Education Matters Online

District Committee Reports to the District Annual General Meeting

Communications / Excellence in Education
Educational Services
Health and Safety
Human Rights and Status of Women
Labour Council
Political Action

Communications / Excellence in Education
Submitted by Nancy McDougall, Liaison to Communications / Excellence in Education

Marion Drysdale Awards 2006

Fourteen schools participated in this year’s Marion Drysdale Awards contest. A total of thirty entries were judged on November 29, 2005 at the District Office. Each District level received a trophy and each school level winner received a medallion. District level winning entries were forwarded to the Provincial Office for Regional and finally Provincial Level judging.

Two District 11 participants moved on to be Provincial Marion Drysdale winners!!!! Beata Chojnicka’s entry entitled "Will Traditional Cultures Be Eaten by Hamburgers" was chosen in the Prose/Poetry Category 6 - Adult learner division. Beata is an adult student at G.A. Wheable where Ruth McCloskey is her teacher. The second Provincial winner from District 11 is Megan Strachan, a student of Annette Muellejans at S.D.C.I. Megan’s essay entitled "Libérée de la Peur" won her first place in the Prose/Poetry Category 5 - French division at the Provincial level.

District 11 would also like to congratulate Lia McDonald, a student at Ingersoll District Collegiate Institute. Lia, a student of Evelyn Daley, won the Regional Grade 9-10 Prose/ Poetry Category 1 for her submission entitled "Natural Disasters".

Thank you to Marion Drysdale judges: Wendy Anes Hirschegger, Colleen Canon, Don Edgar, Barb O’Brien, Donna Knight and Leanne Borho.

Retirement Booklet

Plans are well under way for the District 11 Annual Dinner to be held at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in London on June 14, 2006. Work is being completed also on the 2005-2006 Retirement Booklet. The booklet is distributed to each retiring member as a memento of the evening and will include a profile and picture of each participating retiree.

Educational Services
Submitted by Kathy Wildfong, Chairperson

The Educational Services Committee provided opportunities throughout this 2005-2006 school year for District 11 OSSTF members. The following is an outline of these activities.

The Committee allocated $5500 of our $7500 budget for individual P.D. requests. This is money distributed to our members to subsidize their professional development activities throughout the year. At this point, we have dispersed more than the original amount of $5500 to individual members without sacrificing other initiatives. As a committee, we hope that these funds from our budget has provided some assistance for our members in the pursuit of personal professional development. We believe in this aspect of our mandate and wish to increase the total funds available to our members next year if our new budget makes it possible. We encourage all members to apply for funds as early in the year as possible.

The Ed. Services Committee members organized some workshops for all District 11 members in October at the District office. The first in the series of workshop was the "Life Balance Workshop", which continued from 4:30 to 8:00 p.m. with a one hour workshop presented by OTIP and a light dinner provided to the participants with support from Joseph's winery from Niagara. This event supported the Committee's Wellness initiative. Our second event was presented in March, again at the District office, which was transformed into a elegant "sidewalk cabaret" style event. With delicious food catered by Thames S.S., participants enjoyed a one hour instructional workshop, followed by well-known comic Roger Chandler and musical entertainment by College Ave. S.S. teachers. Our third event was held in April at "The Village" on Richmond Street, where District 11 members could work out their stress in a 3 hour yoga and relaxation class. All events were organized by this dedicated and superbly creative committee who spent many hours planning these events. The Committee is excited to continue to offer 2 or 3 more supper seminar workshops for our members next year. Look for more information on this soon.

OSSTF District 11 Educational Services continues to participate on the Learning Conference 20006 Committee which helps organize the October P.D. day, provided by the TVDSB. The October 2005 event was the best ever and more changes are planned for the upcoming event in October 2006. We have suggested that we may provide some presenters from OSSTF at this event, but at this time, this is not confirmed. Another meeting is planned before the end of the year and you should look for new information soon.

A special "thank you" is sent to the hard-working members of the Educational Services Committee, who always go "above and beyond" to provide superb events for the members. It is a honour to serve on this committee with such talented and creative people. Thanks also to Laurie Lafraniere, who willingly donates many hours towards this committee. A final "thank you" is extended to the District members who continue to support our work, on your behalf.

Health and Safety
Submitted by Don Edgar, Chairperson

Within the Thames Valley District School Board there are two main Joint Health and Safety Committees as well as Site Committees as established under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and Regulations. The Teaching Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC) meets monthly and the Mutual Concerns meetings are held twice during the school year with both Teaching and CUPE groups attending. OSSTF has seven representatives on the Teaching JHSC. These members include: Don Edgar, Chair, Leslie Rockwell, Monica Zacharias, Larry McClinchey, John Britton, Bernie Conway and Nancy McDougall. These members each have a minimum of Certification Level One Training and are responsible for Annual Site Inspections at the fifty-three work sites within the Board assigned to OSSTF. During the monthly meetings, the JHSC regularly examines health and safety matters including, but not limited to, asbestos removal, air quality reports, accidents/incidents, inspection reports, and procedure updates.

The Aggressive Behaviour Subcommittee of the JHSC has met twice during the school year to review aggressive behaviour incidents in various schools throughout the T.V.D.S.B. and to review the Board’s new procedural document "Management of Aggressive Behaviour". The committee reviews aggressive behaviour statistics with the purpose of ensuring that incidents are investigated when required. Criteria for recommending investigation into aggressive behaviour incidents include: when the aggressive behaviour has resulted in employee lost time, when multiple First Aid Reports are submitted from a site, when police have been called for an aggressive behaviour incident against an employee, and when a critical injury to an employee has resulted from aggressive behaviour.

The Emergency Response Team Subcommittee of the JHSC met three times during the 2005-2006 school year. The subcommittee is working towards ensuring that workers are made aware of the emergency codes in September of each year as outlined in the Safe Schools manual and that the codes are drilled on a regular basis throughout the school year. They have developed a sample Emergency Response Team Procedures Manual which was approved by both the CUPE and the Teaching JHSC’s. The hope is that, once approved by the Board, the manual will be circulated to all work sites and can be used as a resource for staff. A draft emergency code document that focuses primarily on code blue procedures has been forwarded to the Operations Superintendent for review and feedback.

While Health and Safety Site Committee Training has been available at times throughout the year, there have been recent concerns expressed by the JHSC that the TVDSB Health and Safety Department intends to alter the method of training delivery to a computer-based, self-directed model. A draft program was reviewed by the JHSC and feedback was provided. There is consensus among the worker members of the JHSC that the initial training should continue to be offered in a workshop format in order to encourage questions and discussion.

The District Health and Safety Committee met three times during the school year. On November 1, 2005, Bill Wallace, Safety Specialist with the TVDSB, reviewed the Health and Safety "Red" Binder and answered questions from members. On February 28, 2006. Jane St. Marie, Secretariat from Provincial Office, presented information about repetitive strain injury and ergonomics. She also answered questions about other topics such as Sabrina’s Law, school inspections, fragrance-free zones, and WSIB documentation. The District Committee met again on May 9, 2006. Ruth Ann Morley, JHSC Site Trainer, provided a very informative overview of Health and Safety Site Committee Training and answered questions.

Human Rights and Status of Women

Submitted by Colleen Canon, Federation Services Officer, Liaison to HR/SW

The Human Rights & Status of Women Committee continued:

Our chair, Bryan Smith, was the recipient of the James Forster Human Rights Award at AMPA 2006!

Labour Council

Submitted by Joe Wilson, Chairperson

OSSTF was again a very active force in local Labour Councils. Joe Wilson (OTBU) continued as president of the London and District Labour Council (LDLC), with Patti Dalton (Clarke Road SS) serving as second Vice-President and PAC Chair. Other OSSTF delegates to LDC were Irene Mathyssen (formerly Banting SS; now MP for London-Fanshawe), Henk Bervoets (SDCI), Fred Moroz (ARM) and Colleen Canon(District Office liaison). Oxford Labour Council delegates were Jane Lashbrook-Sherman (WCI) and Harold Duivesteyn (IDCI).

A highlight of the year was the biennial OFL convention, which had a strong OSSTF presence. Secretariat liaison Marg McPhail made sure that the several OSSTF Labour Council presidents in the province met regularly and were well supported. This included a special provincial PAC meeting designed to maximize OSSTF support for the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) municipal election campaign this fall, a meeting which prominently featured our OSSTF Labour Council presidents.

Another key labour initiative is the OFL campaign against the Liberal Government's insistence on privatization (P3's, or "Alternative Funding Plans", as they cleverly put it). Though these initiatives initially are in the health care area, the British experience, which the McGuinty government is using as their blueprint, ominously shows that education is not far behind. OSSTF is strongly supportive of this vital OFL initiative, and deeply concerned about the Liberals' real plan for education P3's.

The most recent LDLC action in the education area is strong support for the striking (at the time of writing this report) CUPE 4222 Educational Assistants. Our LDLC delegates were on the picket line, wearing both their LDLC and OSSTF hats. Prominent there was Irene Mathyssen, proving yet again that she continues to celebrate her OSSTF and organized labour roots. How many picket lines are proudly able to feature a sitting Member of Parliament!

OSSTF looks forward to a continued strong presence in the local Labour Councils. Since I will no longer will be active in the OTBU, I no longer will be the OSSTF Labour Council Committee Chair (though I hope to be named as an OSSTF LDLC delegate based on my ARM membership). I have enjoyed helping strengthen OSSTF's link to organized labour. It is, I would suggest, our most important and fundamental partnership.

Political Action

Submitted by Andrew Smith, Chairperson

The Political Action Committee continued its active support of a number of initiatives this year including:

1. Action against the Copyright Bill C-60. PAC involved members in a letter writing campaign to lobby local MP’s.

2. Action on P3 hospitals and the fight against privatization. PAC provided support to the Oxford branch of the Ontario Health Coalition. Reps from the Health Coalition made presentations to PAC.

3. Support for the labour movement. PAC’s goal is representation on all regional Labour Councils, in order to actively liaise with them. D11 PAC sponsored one delegate to attend the OFL convention in Toronto from November 21st -25th. Issues of shared concern include privatization and contracting out.

4. Support for Federal Election candidates. PAC hosted a “PAC Bash at the Ceeps”on January 12th to rally support for OSSTF members running as candidates (and raise donations for their campaigns). PAC members also did a phone blitz of all members in the riding of London-Fanshawe to encourage support for Irene Mathyssen. Her election victory as MP made history!

5. Advocacy for Workers’ rights. A guest speaker from LOSH made a presentation to PAC on Educating Youth on Workplace Safety & the Right to Refuse Unsafe Work. The committee purchased copies of a student safety handbook to distribute to all schools as a curriculum resource.

6. Support for the Social Justice NOW conference at Althouse College.

7. Municipal Election Readiness. PAC sent one delegate to the CPAC Conference for election readiness training. An action plan is underway to endorse and support trustee candidates across Thames Valley in the upcoming November election.

8. Solidarity with educational workers. PAC supported our CEI BU when a strike vote was taken in the fall. A donation was made to our striking EA’s. Support also went to BCTF during their strike.