5 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,January 23,2020 insidehalton.com Heating or Plumbing Problems? Call 289-205-3443 Fastest Emergency Service in Oakville • Heating • Cooling • Plumbing •Water Heaters • Duct Cleaning • Protection Plans 49% of Canadians give themselvesa grade of C or lower on howthey view their personalfinancial skills. Does that include you? Let'sTalk. 905-842-2100 Finance Study Visit our website to sign up for a free consultation. Peter Watson MBA, CFP®, R.F.P., CIM®, FCSI Jennifer Watson MBA, CFP®, CIM® 220 Randall Street, Downtown Oakville 905-842-2100 www.watsoninvestments.com Does that include you? Let's Talk. Visit our website to sign up for a free consultation. *Source CIBC poll, February 2018 of Canadians aren't sure if they are saving enough for retirement*53% Province wide, negotia- tions with all four teacher unions have hit a wall, and for the first time in morefor the first time in moref than 20 years they are all engaged in job action rang- ing from work-to-rule to one-day strikes. The already tense situa- tion heated up this week, as teachers in three of those unions helda string of strikes, starting with the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario on Monday hitting boards in Toronto, York and Otta- wa. Secondary teachers are in part fighting the gov- ernment's plan to boost class sizes from an aver- age of 22 to 25, which will phase out thousands of teaching positions and, as a result, tens of thousands of course options for teens. That, combined with the loss of grants, has led to the layoff situation de- spite the Ford govern- ment's promise that no teacher would voluntarily lose their job. The prov- ince even set up a $1.6-bil- lion attrition fund to help boards manage the losses. The high school class average in the Toronto public board is now 23.5. A spokesperson for Ed- ucation Minister Stephen Lecce said new education policies have not led to lay- offs. "The Financial Ac- countability Officer con- firmed what we have beenfirmed what we have beenf saying all along: No teach- er will lose their job as a re- sult of our class size or on- line learning policies, " Al- exandra Adamo said. "Our government's plan is working. We are in- vesting more than ever in student success to ensure students benefit from an inclusive, safe and re- warding academic experi- ence, " she said. Last year, Lecce's pre- decessor Lisa Thompson said "local" situations could lead to job losses, which are not covered by the province's attrition fund. fund. f The province's finan- cial accountability officer did say the attrition fund was more than enough to prevent layoffs, but also noted education spending is not keeping up with ac- tual costs. Wolfe said typically, at this time of year, about 70 to 80 positions need to be filled - to help schoolsfilled - to help schoolsf manage too-large classes or other unexpected pres- sures. This year, there is funding for just 28.5 spots.funding for just 28.5 spots.f And with 125 teachers not yet placed, "we have 125 sitting partially or ful- ly on that recall list, with only 28.5 positions which may or may not be allocat- ed, " Wolfe said. Even if all 28.5 are filled, "there are still over 90 people who are either fully without a (full- time) position or, at best, in halftime positions." Some teachers who worked full-time last year are already working as supply teachers. For each teacher lost, that is six classes not available to students, Wolfe added. "We could have 580 fewer classes, or 600 fewer clas- ses" depending on final numbers, she said. In the Halton District School Board, 26 teachers remain on the surplus list, with another 31 forced to scale back to part-time po- sitions, said Cindy Gage, president of District 20 of the secondary teachers' union. Given the loss of teach- ing positions and now larg- er classes, she said "stacked classes" have be- come more common - espe- cially in tech. (Stacked classes are those where multiple grades are com- bined into one.) "Two schools cancelled Writer's Craft, which is an extremely popular Grade 12 English course, " Gage also said. "It always runs - and they both had over 20 students in them, which in any other year would have run." Help for struggling stu- dents has also been hit, she said. "In one school, the math support at lunch was cancelled because they didn't have enough teach- ers to do all of the supervi- sions." Daryl Jerome, who heads District 21 in the Hamilton-Wentworth public board, said all teachers there have ended up with jobs, though some have gone from full-time positions to long-term sup- ply work, impacting their hours and benefits. He said the board is down 100 permanent teaching positions in high schools. "At the end of the day, the board has been very creative about keep- ing the number of course options open as possible, " he said. It cut the number of teachers working as con- sultants, moving those ed- ucators back into the classroom. While that pro- tected classroom jobs, it has meant fewer profes- sional supports and devel- opment for educators, he said. The board has also re- sorted to more stacked classes - in some cases, three or four grades com- bined in one course such as physical education, Je- rome added. Some Northern boards have had to combine dif- ferent grades and subjectferent grades and subjectf areas into a class "and they've had a lot of issues with stacking bizarre com- binations" to keep courses going because of their low- er enrolments, Jerome al- so said. In a larger urban board like Hamilton, there is flexibility to "try to be cre-flexibility to "try to be cre-f ative with the money they have."Harvey Bischof, president of the provincial Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, said, "It's clear from the fact that there are stillfact that there are stillf laid-off education workers and teachers in places all across this province that the Ford education agenda isn't good for anyone." NEWS Continued from page 4