The Lambton Kent District School Board Director took to twitter Sunday to assure parents and students that it's business as usual Monday.
Jim Costello said all schools are open despite growing labour unrest among teachers across the province. High school teachers in Durham Region, east of Toronto, will be on strike Monday after contract talks broke down Friday.
Schools will be closed for 24,000 students in the Ajax, Whitby, Pickering and Oshawa areas.
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation had targeted seven school boards for potential strike action, starting with Durham. Lambton-Kent is not on the list.
It’s the first round of negotiations since the province brought in a new bargaining system, with both local and provincial talks.
The government faces more disruption in provincial schools as the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, which applied for conciliation in late March, asked for a “no board report” Monday, signalling that talks with the province are at an impasse.
The union would be in a legal strike position 17 days after the report is issued.
“The government and (the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association) appear intent on eroding our existing rights and taking us back to the bad old Mike Harris days,” the union says in a statement, referring to the former Tory premier whose relations with the unions deteriorated in the 90's. “They do not appear to be serious about finding a reasonable way to resolve this collective agreement which has been expired now for eight months. Instead, they are provoking a crisis.”
It’s been three years since the Liberals forced contracts and wage freezes on the teachers through legislation, angering the unions, and the relationship has since slowly improved.
However, as the Liberals try to eliminate a $10.9-billion deficit through measures that include “net zero” increases in contract negotiations, dissent appears to be brewing — although the teachers say wages are not the only issue.
(With files from the Canadian Press)