All English-language Catholic schools in Ontario were closed Tuesday, while public high schools in select locations were also shut down, including those in the Hastings-Prince Edward school board.
All unions say they are frustrated with the lack of progress in contract talks.
The mass school closures left Kingston parents scrambling to keep their kids busy, as thousands of students in the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic School Board suddenly found themselves with the day off.
At an indoor playground in Kingston’s west end, Wilson, along with Emily Mustard and Erika Brixa — all young working mothers — had to re-arrange their lives to accommodate the strike.
“I’m trying to reschedule and my other dates are busy,” says Wilson, who runs a client-based home business, “then I’m pushing them farther in advance.
“So it can affect my business.”
All three parents support the teachers and say some employers have been flexible.
“Although I have to make up my hours, I did take the day off, but the rest of the week is going to be a bit busier for me,” says Erika Brixa.
Jordan Thompson-Vankoughnett, a Grade 11 student at Regiopolis-Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School, spent part of his day on a picket line with his teachers.
“I want to be a teacher and I can see how this is going to affect students of now and how it’s going to affect students in the future,” says Thompson-Vankoughnett.
Some parents across Ontario, including several who spoke to Global News, also have thoughts on how they will spend the provincial government’s controversial student subsidy.
Some of them say they will donate the subsidy back to their school — and specifically their child’s teacher.
“I haven’t incurred any financial loss from this strike,” says Emily Mustard. “If I were to get the compensation, I can see no better place for it than back with the children and the teachers.”
“I applied yesterday, so I’m just waiting for it to come in and I hope that I qualify and it will go back to the teachers,” says Brixa.
An online petition has already collected over 27,000 signatures by late Tuesday afternoon from parents who intend to do just that, while close to 172,000 parents across Ontario have already applied for the childcare credit.
The Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association represents 45,000 elementary and high school teachers.