The union representing the 114 high school teachers declared redundant by the Near North District School Board is holding a rally tomorrow.
It’s happening in front of MPP Vic Fedeli’s office in North Bay starting at 4:30pm.
The union says those teachers given layoff notices will be joined by their colleagues as well as community members. It says its goal to show Fedeli the human side of the job losses that he claimed were not going to happen.
“My members were devastated by the job loss and even more upset by the continued confusion and lack of clarity on funding for our school board”, stated Glen Hodgson. President of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation in the Near North.
“There is no doubt that the current government has thrown our education system into chaos and there is also little doubt that the Near North is being disproportionality affected by these cuts.”
The union says the late announcement of annual provincial budgets for schools, coupled with the cancellation of several programming grants, has caused chaos at the school board, since staffing and timetabling is usually complete by this point in the year.
Blaming what it calls the Ford government’s “lack of clarity and transparency” the union says it doesn’t look like the Near North board will have a full understanding of its budget for weeks to come.
“We also know that this uncertainty and loss of decent jobs will affect the local economy in all of our communities, and it places programming and schools at risk” reiterated Hodgson. The union says members of the public are welcome to join the rally.