Some Saskatchewan teachers are taking part in a rotating strike on Monday with a strike line taking place at the Saskatchewan Legislature.
This job action coincides with the first day of the spring legislative session and will affect several school divisions in Regina and Moose Jaw.
- Association Locale des Enseignantes et des Enseignants Fransaskois – École Mgr de Laval, Pavillon Secondaire des Quatre Vents (Regina), École du Parc (Regina), École Mgr de Laval, Pavillon Primaire (Regina), École Ducharme (Moose Jaw) and École Mathieu de Gravelbourg (Gravelbourg), École Beau Soleil (Gravelbourg), École de Bellegarde (Bellegarde)
- Holy Family Teachers’ Association – All schools in Holy Family Catholic School Division
- Prairie South Teachers’ Association – All schools in Prairie South School Division
- Regina Public Teachers’ Association – All schools in Regina Public Schools
- Regina Catholic Teachers’ Association – All schools in Regina Catholic Schools
- Saskatchewan Distance Learning Corporation – South Central Campus (Moose Jaw) and South East Campus (Estevan)
- South East Cornerstone Teachers’ Association – All schools in South East Cornerstone School Division
Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation president Samantha Becotte said residents have sent more than 110,000 emails to government and school board trustees since the beginning of January.
“In the face of this overwhelming support for the actions that teachers are taking for their students and publicly funded schools, it is deeply troubling that government remains so intransigent in their position,” Becotte said.
Saskatchewan teachers want topics like classroom size and complexity to be part of contract negotiations, but the provincial government refuses, saying that is the responsibility of school divisions.
Global News’ Erik Bay took to Saskatoon streets to see how students felt about teacher job action, with many voicing their concerns.
Siana Ryan said their finals for last semester were impacted, saying they lost one whole day of finals prep to teacher job action.
“We couldn’t prep for it fully and that adds a lot of stress,” Ryan said.
“Grade 12 is stressful as it is. We’re trying to finish up, and we want to finish on a good note.”
She said they’ve had a lot of half days recently due to job action, saying they can’t accomplish much on those days and that it is adding a lot of stress to both teachers and students.
Maia Kryachko said when teacher strikes happen the school libraries get closed, which she said was another source for students to get help.
“When people don’t have access to laptops, the library is a good place,” Kryachko said.
She said she takes part in band, and said they are expecting to go on a trip at the end of the month, but worried the strikes could affect that.
“And that might not happen because of the strikes.”
Kryachko said it would be very complicated if they didn’t get to go, as they’ve already paid to attend this event.
Other students saw the silver lining with teacher strikes.
George Thompson said it was “pretty cool” that there were days where he didn’t have to go to school because of teacher job action.
“I’m not complaining,” Thompson said.
Arlee Gonzalez said the strikes are throwing students behind in their studies.
“A lot of people say it’s nice to miss school, and I think it’s kind of nice to miss school, but also we’re losing education,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said she is hopeful that the impasse between teachers and the provincial government will get resolved soon so they can get their education back.
Comments