Rotating Withdrawal of Noon-Hour Supervision on March 5

Teachers are giving notice of a one-day withdrawal of noon-hour supervision that will take place on Tuesday, March 5 at locations throughout the province. By law, 48 hours’ notice is required for job action; however, the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation is providing extra time to allow families to make arrangements. This is in addition to the previously announced countdown ahead of a provincewide withdrawal of extracurricular activities scheduled for Tuesday, March 5 and Wednesday, March 6.

Withdrawal of noon-hour supervision means STF members will not be available to supervise students who are eating lunch at school or taking part in noon-hour activities. Although teachers, including principals and vice principals, often provide lunch break supervision, it is done on a voluntary basis. Student supervision is the responsibility of the school division and supervisors are not required to be teachers.

Withdrawal of noon-hour supervision on March 5 will involve members of the following local associations:

• Chinook Teachers’ Association – All schools in Chinook School Division
• Horizon Teachers’ Association – All schools in Horizon School Division
• Northern Area Teachers’ Association – All schools in Northern Lights School Division
• North West Teachers’ Association – All schools in Northwest School Division
• Prairie Spirit Teachers’ Association – All schools in Prairie Spirit School Division
• Prairie Valley Teachers’ Association – All schools in Prairie Valley School Division
• Prince Albert and Area Teachers’ Association – All schools in Saskatchewan Rivers School Division and Prince Albert Catholic School Division
• Sun West Teachers’ Association – All schools in Sun West School Division

The provincewide withdrawal of extracurricular activities will begin with two full days on Tuesday, March 5 and Wednesday, March 6. This action means the withdrawal of all voluntary services involved in the organization, supervision and facilitation of activities, including athletics, non-curricular arts, clubs, field trips, student travel and graduation preparations.

Teachers understand that withdrawal of noon-hour supervision and extracurricular activities creates disruption for students and families. Parents and caregivers concerned about the impact of job action should contact their MLAs and elected school board trustees and ask them to encourage the government to provide their bargaining committee with a new mandate to negotiate in good faith on the issues that teachers are bringing forward. Since January, more than 125,000 emails and phone calls have been delivered to government officials and school board trustees through www.tellthemtuesday.com.