hiring teachers by their seniority, are back – this time as Regulation 274/12 issued by the Minister. In short, these require Principals to hire one of the most most senior applicants for a teaching position, regardless of their knowledge of the school’s students or their “fit” with the students’ needs (for more details see my web-site).
In late August, hundreds of parents contacted Minister Broten, Premier McGuinty, and their local MPP demanding that this provision be removed from Bill 115. PC leader Tim Hudak made his party’s support for Bill 115 conditional on this provision being removed. To get the votes to pass the Bill, the seniority rules were removed.
As the first step in have Reg 274/12 rescinded, TDSB will be voting on Oct 3 to ask Minister Broten to rescind Reg 274/12 (the motion is in italics at the end of this section). I have circulated this motion to all the other public board Trustees in Ontario; a large number of them have told me that they will be bringing a similar motion to their Board at the earliest opportunity.
But Trustees and Boards cannot do this alone.
We will need the vocal support of parents and other concerned citizens persuade Minister Broten to rescind this regulation. In short, we need you to once again speak up in favour of quality, not length of service, as being the driving factor in hiring a teacher.
SUGGESTED ACTIONS:
1/ Contact Minister Broten (lbroten.mpp@liberal.ola.org / 416.325.2600), Premier McGuinty (dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org / 416.325.1941), and your MPP asking that Reg 247/12 be rescinded (find MPP contact information on my website).
2/ Spread the word of this regulation widely through your school community and other contacts. It will take wide-spread parental objections to rescind these seniority hiring rules.
TDSB Motion requesting that Minister Broten rescind Reg 274/12
Feeding Toronto’s Hungry Students week – Oct 1 – 5
(Declaration of personal bias – I am a long-time advocate for student nutrition programs and a board member of the Toronto Foundation for Student Success (TFSS), the group organizing the annual “Feeding Toronto’s Hungry Students” week.)
Every school day, TFSS-sponsored programs provide snacks or meals to 110,000 children, roughly 30% of the students in Toronto Public and Catholic schools. For many children this is the only reliable source of food they have. TFSS programs are funded by the Province, the City of Toronto, and many generous private donors.
Student success and regular nutritious meals are strongly linked – Finland, the recognized world-leader in school quality provides a hot breakfast for every student (and teacher) every morning. Recent research done in TDSB schools has shown that morning snacks improves student marks and decreases student misbehaviour.
Each year, TFSS raises money for, and the profile of, the needs for student nutrition through “Feeding Toronto’s Hungry Students” week. I hope that you will take this opportunity to learn more about TFSS and join the growing number of citizens and corporations that support TFSS’s work.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Consider adding your support for the programs offered through TFSS.
Initiative to have a National Child and Youth Nutrition Strategy
You can also help hungry students by circulating the “National Child and Youth Nutrition Program Petition”, sponsored by Dr. Kirsty Duncan (UofT Professor, TFSS Board member, and MP for Etobicoke-North). Canada is the only developed country with no national strategy for ensuring that our children receive the food that they need to nurture their brains and their bodies.
Every 25-signature petition that is submitted will allow an MP to speak for 1 minute on the floor of the House of Commons. With enough petitions, the hope is that our MPs will act to help our children, in order that our society will remain strong in the future. Here is an article written by Dr. Duncan on the benefits of a national nutrition strategy for Canadian society.
NOTE: it is much better to submit 4 25-signature petitions (which will generate 4 minutes speaking time), rather than 1 100-signature petition (which will generate only 1 minute speaking time). Under the rules of the House of Commons, a 25-signature petition and one with 2500 signatures will both generate 1 minute.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Download the petition, as well as the letter from TDSB Board with instructions about the petition, collect 25 signatures per petition, and send the completed petitions to TFSS for forwarding to Dr. Duncan in Ottawa.
Math/Science Apps, & French and other subject-related Sites
A regular part of these updates will be links to sites that students and parents might find useful in mastering material in school. Keep in mind that some sites will vary somewhat from the Ontario curriculum, but in most subjects (like math, sciences, and languages) that will be a matter of timing rather than content. There might be content differences in subjects like spelling, history, and geography. (Note – I’ve not visited most of these, but they come from usually reliable sources). For previously listed helpful sites click here.
Overall –
The Khan Academy has 3400+ short lessons on a wide variety of subjects
Math/Science –
The Wall Street Journal recommends these math and science apps.