SASKATOON - Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation has announced Friday that teachers will withdraw all extracurricular activities for the day provincewide, on Monday, Feb. 26.
All extracurricular activities that take place before school, during lunch hour, after school and in the evening are affected including sports, drama, music, band, science clubs, intramurals, rehearsals, student leadership activities, planning for graduation celebrations, book fairs, and other clubs and activities.
Teachers will also be continuing rotating noon-hour supervision withdrawals, this time impacting the following school divisions:
- 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).
STF President Samantha Becotte spoke to reporters in a media conference at 10:30 a.m. today. During her remarks she was critical of the Government-Trustee Bargaining Committee, saying their invitation last Thursday to return to the table happened late in the day.
"This was disrespectful and disingenuous," Becotte said, pointing to the invitation happening so late in the day that teachers on their bargaining committee didn't have enough time to arrange to meet in Regina. She also said they"clearly communicated to them that if they did not have a renewed mandate that we would not accept that invitation to return to the bargaining table."
She continued to make the point that job action was needed, demanding meaningful long-term commitments from the government and the school boards to address issues such as classroom complexity.
"Education is the greatest equalizer, but in a broken underfunded system, there's only so much of the teachers can do to support students. Students deserve better and teachers are going to continue to fight to ensure that their working conditions improve, and as I said, these working conditions are our students learning conditions. So we're fighting to ensure that students are getting the support they need. As I said, before, if government continues to refuse in engaging in good faith negotiations, the teachers are left with no other option to advance these issues but to impose additional sanctions."
In speaking to reporters Becotte was asked if by taking job action they believe they will obtain a deal that addresses classroom complexity and composition.
"Yeah, otherwise we wouldn't be taking actions. As I said, this government has the ability to pay, they have the ability to ensure that students are getting the support that they need in classrooms, all across the province ....they just need the political will, and a lot of that political will comes from public pressure, and so with this continued public pressure we are hopeful that we will be successful in this..." said Becotte.
As for the upcoming provincial election in October, Becotte said it "shouldn't come down to an election to apply that public pressure." She said they were hopeful in getting an agreement "sooner rather than later."
"But we need to ensure accountability that the government is going to continue to fund education, regardless of an upcoming election or regardless of whether an election has just passed. We need consistent predictable and sustainable funding in education."
