The president of District 8 of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation says teachers are still waiting for the Provincial Labour Relations Board to tell them which issues will be negotiated locally and which issues will be negotiated centrally.
Contract talks cannot start until that decision is announced.
President Shane Restall said they are looking forward to the first day of school and will be in their classrooms, with the exception of the teachers who are no longer employed by the board.
"Quite a few of our teachers are still without work and it'll be strange looking around the schools and wondering who's going to coach that basketball team while that person is no longer at the school anymore. They got their contract removed," he said.
Restall also said the picture the province is painting to the public is not accurate.
"They're saying they're putting more money into education and they're just not. $1,000 less a student. In Avon Maitland, that's two and a half million dollars less in our small board to try and deliver the same programming a year ago."