In light of ongoing work-to-rule strike action by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), elementary students in the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) will not be getting first-term report cards, the board said Thursday.
“While the Thames Valley District School Board understands the value of report cards to students, parents and guardians, ETFO members are not able to complete Kindergarten Communication of Learning (K1 and K2) or Term 1 Report Cards (Grades 1 – 8),” the school board said in a statement on their website.
Speaking with 980 CFPL at the end of the school day on Thursday, some parents at Wortley Road Public School said they weren’t worried.
“I am okay with it because I feel like I am able to have communication with the teacher and informally get the progress,” said parent Sarah McCully.
“I am absolutely fine with it. I have a really good communication with her teacher, so I know how her progress is going,” said another parent, Shelley Hekman.
According to ETFO, report cards for the first half of the school year were scheduled to come out between Jan. 20 and Feb. 20.
Other school boards like the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board have announced similar decisions.
The ETFO kicked off a work-to-rule campaign in December, which escalated on Jan. 20 to affect school trips and extra-curricular activities.
“The conditions of the current job action do not allow schools to accurately produce report cards for the Board’s approximately 56,000 elementary students — given the significant resources and time required while focusing on the priority of academic achievement and ensuring student safety,” the board said in a statement.
Under the current job action, teachers will be submitting marks on paper, but they will not enter marks or comments electronically into software that creates the report card.
Another Wortley Road Public School parent said he didn’t like the decision, but doesn’t blame the teachers.
“I think teachers are being blamed for not doing enough for the kids, for putting them through this, by not giving them report cards,” said Fred Bertrum.
“But any teacher I know would love to give them a report card, but they are put in a position where they can’t right now.”
The school board said parents and guardians wanting information about their child can reach out to their child’s teacher.
The decision to cancel report cards comes a day after elementary teachers in the Thames Valley participated in a one-day rotating strike.
ETFO has another round of strikes planned for two school boards on Friday as well as four school boards on Monday, including in Waterloo, but none in the London region.
The daily walkouts are part of escalating tensions between the province and its four major teachers’ unions, which have been without contracts since August.
The elementary teachers are following in the footsteps of the secondary school teachers’ union, which has been holding rotating strikes since mid-December.
ETFO president Sam Hammond has said the main issues in bargaining include classroom size, resources for students with special needs, and protection of full-day kindergarten.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce has said compensation is the main issue, with the government offering a one per cent increase and the teachers’ union asking for two per cent.
— With files from the Canadian Press
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