Front doors of at least three Kingston elementary schools are being left unlocked during school days due to a province-wide work-to-rule campaign.
This has caused some parents to be concerned and confused about safety protocols at at least one of those schools, with one parent claiming she was physically grabbed while trying to enter Molly Brant Elementary School to pick up her children.
Last Monday, 55,000 educational assistants, custodians, maintenance staff and early childhood education workers represented by CUPE launched a work-to-rule campaign, demanding better job security from the province.
On Oct. 1, in response to this action, the Limestone District School Board sent a letter to parents listing a number of services usually performed by the education workers that would no longer be performed.
“At this time, CUPE has instructed its members to implement specific withdrawal of services, including items such as sweeping of hallways or entrances and operation of the front door buzzer in elementary schools, and other custodial and clerical duties,” the letter reads.
“These items may vary from school to school.”
The day before this letter was sent out, Jennifer Kehoe, a parent of two students who attend Molly Brant, told Global Kingston she was worried for her children, since the school had chosen not to lock its front doors during the day.
Kehoe said she learned the doors would remain open from a sign posted on the school’s front door.
“Due to strike action by CUPE members,” a notice reads, “the front door buzzer system has been suspended, and the front door will remain open during the school day.”
The note also says that the front doors will be monitored by security cameras and staff are still greeting people as they enter schools.
Several days later, on Thursday morning, Elizabeth Rubec, a mother of two who attend Molly Brant, joined Kehoe in her concerns by camping outside the elementary school with a sign that read “I support EA’s but please, lock the door…safety first.”
Rubec also started an online petition, “calling on all parents to ask for the front doors to be secured once again.”
“I don’t agree with the fact that they’ve chosen to keep the doors open and unlocked — it’s unsafe for the kids. I understand what they’re trying to do. However, they shouldn’t be putting kids in harm’s way. It’s just not right,” Rubec told Global News.
Later on in the day, several other parents joined Rubec outside of Molly Brant to protest.
When the school day was over, a parent not involved in the protest, Erica Knox, says she walked into the school to pick up her children when she was stopped by the school’s principal, who Knox claims physically grabbed her.
“The principal chased me down the hallway, and asked why I was there, and I told her to pick up my kids. She continued to follow me and grabbed me by the arm and told me to get out of the school.”
When asked about the incident, Jane Douglas, communications officer for the Limestone District School Baord, said in an email: “That did not happen.”
Douglas continued, saying in general, if people are to enter the school, they are asked to sign in and get an ID. This is also noted on the sign posted to the school’s front door.
Knox told Global News that she did walk into the school without signing in, but she said she did so because she had always been allowed to walk in prior to this incident without signing in.
Despite the school board’s denial of the incident, Knox stands by her story, saying she was indeed grabbed by the principal when she tried to collect her kids.
As of Thursday, Global News is aware of two other Limestone District School Board schools with open doors: Central Public School and Amherstview Public School.
It’s currently unclear what the school board’s policies are about locking schools during the day under work-to-rule, but the board did issue the following statement:
“The safety and well-being of our students, and the safe operation of our schools is our top priority every day. Safety protocols are reviewed regularly. In instances involving a change to school routines, such as a withdrawal of service by staff, safety protocols are reviewed as needed, and appropriate changes are made as required.
According to Elizabeth Rubec, who started the protest at Molly Brant on Thursday, the principal and two other staff at the school spoke with her at the end of the day and promised to lock the school’s doors on Friday.
Douglas did not respond when she was asked to confirm that statement.
On Wednesday, CUPE announced its education workers would be walking off the job it a deal wasn’t struck by Sunday.
The Limestone District School Board announced on Thursday that if a full strike were to occur, they may be closing schools.