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OSSTF District 11- Thames Valley
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District 11 Office |
District President's Memo
November 30, 2005
What You Need to Know about the C.N. Watson Report |
The whole report and the Powerpoint presentation made to the Board last night can be downloaded from the TVSDB website. There is also a link so that members of the public can send the comments to the Board. The media release is available in the “News” conference in First Class.
It is important to understand at the outset that, at this point, these are recommendations only. The Board has not yet made any decisions about how many, if any, of the recommendations it will incorporate into the Capital Plan that it must submit to the Ministry of Education early in the new year. However, it is equally clear that the Board will continue to experience significant declining enrolment for the foreseeable future, that there are already significant excess “pupil places” in the board and that number will grow, and that in some parts of the board, there are severely overcrowded schools, while in others, there are increasingly under-utilized ones. At present, under the funding formula, additions and new schools can’t be built because the board has so many “excess pupil places” in other parts of the board; in other words, the space the board has is not where it is desperately needed. Ultimately, the one thing that the Board cannot do is ignore these realities and do nothing. The longer that the Board avoids making decisions, the further the employees and resources will be stretched, and in many ways, employees and resources are already stretched much too far.
Following the board meeting last night, the presidents of all of the employee groups were invited to another meeting to discuss the report with Director Bill Bryce, and Executive Superintendents Mike Sereda and John Thorpe. OSSTF was represented by myself, Barb O’Brien (Continuing Education Instructors’ President), Sandra Miller (Professional Student Services Personnel President) and Mary Lou Cunningham (attending as designate for Joe Wilson, Occasional Teachers’ President). In addition, there were three representatives from the principals’ groups, as well as the ETFO and ETFO OT Presidents. We were given assurances that the employee groups would be consulted and kept informed every step of the way, most especially where closure decisions are ultimately made. Certainly, last night’s meeting was a case in point, and, to my knowledge, unprecedented.
At this point, the Board has indicated that, despite the declining enrolment, they don’t anticipate that there will be lay-offs needed; rather, they feel that any reduction in staff will likely be accomplished through attrition; in other words, that the number of retirements or resignations offset the reductions in staff needed over time.
Certainly, we have some significant concerns, most especially around the recommendation to convert three of the high schools into JK to Grade 10 schools and we expressed that to the senior Administration last night.
My assurance to you is that we will keep you informed about all aspects of these issues.
