Teachers Announce Withdrawal of Extracurricular Activities, Noon-Hour Supervision

The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation is providing the required 48-hours’ notice ahead of a provincewide withdrawal of extracurricular activities from Monday, March 25 until Thursday, March 28. There will also be rotating withdrawal of noon-hour supervision on Monday, March 25 by six local teachers’ associations.

“For weeks we have made it clear that job action would escalate if government continued its refusal to negotiate or agree to binding arbitration on class size and complexity – the issue that is most important to teachers,” says STF President Samantha Becotte. “The withdrawal of extracurricular activities during the four days leading up to spring break demonstrates that teachers remain steadfast in their call for sustainable funding for prekindergarten to Grade 12 education.”

Withdrawal of extracurricular activities means teachers will not provide voluntary services involved in the organization, supervision or facilitation of activities including athletics, non-curricular arts, field trips, student travel, graduation preparations, school clubs and other activities.

“We know the importance of extracurricular activities in the lives of both students and teachers; teachers do not want to see the cancellation of events and experiences that are meaningful to students. Government’s unwillingness to compromise leaves us no other options when it comes to negotiating a contract that provides predictable, ongoing supports for students and schools, and recognizes the important role played by teachers,” Becotte says.

“This is the longest-ever job action by Saskatchewan teachers, but we would halt sanctions immediately if government would either agree to binding arbitration on the single issue of class size and complexity or provide the Government-Trustee Bargaining Committee with a mandate that includes that issue.”

Withdrawal of noon-hour supervision on Monday, March 25 will involve teachers who are members of the following local associations:

• Holy Family Teachers’ Association – All schools in Holy Family Catholic School Division
• Holy Trinity Teachers’ Association – All schools in Holy Trinity Catholic School Division
• North East Teachers’ Association – All schools in North East School Division
• Prairie Spirit Teachers’ Association – All schools in Prairie Spirit School Division
• Prince Albert and Area Teachers’ Association – All schools in Saskatchewan Rivers and Prince Albert Catholic school divisions
• Tri-West Teachers’ Association – All schools in Living Sky and Light of Christ Catholic school divisions and Sakewew High School (North Battleford)

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 not part of their contracted professional duties. Student supervision is the responsibility of the school division and supervisors are not required to be teachers.

Teachers appreciate the continued strong support of parents, caregivers, students and other organizations and individuals across the province. Hundreds of community members joined teachers in a crowd of 6,000 people at the Legislative Building on Wednesday and supporters contributed to a strong presence at all 32 demonstration sites throughout Saskatchewan.

In addition, more than 65,000 emails were delivered to provincial cabinet ministers on Wednesday through TellThemTuesday.com. Since January, nearly 400,000 emails and phone calls have been made to MLAs, locally elected school board trustees and leadership of the Saskatchewan School Boards Association in support of publicly funded education and to urge government to give its bargaining team a mandate to negotiate class size and complexity.