All Peterborough area public and Catholic schools will remain closed on Monday due to the strike by Ontario CUPE education workers.
The Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board late Friday afternoon announced that its public schools will continue to remain closed due to the withdrawal of service. Schools were closed on Friday as more than 55,000 workers across the province hit the picket line.
The school board has schools in Peterborough, Peterborough County, Northumberland County and sections of Durham Region.
“As we have shared, without our CUPE staff, we are unable to ensure our schools would be safe for students,” stated Rita Russo, the board’s director of education, in a letter to parents and guardians.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and will provide an update if there is any change to this status.”
Russo said as part of ongoing planning, teachers will continue to provide remote asynchronous learning opportunities via online platforms. For those already enrolled in virtual school, programming will proceed as usual.
“Student tasks will be a continuation of the learning that is ongoing in the classroom/subject area,” said Russo. “These assigned tasks will be completed by students at their own pace.”
The board also noted child-care centres will remain open, however, before- and after-school programs, early years centres and facility partner programs will be closed Monday.
Striking education workers in the region staged protests outside area MPP constituency offices including Dave Smith (Peterborough-Kawartha), David Piccini (Northumberland-Peterborough South) and Laurie Scott (Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock.)
Peterborough Victoria Northumberland Clarington Catholic District School Board
Joan Carragher, director of education for the area’s Catholic school board, also announced all of its schools will be closed for in-person learning on Monday and until further notice.
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All students will continue to learn remotely from home. The board has schools in Peterborough, Peterborough County, City of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County and Durham region.
She said classroom teachers will transition on Monday to synchronous learning — real-time teaching using a variety of communication online tools.
“Schools have begun the process of deploying technology to those who require it,” she stated in a message to families. “If your child requires technology and has yet to receive a device, please contact your child’s school to arrange pickup.”
The school board is also re-launching its dedicated help-desk phone number and email for students and parents/guardians who require tech support for remote learning.
The help-desk can be reached at 705-748-4861 (or toll-free at 1-800-461-8009) at extension 1218 or via email: VSHelpdesk@pvnccdsb.on.ca. Beginning Monday, the phone service will be staffed from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 12:30 to 4 p.m.
“This remains a dynamic situation,” said Carragher. “If there is a resolution to this labour issue up to and including early Monday morning, we will communicate directly with families. We ask families to check their email regularly over the weekend and to follow labour developments in the media.”
Trillium Lakelands District School Board
Director of education Wes Hahn says another update will be provided Sunday but he cautioned families to prepare for alternative arrangements for students next week should the strike continue.
He said if no work resolution is reached before Monday and if strike action (full withdrawal of services) continues, students will be provided with asynchronous work from their teacher on their online classroom platform on Monday.
“Your child(ren)’s teacher will be reaching out to ensure students are prepared for learning,” he said.
Hahn advised families to visit the board’s Labour Relations Update page.
The school board has a number of schools in the City of Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton area.
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