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15 | The IFP -H alton H ills | T hursday,M ay 2,2019 theifp.ca Meetings at Halton Region, 1151 Bronte Rd., Oakville, L6M 3L1 Visit halton.ca for full schedule. May 22 9:30 a.m. Regional Council 05 02 19 2019Halton Rain Barrel Sales l es $48 Tax included Milton: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. Saturday, May 4 Milton GO Train Station parking lot 780 Main St. East Burlington: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. Saturday, June 1 Mapleview Mall 900 Maple Ave. (lower parking lot by The Bay) Georgetown: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. Saturday, May 11 Robert C. Austin Operations Centre 11620 Trafalgar Road Oakville: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. Saturday, June 8 Halton Regional Centre 1151 Bronte Road (parking lots A-B) Halton residents only.Walk-up purchasesmay be limited to one per customer. To purchasemore than one rain barrel, please pre-pay online. Order online! Take advantage of online ordering and optional homedelivery service. Formore information, visithalton.ca. Visit us today for some sound advice! Don't put up with hearing loss anymore... Georgetown's trusted choice for hearing care 360 Guelph St., Unit 44 Georgetown (In the Knolcrest Centre) 905.877.8828 FREE consultation 90 day RISK FREE trial Armstrong Ave Delrex Blvd An "unprecedented" number of Halton public high school teachers have just been declared "poten- tially redundant." On Tuesday, 154 class- room teachers were noti- fied that they may not have a teaching job this fall. "We knew it was coming because we had been in discussions with the board (Halton District School Board), but this isn't nor- mal or business as usual; it's unprecedented espe- cially for Halton," said Cindy Gage, Ontario Sec- ondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) Dis- trict 20 teachers' bargain- ing unit president. "If the government hadn't put forward the change in the average funding for classrooms, we would have no poten- tially redundant teachers at this time, and we would actually be hiring teach- ers because our enrolment is up I think almost 500 students." Gage put the blame squarely on the province's decision to increase aver- age secondary school classroom sizes from 22 to 28 students, as part of its new vision for education announced in March. "It's going to affect the students adversely; obvi- ously, it's going to mean less one-on-one attention in a classroom and their course selection is going to be detrimentally affect- ed." Despite low morale, "we are hopeful because the 'consultations' the govern- ment has told us, are open until May 31 on this deci- sion." OSSTF members have met with Halton MPPs in recent weeks to voice their concerns, she said. "We've told them what this is going to do to the student learning environ- ment in schools to lose all of these teachers. Also, who is going to run the ex- tracurricular activities?" "Obviously, I am con- cerned for my members, but it is (also) about the students. People need to understand what this is going to do to the student learning environment in the classroom and in the school. I want the public to know this is not business as usual in Halton. It's un- precedented to have this many teachers declared potentially redundant and there shouldn't even be any. This is very bad news for students in Halton re- gion." A rally has been orga- nized for Friday, May 3 from 4 to 5 p.m. outside Milton MPP Parm Gill's of- fice, 400 Main St. E., Unit 206. District 20 members will be joined by members of other unions including CUPE, the Ontario En- glish Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) and the NDP riding associa- tions of Milton and Bur- lington, said Gage. COUNCIL MORE THAN 150 HALTON PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS DECLARED "POTENTIALLY REDUNDANT" KATHY YANCHUS kyanchus@metroland.com "This is very bad news for students in Halton region." - Cindy Gage, OSSTF District 20 teachers' bargaining unit president