Breaking News - Re-employment Rules for Retirees Changing

The 95/20 rule is retiring... a new single limit will apply.

If you're a retiree now, or you're thinking about retirement, you'll want to pay close attention to the changes in the rules regarding post-retirement work. More information is available by reading the OTF Communique at this link:
http://www.otffeo.on.ca/english/media_room/communique/commvol15no6.pdf

Or, you can visit the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan website at www.otpp.com

Attendance Program Update

What follows is a synopsis of the attendance program update that was shared with Workplace Stewards at their training session on April 22nd. The current attendance management program has elicited feelings of fear and frustration for members, particularly those who have been flagged under the program. Correspondence from the local throughout this year has been aimed at making members more aware of their rights and responsibilities.

Attendance Program Update

The Ministry of Education audited school boards last year and is under the belief that cost savings are available through attendance programs, and that any additional funds that can be accessed are especially useful in a time of recession and fiscal restraint. Attendance programs are commonplace in many employment sectors and have been around for at least 20 years. A number of ETFO locals have had attendance programs in place for several years. However, with the memo from the ministry asking school boards to consider the program more boards, including ours, have decided to implement the program this school year.

The attendance program was officially announced by the DDSB in December and rolled out in January. Certain members began receiving phone calls that their attendance pattern was questionable and they were invited to a meeting.

Calls started to come in to the office requesting union representation. Our initial position was that these meetings should only be held during the instructional day and booked using a similar system to the disability management program (via a Lotus Notes invitation). The Board vigorously resisted these two points and insisted meetings be booked directly with the teacher, who would then contact the union for representation, and that meetings would be held outside the instructional day.

This standoff caused a great deal of stress for the members who were initially flagged. Further complicating our initial stand was that both CUPE and OSSTF had made no issue with how meetings were being booked or at what time they were being held. Their position unfortunately undermined our local’s position with the DDSB.

The board notified me that some of our colleagues had met with them regarding their attendance, and they had chosen of their own accord to do so without union representation. Their reasoning being that they did not want to get caught in a tug of war between the board and union.

This information combined with a new threat that members who refused to be present at an attendance program meeting would ultimately receive letters of insubordination, meant a decision had to be made – a decision that would require legal counsel’s input to protect members.

I conferred at length with both our ETFO staff officer and legal counsel on the matter - it was determined that we should alter our position on meeting times and adopt a time frame of 20-30 minutes on either side of the instructional day or during the additional 20 minutes at lunch. This decision was shared with the DDSB, and attendance meetings began with members in February.

Our policy grievance with respect to the attendance program (filed in January) was strongly worded – this is common practice for all grievances. While ETFO’s grievance sought to have the program nullified, another employee group’s grievance unfortunately asked only for consultation to improve the attendance program.

As your president and grievance officer, I once again had discussions with legal counsel and our provincial ETFO staff officer to decide whether to put the grievance on hold in order to have discussions with the Board, or whether to proceed with a referral to arbitration.

This is the same process and strategy that has been followed for every grievance when deciding how to proceed. These decisions have always been, and continue to be, reported to executive members through executive meetings and to the membership during general meetings and through e-updates.

Discussions were held with the Board in March to provide input for revisions to the program. Your three released officers (president and two VPs) attended two meetings with board personnel. The first meeting was to discuss concerns with the program and the process overall. This mirrored discussions from the initial grievance meeting. The second meeting provided specific suggestions to improve the program - input was sought from your vice-presidents and incorporated into the submission that was given to the Board.

All employee groups have now met with the DDSB to provide feedback on revising the attendance program. The DDSB has indicated it will revise the program and provide a draft document to the employee groups this spring for review and further input. It is the DDSB’s intention to introduce the revised program for September 2010.

Based on the content of the revised attendance program document, the Local will once again confer with provincial ETFO and legal counsel regarding the status of the grievance.

At the Steward training, we were fortunate to have Howard Goldblatt as our guest speaker. Howard Goldblatt is a founding partner of Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP, the leading labour law firm in Canada. Mr. Goldblatt has practiced labour law for over 30 years and is our legal counsel for this grievance. Mr. Goldblatt answered the following questions during the Steward training:

1. If the collective agreement provides for 20 sick days per year (plus banking any unused days), how can the board "limit" the number of days used by members to 15 , or whatever the threshold might be? Doesn't this violate our collective agreement?

The Board is not “limiting” the number of days that can be used but is, rather, establishing thresholds which will trigger the attendance management program. Legally, sick leave is not a “right”, it is a benefit to be used to provide for income replacement in the event of illness. The fact that there are 20 days under the collective agreement does not give the employee the right to take those days, absent a bona fide illness, or remove from the employer the right to inquire appropriately as to the use of sick days.

2. Why are we having talks with the Board about improving the attendance program, if the original remedy in our grievance was to have the attendance program thrown out?

Arbitrators have almost consistently upheld the right of employers to introduce attendance management programs, absent specific language in the collective agreement that prohibits it. The issues, therefore, usually at arbitration relate to the appropriateness of the program in areas such as (i) intrusion into medical confidentiality; (ii) whether the thresholds are reasonable; (iii) whether the requirement to produce medical certificates violates the collective agreement; (iv) whether the plan is disciplinary or non-disciplinary etc. It is extremely unusual for an arbitrator to throw out the program. In most cases, the arbitrator will order development of an appropriate program involving discussions with the union.

3. Why can't we just move the grievance forward, whether or not we're having discussions with the Board?

There is nothing to stop the grievance from moving forward while discussions occur, but to what end. The grievance could be referred to arbitration but, if the hearing date comes up too rapidly, we would likely be where we are now. At some point the employer may well say “this is it” and that program is the one that would be before an arbitrator for consideration. There is little use, practically, in taking a program to arbitration which may well be revised (by agreement or unilaterally) before you get there. We may need to decide to go to arbitration, depending on how the discussions resolve themselves.

4. How have similar grievances on attendance programs (in ETFO and beyond) been settled? Have there been favorable awards in arbitration? Do many grievances even make it to arbitration?

My experience is that even where cases do make it to arbitration, the argument is around the edges rather than as to the existence of the program. I have a number of cases in many sectors, private and public, that involve attendance management. Most recently, my experience has been that the parties do reach an agreement; the do’s and don’ts of these plans are fairly well developed by now. I know of only one case where the entire plan has been tossed out (City of London) but, even there, the arbitrator did not preclude the employer from introducing a new plan and they are now working on the details of that plan with the unions.

Bottomline: It’s better to get a plan that’s fair to employees, rather than leave it to others to decide our fate.

Staffing/Surplus/Transfer Round Update

Transfer round 1 took place last week and, despite the limited number of vacancies available (50.5 FTE), it was a relatively successful round in that over 35 FTE positions were filled. Every full-time vacancy which had applicants was filled by principals - there were no "passes". At the start of Round 1, there were approximately 113 FTE teachers who were surplus, and now the number is down to 86 FTE.

The staffing numbers are continuing to disappoint the Board and the difficult decision was made to postpone the opportunity for part time teachers to increase their teaching assignments - this will NOT happen in round 2 as previously hoped. The Board has indicated that if there are vacancies available after all surplus teachers are placed following round 2, the Board will hold a third transfer round to allow assignment increases.

The vacancies for Transfer Round 2 will be posted next Monday, May 3rd. There are approximately 45 FTE vacancies available in round 2. Teachers will be able to apply to these vacancies from May 4 to 6, and Transfer Round 2 will take place on May 11th.

Annual Meeting is next Wednesday, May 5th!

The flyer has already gone out to schools, so this is just a reminder that our local Annual Meeting will be held next Wednesday, May 5th at the Deer Creek Golf and Banquet Facility, at 2700 Audley Road North in Ajax. The meeting will start at 4:30 p.m.

On the agenda for the meeting: approval of the proposed 2010-2011 budget, annual reports, and elections for your 2010-2012 Local Executive. Elections are a "timed item", meaning they will start promptly at 5:00 p.m. Nominations have been received for all executive positions, with the exception of Member-at-Large/Political Action. Nominations will be accepted at the meeting for this position only, until 4:50 p.m.

We hope to see many of you then!

Early Learning Program Meeting Scheduled - All Members Welcome!

Mark your calendar!

Our local will be holding an Early Learning Program (aka Full-Day/Every Day Kindergarten) meeting on Monday, May 17th at 4:30 p.m. The meeting location will be announced within the next few days.

This meeting will be of particular interest to those members who will be teaching in one of the phase one ELP Kindergarten classrooms this fall, but other Kindergarten teachers and any interested members are most welcome to attend! The meeting will give teachers an opportunity to voice their concerns and needs with respect to the new program and hear the latest information from one of our provincial released officers (the president or one of the vice-presidents).

To see a list of the schools that will be hosting ELP Kindergarten classes this fall, click on "Kindergarten" in the right hand margin and read the earlier post announcing those schools.

Stay tuned for more information about this meeting in the coming week!

Happy Earth Day!

Did you know that it is one of ETFO's priorities to promote the care and protection of the environment? I hope that each one of us takes a moment today (or this weekend) to do something kind for our planet. Buy a travel mug... pick up some garbage in your neighbourhood.... turn off the lights when you're not in the room. Little things can make a big difference!

Happy Earth Day to you all!!

ETFO's On-line Registration Opens

Thursday, April 15th marked the launch of ETFO's new online registration and e-commerce platform for the ETFO PQP, face-to-face AQ courses, and new online AQ courses.

The first registrant, an ETFO member from Pickering, registered for a course 10 minutes after the platform went live. By the end of the day, ETFO had received 140 registrations which made the platform an immediate success!

If you are considering registering for one of ETFO's upcoming AQ or PQP courses, you may want to avoid waiting until the last minute as ETFO's PD department anticipates that some courses may fill up by the end of April.

Here's the link to ETFO's AQ website if you'd like to check out the offerings or if you'd like to register: http://www.etfo-aq.ca/

Draft Full-Day Kindergarten Curriculum is Out!

The Ministry of Education has just released the draft curriculum for the new full-day Early Learning Kindergarten Program. The curriculum document provides the program expectations, but is still missing some content related to the respective roles of the teachers and ECEs assigned to the program. Here is the link to the draft document:

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/kindergarten.html

ETFO will advise us when the more complete document becomes available. This document will remain in draft form throughout the 2010-2011 school year and will be revised based on the experience of the first year of ELKP implementation. This curriculum document will eventually fully replace the Kindergarten curriculum when full-day, every day Kindergarten is fully rolled out in 2015.

Workplace Harassment and Bullying

What is workplace bullying? Bullying is a form of harassment and a form of violence in the workplace. Bullying can be based on grounds set out in the Human Rights Code (e.g., based on gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.), or it can be a form of psychological or personal harassment apart from the Human Rights Code. Workplace bullying is objectionable conduct or comments directed towards a specific person, which serves no legitimate work purpose, and has the effect of creating an intimidating, humiliating, hostile or offensive work environment. Unfortunately, bullying happens because it is allowed to happen. Courage on the part of those who can take action is vital. We all have a right to protection from violence in our workplace.

If you are being bullied at work, or know of someone who is, seek assistance early. Do not stand idly by and watch a colleague be bullied. Help them get help. If you are being bullied, be sure to document all incidences. If you are able to do so, ask the harasser to stop. Contact your local president or staff in PRS at the provincial office.

ETFO has developed a PRS Matters bulletin on workplace bullying. Here's the link: Workplace Harassment and Bullying There is also a wealth of information online about workplace bullying, just google the topic and you'll find a number of good websites, such as http://www.workplacebullying.org/ and http://www.bullyonline.org/ There is lots of great information about why people bully, who they bully, different types of bullying, and how to take action against the bully.

Do not suffer in silence. Ask for help.

Thinking of Retiring but Still Want to Teach? Read this...

If you are thinking of retiring and daily occasional teaching is a part of that plan, be advised that the DDSB is not currently accepting any new additions to the occasional teacher roster. This includes soon-to-be retirees. This is a common agreement between district school boards and occasional teacher locals as it ensures that an appropriate amount of work is available to those who are already on the occasional teacher list.

For those who hold sought-after specialist qualifications, such as FSL, the Board has accepted new members to the list in the recent past, but only following a formal application and interview process.

Staffing Update for Monday

Originally due last Friday, Round 1 vacancies were available on the weekend following some technical difficulties in posting on the DDSB's staff intranet. You may have noticed that there are a little over 50 FTE positions available in Round 1, but there are currently 100 teachers that are surplus to their schools (NOT redundant). The Board has indicated that the system-level assignments (e.g., literacy coaches, facilitators) that have been vacated because their term limit has been reached, have not yet been posted but will help to generate another dozen or so positions. This is notable because it has created an imbalance of sorts - those members have been incorporated into their home school's staffing, possibly creating staff surplus, but the corresponding vacated position is not yet posted. These positions, along with retirements, leaves of absence, maternity leaves, etc., will all help to rectify the imbalance between the surplus numbers and the numbers of vacancies in the system.

At this time, the DDSB still hopes that part time teachers will be able to apply to increase their teaching assignment in Round 2, but is closely monitoring this situation. Worst-case scenario? An additional transfer round would be established to allow the increase in teaching time, before positions are posted externally. I will keep you apprised as the staffing process continues...

Interesting Column about American Education Policy

This Globe and Mail article from early April is an interesting perspective by a Canadian journalist on American education policy. Just in case you're thinking, "How can this possibly be related to what's going on in Ontario education?", consider that President Obama's Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, who is profiled in this article, is to be a keynote speaker at the Ontario government's Education Summit in September.

GLOBE AND MAIL April 1, 2010

Konrad Yakabuski, Columnist

Of all the strange sights to which the Bizarro World of American politics has borne witness of late, perhaps none is as strange as the coming together of Arne Duncan, Newt Gingrich and Al Sharpton as Barack Obama's education musketeers. A more unlikely political alliance is hard to imagine.

Officially, the trio composed of Mr. Obama's earnest Education Secretary (Mr. Duncan), the hard-right Republican (Mr. Gingrich) and the self-anointed voice of America's oppressed (Rev. Sharpton) was dispatched by the President last fall to investigate innovation in the classroom. But their tour of U.S. cities was really a promotional junket for his radically un-Democratic education policies.

The centrepiece of this agenda is the President's $4.35-billion (U.S.) Race to the Top fund, a carrot dangled in front of cash-strapped states to induce them to dramatically expand the role of charter schools and punish, even fire, teachers who fail to lift student scores on standardized math and reading tests. The first $600-million in Race money was awarded this week to the “winners.” Delaware will get $100-million and Tennessee $500-million, after both agreed to lift caps on charter schools – which are publicly funded, but privately managed K-12 institutions – and to base teacher pay and advancement on how well their students perform.

Whether pushing the tough-love triad of choice, competition and teacher accountability will actually raise the woeful performance of American school kids compared with their international peers remains to be seen. What is not in doubt is the groupthink that has seized politicians and policy-makers across the United States – and quite a few in Canada, too – according to which markets are the solution to all that ails public education.

There was a time when only Republicans championed this view. But in the past decade, the pro-charter, anti-union Wall Street Journal has not lacked for reformist Democrats to lionize in its editorial pages. Two of its favourites are Mr. Duncan, the former head of Chicago's public school system, and Michelle Rhee, who took over in 2007 as chancellor of Washington, D.C.'s public schools, possibly the worst in the nation. Like New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who gained full control of the city's schools in 2002 after the state eliminated 32 local boards, the reformers have shuttered “failing” schools, sought to reward and penalize teachers based on test scores, and overseen an explosion of charters, largely catering to minority students.

Indeed, Harlem is the nation's poster-neighbourhood for charters. From Geoffrey Canada's Promise Academies to its KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) schools, the long waiting lists for Harlem's charters attest to African-Americans' frustration with a public school system many believe failed them in the past, is failing their children now and will as assuredly fail their kids' kids.

Touting challenging curriculum, envious test scores and uncommonly dedicated teachers, American charter schools have done a good job cultivating their winner image. The truth is that, just like public schools, charter schools come in good, bad and ugly varieties. That alone is telling, considering that charters can count on the most motivated students and “counsel out” persistently low-performing kids.

BUYING INTO THE HYPE
Nevertheless, American policy-makers have wholly bought in to the charter hype. If they're not replacing public schools with charters, they're implementing charter-like teacher accountability in the public system.When it comes to teachers, just how do you separate wheat from chaff anyway? Education experts have agonized over this question for decades without resolution. Yet Mr. Duncan, Ms. Rhee and Mr. Bloomberg all share a deep conviction that they know how. If your class improves its scores on standardized state math and reading tests, they figure you're wheat. If it doesn't, well, you're toast.

This obsession with standardized testing is George W. Bush's lasting gift to American public education. His 2002 No Child Left Behind law made states eligible for extra federal cash if they could show continuous improvement in student scores on state-administered tests.

Unfortunately, the law created a set of perverse incentives for teachers, students and bureaucrats alike. Teachers have increasingly “taught to the tests,” diminishing the emphasis on other worthy material and subjects. Students have “learned” what's needed to score better on the tests. And states have lowered standards to raise student scores and get their hands on the federal moola. In other words, everyone is gaming the system. The proof is that students in almost every jurisdiction have shown eye-popping improvement on state tests, even though their scores on the federally administered National Assessment of Education Progress tests have been flat since 2002.

The reaction of states, students and teachers to No Child would not surprise experts in behavioural economics. But somehow it has not deterred Mr. Obama. His proposals for updating the No Child law, unveiled by Mr. Duncan on March 15 and subject to approval by Congress, would shift the objective of federal education policy from making all students “proficient” in math and reading by 2014 – an illusory goal since only a third currently make the grade on NAEP tests – to ensuring that every high school graduate is “college- or career-ready” by 2020. Though meeting the new goal is not any more likely than reaching the old one was, the fate of teachers and entire schools would nevertheless rest almost entirely on their test scores. To be eligible for federal cash, states would have to take corrective action with respect to their lowest-scoring 10 per cent of public schools, from moving or firing their teachers to closing them down.

Criticism of the President's plan has been sparse. After all, Mr. Duncan, with his hard-knocks Chicago accent, and Ms. Rhee, the ambitious daughter of South Korean immigrants, are media darlings. They express the kind of “Yes we can” confidence that pleases Obama Democrats. Their get-tough-on-teachers tactics cheer Republicans. And the education unions long ago ceded the public relations war.

Under the circumstances, Diane Ravitch stands out like a rebel voice in a schoolyard full of conformists. In reality, she's the conservative one. Her newly published Death and Life of the Great American School System offers up an indictment of the “pedagogical fads” of the Bush and Obama eras, adapting the title of Jane Jacobs' famous book on 20th-century crazes in urban planning.

As an education historian at New York University, Prof. Ravitch has chronicled every “big idea” that has shaped (mostly for the worse) American public education in the past century. She also had a hand in spawning a few of them. As assistant education secretary in the administration of George H.W. Bush, and as a member of the National Assessment Governing Board under Bill Clinton, she played a role in creating the testing infrastructure that gave life to No Child. She admits to having once “drunk deeply of the elixir that promised a quick fix to intractable problems.” She now warns that testing and charters – the twin pillars of Mr. Obama's education policies – are destroying public education and all it should accomplish. (Hint: It's not just about passing tests.)

“The big idea now is that we all have to run [schools] like a competitive business,” Prof. Ravitch lamented over the phone from New York this week. “If you look back to the [financial] debacle of 2008, you wouldn't think this was a model for American education.”

Nor does it make for well-rounded students. “States and districts are now gearing everything to getting the right [test] numbers and nobody is learning anything [more]. They may even be learning less overall, because there is no incentive to teach anything except reading and math.”

Prof. Ravitch is no apologist for tenured teachers. But she insists that relying on test scores – even if they could be trusted – is a haphazard way to evaluate educators. There is almost no empirical evidence to back it up. “No teacher has randomly assigned classes,” she noted. Yet that is what would be required to fairly compare teacher performance. “There are bad teachers, and they should be fired after due process. But even if we fire every single bad teacher in America, we would not have 100-per-cent proficiency [in math and reading] and we probably wouldn't have better performance on the whole because of all the demographic issues.”

A CAUSAL FACTOR IN LOW SCORES
Income inequality is the elephant in the room of U.S. education policy. It goes almost entirely unmentioned as a causal factor in the low test scores of black and Hispanic students, though the efforts to single-mindedly “lift” math and reading scores are focused squarely on minorities. In Washington, where blacks and Hispanics make up more than 90 per cent of the student body, fully 56 per cent of fourth-graders lack “basic” reading skills as defined by NAEP. Minorities are no better served than any other group by a system that privileges narrow testing in math and reading to the detriment of literature, art, music, science and geography. How does a mechanistic emphasis on teaching to the tests inspire them to learn, much less equip them to be productive 21st-century citizens, workers and human beings? If it doesn't, what is public education for anyway?

Ruby Ratliff knew the answer. She was Prof. Ravitch's homeroom teacher at San Jacinto High in Houston in the 1950s. At graduation, Ms. Ratliff hand-picked two lines of poetry for each of her students. Prof. Ravitch got Tennyson's “to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield” and “among them, but not of them” by Byron.

“Would any school today recognize her ability to inspire her students to love literature?” Prof. Ravitch asks in her book. “She would be stifled not only by the data mania of her supervisors, but by the jargon, the indifference to classical literature and the hostility to her manner of teaching that now prevail in our schools.”

In Arne Duncan's America, she might also be fired.

Seniority Demystified...

I often receive questions about how your seniority is used to determine who at the school is declared surplus. The seniority list can seem a bit overwhelming as there are so many columns and not a clear sense of what is counted (or not) towards your seniority.

This post is an attempt to make some sense of all those columns! The only thing that counts for your seniority with the DDSB is your continuous employment, meaning the amount of time that you have been continuously employed by the Board as a permanent elementary teacher. If there is a break in your service (e.g., you quit for a few years), your service is interrupted and your seniority would begin again at zero years. This service is listed in the first column to the right of the date your employment began.

All the additional columns to the right of the continuous employment column show the previous experience you may have brought with you from: previous elementary experience in Durham, secondary experience, other Ontario experience, Canadian experience, and other experience such as an LTO assignment. These do NOT count as seniority, but are used as tie breakers (starting from the DDSB elementary experience and so on) if two members have the exact same amount of seniority and ONE must be declared surplus.

Also remember that your seniority is very different from your experience credit, which determines at what year you will be placed on the salary grid. This is where all that "other" experience comes in to play (LTOs, employment with another school board, etc.).

If you are concerned whether or not you have been rightfully declared surplus, please contact the local office for advice.

Staffing Reminder!

Just a reminder that the posting of vacancies in transfer round 1 will come out this Friday. Members should know by Friday what they are teaching in the next school year, so that they can make an informed decision about whether to transfer (or not). Members can apply for up to 3 positions. Part timers wanting to increase their teaching time can apply for additional FTE teaching time in Round 2 (and all external postings beyond).

Those who are surplus need to submit their "Teacher Information Forms" to Brian Reid (Manager, Hiring), their current principal, and ETFO Durham by tomorrow. If you do not find a position in rounds 1 or 2, the information on the TIF is used to assist in placing you appropriately.

Remember to call the office if you have any questions: 905-666-1122 or 1-800-220-6912.

Degree or not degree? That is the question...

Thinking about pursuing your Master's degree? Recently a member inquired as to how this might help her with salary improvement. The answer is:

Our collective agreement, under Article 5.09, provides an additional allowance of $1096.00 (effective September 2010) if you obtain a post-graduate degree at the Master level or above. However, the allowance is NOT applicable if you used the degree in any way to move you up a category rating (e.g., if you used part of the degree to move you from A3 to A4). If you are not at A4 and trying to use the degree to upgrade your category rating, you should apply to QECO for a re-evaluation as you finish courses and they will give you the information as to how many courses you'd need to get to the next category rating.

QECO uses a very specialized formula to determine how each member is rated, so it is impossible to speculate on what any given member might need to move up a category. You can find more information about QECO at www.qeco.on.ca and check out the previous post about QECO, by clicking on that subject in the right hand margin.

Funding Your Pension - A Guide to Your Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan

Although for some of us, a pension income may seem like a long way off (and VERY far off for others!), we should all be well informed about our pension plan and how it works. After all, we each contribute approximately 11% of our annual salary to our own pensions. ETFO's website has a Pension Information section, which contains links to a number of pension resources - here's the link: http://www.etfo.ca/Links/Pages/PensionInformation.aspx

One of the newest resources to be added to ETFO's Pension Information section is a link to the website "Funding Your Pension", which hosts web presentations designed to help you understand key funding challenges that face the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. Here's the direct links to "Funding Your Pension":

English: http://fundingyourpension.com

French: http://capitaliservotrerente.com

Finally, I would encourage everyone to sign up on the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan website for the i-Access Web option (www.otpp.com). This interactive web tool allows you to create retirement scenarios based on different retirement dates, view your pension credit, update your personal information, and so much more.

Staffing Process Tidbits

A few things to mention this evening about staffing:

1. Apparently the staffing numbers are looking promising...The latest news from the Operations department is that part-time teachers will be able to apply to increase their teaching time by Transfer Round 2. This is strictly an internal round, available only for permanent elementary teachers. Teaching positions would not be advertised externally until ALL surplus teachers have been placed following the transfer rounds.
   
2. Teachers should know what their 2010-2011 teaching assignment is by the time the Transfer Round 1 postings are out (next Friday, April 9th). This is so that you can make a fully informed decision on whether you wish to transfer or not.
   
3. The April Board meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 19th. It is expected that the majority of principal and vice-principal transfers for 2010-2011 will be announced that evening. The reality is that these announcements can bring good or bad news for those who are outgoing (have applied to another school) or staying on. This is on the eve of Transfer Round 1 and unfortunately not earlier!

EQAO Questionnaire

News from ETFO!! This year, EQAO is offering a questionnaire to all elementary (K-8) teachers, in addition to the questionnaires for teachers who administer grade 3 and 6 assessments.

ETFO is recommending that members, except those teaching grades 3 and 6, NOT VOLUNTEER TO COMPLETE THIS SURVEY. Teachers of grades 3 and 6 are required to complete the questionnaire under current policy.

Nomination Forms Due Soon!!

It's coming up on election time in our local - yes, it's already been two whole years! Nomination forms for the 2010-2012 ETFO Durham Teachers' Local executive went out to worksites in early March and the deadline for these to be received at the local office is next Wednesday, March 31st at 12:00 noon.

The election for all executive positions will take place at our Local Annual Meeting at Deer Creek Golf and Country Club on Wednesday, May 5th, 2010. Nominations have been invited for the following positions:

• President;
• First Vice-President;
• Second Vice-President;
• Secretary;
• Treasurer;
• Member-at-Large with responsibilities for Political Action;
• Four Executive members.

Nominations from the floor of the Annual Meeting will ONLY be accepted for positions for which NO prior nominations are submitted.

Once the deadline for nominations closes and candidates have been contacted, a list of candidates will be distributed to schools no later than Friday, April 9, 2010.

Spring 2010 Staffing Dates

Any teacher who would like to know more about the DDSB's surplus and transfer process is encouraged to read the procedure on the Board's website. Once you are in the staff intranet area, click on the "quick links" pull down menu and select "Policies and Procedures". You can search by number or key word. In this case, enter "4235" to access Procedure #4235 "Surplus, Transfer and Redundancy of Elementary School Teachers". Every spring, the staff intranet area also has links to staffing dates and forms, such as the application to transfer form.

The following is a list of important upcoming dates in the 2010 staffing process:

• April 1 - surplus teachers notified in writing by their principal
• April 8 - all teachers who are surplus (including voluntary surplus), must submit the "Teacher Information Form" by this date. This form should be provided to you by your principal and is your opportunity to indicate your preferred geographic area and grade/subject assignment if you are placed following the transfer rounds.
• April 9 - Posting for transfer round 1 vacancies is available
• April 12-15 - Teachers apply to a maximum of three positions (apply only to those positions you really want!)
• April 20, a.m. - Round 1 of surplus/transfer teacher placements
• May 3 - Posting for transfer round 2 vacancies is available
• May 4-6 - Teachers apply to a maximum of three positions
• May 11, a.m. - Round 2 of surplus/transfer teacher placements
• TBA - Round 3, if necessary. If part time teachers have not been permitted to apply to increase their teaching time in rounds 1 and 2, a third transfer round will be held for this purpose.

It's that time of year again.... staffing time!

Eagerly anticipated by some and dreaded by others, along with spring weather comes staffing season. The cycle is the same every year -- some schools will need more teaching staff, others will have a surplus and some stay pretty much the same. The good news this year is that the Board doesn't anticipate declaring anyone redundant to the Board.

For part-timers looking to increase their teaching time, the jury is still out on when that will happen in this year's staffing process. The Operations department is still monitoring numbers and indicated that we should know by Easter weekend whether part timers can apply to increase their assignment in Transfer Round 1, Round 2, or in a special Round 3. As soon as the decision is made, I will let members know on this blog and through an email to members through Stewards. School administrators will also be notified by the Operations department.

If you are declared surplus, or even if you think it is possible you might be declared surplus, you are encouraged to contact the local office for advice and options. It can be a confusing process and it's best to know your rights and responsibilities up front.

More information will be posted over the next week regarding important dates in this year's staffing process, figuring out the seniority list and other staffing-related issues. Remember, we are just a phone call away!

Welcome Back to Spring!

It's always nice to go on holidays in one season -- in this case, winter-- and return to another, SPRING! We've only been back two full days and I'm sure it feels like a lot longer than that. You've all likely picked up where you left off, but hopefully feeling a bit more relaxed and rested than on March 12th!

Now that we're on the home stretch (only 14 weeks left until summer holidays), this is a great time to honour the work that one of your amazing teacher colleagues is doing. See the information to the right and consider nominating them for an OTIP teaching award! More info is available by visiting www.teachingawards.ca

Goar: No medal for Guergis's performance at the United Nations

This is an interesting opinion article by Carol Goar from today's Toronto Star - it's regarding Helena Guergis' presentation at the United Nations. Ms. Guergis is Canada's Minister for the Status of Women.

Here's the link to the article - Goar: No medal for Guergis's performance at UN - thestar.com

And here's the first part of her article:

"This should have been a perfect week for Status of Women Minister Helena Guergis to appear before the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women to talk about gender equity in Canada.

Canadian women had just put on a magnificent performance at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, winning more than half of the country's 26 medals.

Canadian women have moved beyond parity in some spheres. They attend university in greater numbers than men, make up the majority of law school and medical school graduates and constitute 51 per cent of the workforce.

Unfortunately, these achievements were obscured by the baggage Guergis brought along with her.

First, there was her government's record on women's issues.

Harper has scrapped Canada's $5 billion national child-care program, closed 12 Status of Women offices across the country and killed Ottawa's widely admired court challenges program, which helped women (and other groups seeking to test their constitutional equality rights) finance expensive court cases.

On his watch, the proportion of women on the government benches has fallen to 11 per cent, from 25 per cent under Paul Martin and 23 per cent under Jean Chrétien.

Second, there was Guergis's own reputation and recent behaviour."

ETFO's Special Education Part 1 AQ course comes to Durham this summer!

There will be a large poster advertising all of ETFO’s AQ offerings delivered to schools in the March Stewards’ mailing, but here's a heads-up on one of the ETFO AQs that will be offered in Durham this year.....

ETFO Special Education Part 1 AQ - offered in Durham this July!
Cost: $650
Dates: July 5 – 23, 2010
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Location: Durham DSB office
Registration: opens April 13, 2010 at http://www.etfo-aq.ca/
For more information visit http://www.etfo-aq.ca/
Questions?
Please contact: Nancy Baldree, Executive Assistant, ETFO, at nbaldree@etfo.org or 1-888-838-3836 (extension 2247)

PD Event Update

I know, it's a bummer, but due to low registration numbers we've had to cancel ETFO's Classroom Assessment That Works workshop series here in Durham this spring.

Coming soon: information about two excellent AQ courses that ETFO will be offering in Durham - the Special Education Part 1 AQ in July at the Education Centre (only $650) and the Kindergarten AQ course (back by popular demand for the 5th year in a row!) which will be offered at our local office during one week in August and weeknights throughout the fall.

Classroom Assessment That Works - PD for Grades 6 to 8 Teachers

Calling all grade 6 to 8 teachers!! You've taken the rest, now take the best - PD, that is!

You are invited to join us at the ETFO Durham office for a new and informative three-part series that is being offered by the local in partnership with provincial ETFO. The series includes two half-day sessions (with release funded by ETFO) and one afterschool session. Specific times and dates are listed below. Classroom Assessment That Works for Intermediate Teachers has been designed to meet and support your daily classroom assessment needs, by providing you with the following:

• A variety of assessment tools and strategies, information on gathering data for feedback and reporting, and methods for using assessment data to inform instruction.
• A toolbox of assessment strategies and information that can be used to reflect on assessment practices.
• Time and an ETFO space to collaborate and brainstorm with colleagues about some of the challenges that face classroom teachers with respect to assessment practices.

See the flyer on your ETFO bulletin board for registration information, or speak to your Workplace Steward (they will receive a PDF version of the flyer today via Lotus Notes). The registration deadline is FAST approaching - Tuesday, March 2nd, and there's space for only 25 members. Hope to see you there!

Session dates/times:

Wednesday, March 24, 2010 - 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010 - 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010 - 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

OTF/OTIP Teaching Awards - Recognizing and Celebrating Teaching Excellence

Each year, the Ontario Teachers' Federation (OTF) and the Ontario Teachers Insurance Plan (OTIP) present three awards to outstanding teachers - one for elementary teaching, one for secondary teaching, and one for a beginning teacher.

To find out more about how you can help recognize and celebrate the excellent teaching of one of your colleagues, click on the title of today's post or visit www.teachingawards.ca.

Nominations for the 2010 awards are now open - the deadline is April 12, 2010.

General Meeting Tomorrow!

Just a final reminder that our winter General Meeting is tomorrow (Wednesday, February 24th)! All members are invited to attend at the Deer Creek Golf Club at 4:30 p.m. On the agenda: a presentation by Jim Greenlaw (Dean of the Faculty of Education at UOIT), debating resolutions to send to the 2010 AGM, the election of delegates to AGM, as well as a number of reports on timely issues. Hope to see you there!

ETFO's e-Newsletter - another edition "hot off the press"

The ETFO e-newsletter is hot off the press this afternoon. Click on the title of today's post to link you to the e-newsletter on ETFO's website. While you're there, sign up to receive future e-newsletters from ETFO. They are a quick read and include lots of great information regarding recent events, upcoming workshops, dates to remember, etc.

Growing Success - Report Card Update

ETFO continues to monitor the consultation process of the Ministry of Education's Growing Success document. Growing Success is the policy document that will usher in the changes to report cards next school year. The release of the first edition is still scheduled for the end of March 2010. As we've reported earlier, elementary teachers from grades one to eight will be writing one fall progress report and two provincial report cards, beginning in the 2010-2011 school year.

Due to the phase-in of full-day, every day kindergarten, kindergarten will NOT be included in the first edition of the Growing Success policy document. The Growing Success Ministry consultation team is gathering input on the draft Kindergarten program from phase one schools to inform the final policy. As a result, the final provincial kindergarten report card templates will not be implemented until September 2011. The final document, including the kindergarten program, is to be released in the spring of 2011.

Reminder: Upcoming Local Events

Just a couple of upcoming events to remind you about... if you'd like more information about any of these, you'll find the flyers on the ETFO bulletin board at your worksite.

1. Our General Meeting is scheduled for next Wednesday, February 24th at the Deer Creek Golf Club in Ajax. The meeting will start at 4:30 and the agenda includes a brief presentation from Jim Greenlaw, Dean of UOIT's Faculty of Education, as well as consideration of proposed resolutions for the 2010 provincial annual meeting. All members are welcome to attend - no pre-registration is required, just show up!
2. The Status of Women and Equity Committee invites you to their annual dinner in celebration of International Women's Day. Always a fun and popular event, this year's dinner will be held on Wednesday, March 24th at 5:00 p.m. at the Mandarin restaurant in Pickering. The cost is $10. per person and all members, regardless of gender, are welcome! See the flyer for registration information...

Sad, but true: the PD fund is spent

Yes, that's right folks.... Our ETFO Durham Teachers' Local PD fund for 2009-2010 has been spent for the year! All $50,000 of it has been distributed already to members, or promised for future PD events and professional purchases. The local's proposed operating budget for 2010-2011 will be presented at our May 5, 2010, annual meeting and once it's approved, PD fund applications for any events/courses/purchases after July 1, 2010 (the beginning of the next fiscal year), can then be approved. You can check out earlier posts regarding the PD fund for guidelines and information on how to apply - just look for "Professional Development Fund" on the right hand margin.

School Information Finder Campaign

Concern with the Ministry of Education's School Information Finder website has been ongoing since last spring. Launched in early April 2009, the School Information Finder profiles schools using EQAO test results along with students' socioeconomic, ethnic and racial background, and the number of new immigrants in the school neighbourhood. The "indicators" the Ministry has chosen to highlight are selective and misleading, such as primary class size (but no mention of larger junior and intermediate class sizes).

ETFO has created a special NO SIF! website, that is part of ETFO's larger website. You can link to it by clicking on the title of today's post, or by going to this web address: http://noSIF.ca At the website, you'll find lots of information about the School Information Finder campaign, as well as an "email your MPP" tool so that you can voice your concerns to your elected government representative.

And finally, a Facebook group has been set up for the School Information Finder campaign. You can access it at: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=289172506732&v=wall This link can also be found on the no SIF website. If you're a Facebook member, we'd encourage you to join the group.... as I sign off on this post, I'm headed to Facebook to join the group right now!

Time to get social!

The following social events have a few spots still left as of Tuesday, February 2nd - if you're interested, please contact Kent Clark via Lotus Notes as soon as possible. It's first come, first served, folks!!

• The February 19th "April in Paris" cooking class has just a few spaces left. See the flyer on your ETFO bulletin board for more information;


• The February 17th Raptors vs. Grizzlies basketball game - there are about 6 tickets left for this event. These are balcony prime seats that normally sell for $65 each, but are selling for $45 each! Again, check out the flyer for more info...;


• Maple Leafs game tickets are available as well. Only one pair is available (purple seats) for each of the following games and the cost is $95 per pair:


• Saturday, February 6th vs. Ottawa


• Monday, February 8th vs. San Jose Sharks


• Thursday, April 1st vs. Buffalo

Don't delay - these tickets will go quickly!

Haiti Earthquake Relief

I am pleased to leave you with some good news at this week's end - your local executive met this afternoon and approved a total donation of $2800 (that's $1 per member) for Haiti earthquake relief, to be divided equally between the Canadian Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. It is likely that a further donation will be made in the future to help with rebuilding efforts, with a particular emphasis on rebuilding schools in Haiti.

Clicking on the title of today's post will link you to the Canadian Red Cross website, or you can click here: http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=5&tid=003. This link will take you to the Medecins sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders website: http://www.msf.ca/ If you've not already made a donation to the Haiti earthquake relief efforts, you may wish to consider a donation to one of those organizations, or another of your choosing (e.g., World Vision, Unicef, etc.).

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

Simcoe Hall Settlement House

Your ETFO-Durham Political Action Committee has taken a special interest in anti-poverty initiatives in Durham. Through this blog, it is the Political Action Committee's intention to provide information about various local charities and social organizations in Durham, particularly those that ETFO Durham has traditionally supported (e.g., through donations). These organizations can be supported by individual members, through donations of money or volunteer efforts.

Simcoe Hall Settlement House, in Oshawa, is a not-for-profit community resource centre dedicated, since 1935, to assisting less advantaged children, families and vulnerable adults whose lives are affected by poverty. They believe that less advantaged children should not have a lesser future because of their circumstances, and that they should have the best possible start in life through good nutrition, education support and a safe place to be a child for optimum, healthy development during their childhood years. They believe that families and adults should have adequate nutrition, warm clothing, access to information and community support in a time of need.

Simcoe Hall Settlement House relies on volunteers to care for our community. There are many volunteer opportunities in the children's After School Program and Food Bank, as well as special events and fundraising (i.e., the fall Children's Benefit Dinner Auction). The next big event is the Kiwanis Food Drive in April 2010. This food drive is held in partnership with local Kiwanis clubs, community volunteers and Durham school youth. By March, there will be firm dates for the event. There will be lots to do in preparation for this initiative as this is the largest single day food drive event of the year.

For more information, click on the title of today's post to access the Simcoe Hall website (www.simcoehall.com) or call 905-728-7525.

And the survey says...

Earlier this month, members were asked for feedback on the placement of PA days during the 2010-2011 school year calendar. Results of the 2010-2011 school year calendar survey have been tallied and here are the results that have been submitted to the DDSB:

• Members overwhelmingly chose to have an additional PA day prior to Labour day (Wednesday, September 1 and Thursday, September 2, 2010) in order to free up an additional day to be used on the Friday prior to March break (85% voted for this option);
• Given the choice between parent-teacher interviews on Friday, November 12th OR Friday, November 19th, respondents chose the later date of November 19th for this PA day (the interviews will follow the fall progress report);
• The first report card of the year is to be sent home with students between January 20 and February 20. As per our collective agreement, one PA day for the purpose of assessment and completion of report cards is designated for teachers prior to this first report card. The vast majority of members chose the later January PA day for report card writing - Friday, January 28th was the final choice;
• For the second and final report card, another PA day is designated for report card writing. Members chose Friday, June 3rd, 2011, as their report writing day - this closely mirrors this year's June 4th report writing day.
• The final PA day is typically on June 30th (or the last weekday of June).

The Board will be submitting their proposed 2010-2011 school year calendar to the Ministry of Education shortly. We'll let you know once the calendar is approved (usually late winter/early spring). Thanks again for your input in our annual school year calendar survey!

Thanks for your feedback!!

We appreciate the feedback that we received from MANY worksites regarding the 2010-2011 school year calendar. We will be tabulating the results tomorrow and will share them with you here - remember that the 2010-2011 school year calendar will not be "official" until the Ministry of Education has approved the Board's submission later this winter.

The Edvantage Advantage

What is Edvantage? It's a free savings/discount program that's exclusively for members of the educational community. Using your ETFO membership card (the white one with the apple on it), you can access savings from a wide variety of companies and services, such as:

• The Brick
• Enterprise Rent-a-Car
• Fallsview Indoor Waterpark
• Goodlife Fitness
• Great Wolf Lodge
• H & R Block
• Hakim Optical
• Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (Leafs and Raptors tickets)
• Softmoc
• Young Drivers of Canada
• and many more...

Click on the title of today's post to link to the Edvantage website for more information!

ETFO Awards - Deadline is Approaching!

ETFO is committed to recognizing members for their achievements and contributions to the federation, to education and to their communities. Each year, ETFO presents a number of awards to members and, in some cases, community members for their outstanding work.

February 1st is the deadline for over 20 of these awards. Please see your ETFO bulletin board at your worksite for the poster which provides more information about each of these awards, or click on the title of today's post to link to the awards section of ETFO's website for information and application forms. Note that awards applications do require, at minimum, the signature of the local President, and in some cases require a motion be passed at a local executive meeting - NOT a general meeting (our next local executive meeting is on January 29th). If you wish to nominate someone for an award, please read the application carefully and build in enough time for it to be processed accordingly.

Some of the awards with a February 1st, 2010, deadline:

• Anti-Bias curriculum development award
• Arts and Culture award
• Children's literature award
• Curriculum development award
• Health and Safety Activist award
• Honorary Life membership
• Local leadership award
• Local Website of the Year award
• New Teacher Award
• Outstanding Role Model for Women Award - Women's Program
• Writer's Award
• ....and many more

Full Day Kindergarten Phase One Schools

The much anticipated announcement was made by the provincial government yesterday afternoon - the selection of Phase One schools for the first full-day, every day kindergarten classes for the 2010-2011 school year.

This link will take you to a pdf file of all the Phase One schools in Ontario district school boards:
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/earlylearning/PhaseOneSchools.html

Here's the list of DDSB schools that will have full-day, every day kindergarten classes beginning in September 2010:

Oshawa
- Village Union Public School
- Dr CF Cannon Public School
- Glen Street Public School
- Ritson Public School
- Bobby Orr Public School
- Harmony Public School
- Gertrude Colpus Public School
- Mary St. Community School
- Waverly Public School
Ajax
- Bolton C Falby Public School
- Duffin's Bay Public School
Pickering
- Bayview Heights Public School
- Fairport Beach Public School
Beaverton
- Thorah Central Public School
Scugog
- Cartwright Central Public School
Whitby
- Sir William Stephenson Public School

Attitude is everything.

"I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning...."

Joseph Priestley, English scientist

Research indicates that those with a positive attitude have lower stress levels, less sickness and live longer. Attitude is a lifestyle choice. Individual people's attitudes can affect the overall morale of the whole staff and the tone of the workplace. We cannot make other people act in a certain way but we can make choices regarding our attitude in a situation...

Eight Steps to Maintaining a Positive Attitude

1. Assume the best in others -- look for the positive side of a situation. Try to find common ground to build to a positive outcome.
2. Actions speak louder than words -- rather than think or talk about a problem, do something about it.
3. Simplify your life -- get rid of unhealthy relationships and maintain contact with positive people.
4. Share your positive approach with others. Make "random acts of kindness" routine.
5. Set reasonable tasks, goals, and expectations for yourself. Celebrate your accomplishments.
6. Allow yourself to make mistakes.
7. Laugh often with others and at yourself.
8. Don’t hesitate to forgive, forget, and move ahead.

The above is excerpted from the ETFO resource "After the Chalk Dust Settles", created to assist teachers in recognizing the importance of maintaining a healthy balance and establishing a sense of wellness.

The Dangers of Electronic Communication

The issue of electronic communication, cyberbullying, defamatory websites, and social networking sites has been the topic of numerous ETFO publications over the past few years. In an effort to be proactive and prevent possible difficulties, ETFO has advised members to be extremely cautious when communicating electronically with students as well as parents. The following information is from a PRS Matters bulletin issued by ETFO last spring. For more information about this topic or to read other PRS Matters bulletins (on a wide variety of topics), click on the title of today's post or on the link at the bottom of today's post.

The following tips regarding electronic communication are provided for members to guide you in your professional practise:

General

• Always maintain a professional demeanor in all interactions with students, parents, colleagues, and administrators.
• Failure to communicate appropriately puts teaches at risk with the employer, College of Teachers, Children’s Aid Society, and police.
• Do not e-mail students or communicate via instant messaging services.
• Always maintain professional boundaries and avoid communications that could be interpreted as personal.
• It may be inadvisable to use your home/personal computer for contact with parents or students.

Communicating with students

• Do not e-mail students for personal reasons.
• Your messages may be forwarded to a much wider audience – deliberately or unintentionally and they may be manipulated.
• Avoid casual, familiar tone that can erode boundaries.
• Watch your language.
• Do not comment on student-parent or student-student relationships or other colleagues.
• Avoid sharing or receiving personal information which might be construed as violating boundaries or “grooming.

Communicating with parents

• Be aware that your e-mail can be used as evidence of your conduct.
• Your messages may be forwarded to a much wider audience – deliberately or unintentionally.
• Avoid lengthy e-mail exchanges that consume a lot of time. In addition to increasing your workload, protracted exchanges may be prone to misinterpretation.
• Respect confidentiality: obtain permission to use e-mail communications.

Protect Yourself

• Refrain from using a personal computer account for school communication purposes and use caution when using school based computers.
• Do not leave a computer unattended when logged into the school board system.
• Protect username and password against identity theft to prevent unauthorized e-mail under your name or access to school documents.
• Where possible, change your password(s) on a regular basis.
• Respond to complex messages from parents by telephone or face-to-face meeting whenever possible.
• Clear the web browser’s cache memory after every session on a computer.

If you do send messages:

• Save a copy of the original message.
• Use spelling and grammar checks on materials that you plan to e-mail or post on a web site.
• Signatures should include your name, assignment title, and school name.
• Avoid unnecessary attachments and/or forwards.
• Do not write e-mails in capital letters (capitals indicate SHOUTING).
• Never forward a message without permission from the sender first.
• Always maintain professional standards when sending e-mails to students, parents, colleagues (including friends), and administrators on board equipment – treat every e-mail as though it is a written letter.
• Do not engage in casual gossip on chat lines as it is unprofessional.

http://www.etfo.ca/AdviceForMembers/PRSMattersBulletins/Pages/default.aspx

Attendance Management Advice

Just prior to the holidays, the DDSB officially announced the launch of an Attendance "Support" Program. We emailed members to give some information about the numerous concerns we have with this program and promised more information would be forthcoming in January. All worksites will receive an all-member memo tomorrow (Friday) about the attendance management program and we ask that you take a few minutes to read it. We have worked together with OSSTF District 13 and CUPE Local 218, so all unionized employee group members are receiving the same information and advice.

VERY IMPORTANT: Please be sure to follow the advice that we have provided!! Most importantly, do NOT attend ANY meeting regarding your attendance without having union representation present from the local office. Any program/process that can potentially end in the termination of your employment should be taken very seriously. No matter how friendly the tone or approach, do not forget that this is a disciplinary process, despite what the DDSB might have you believe. We are there to advocate for you!