HOLMESVILLE – Kassie Jefferson, 11, put heart into a fund-raising project for her school, Holmesville Public School.

The Grade 6 student raised $125 for We in Action by baking and selling cake pops during the week surrounding Valentine’s Day.

To read the whole story, visit the Avon Maitland District School Board website.

SEAFORTH – Tenders totalling $1.4 million for renovations and additions at two elementary schools were approved by Avon Maitland District School Board at its meeting last night.

A project to renovate and add space to accommodate the Full-Day Early Learning Kindergarten program that will begin at Brookside Public School be in September was awarded to Allen-Hastings Ltd., which bid $474,747.36.

The project includes removing the existing cubbie and coat area and constructing a wall to increase the size of the two existing classrooms for kindergarten spaces. This tender also includes a small addition in the courtyard to accommodate a new cubbie and coat area as well as the creation of a new enclosed kindergarten play area on the grounds adjacent to the addition.

A project to renovate and add space at Goderich Public School to accommodate the Full-Day Early Learning Kindergarten program which will see an increased enrolment in September as a result of the closure of Holmesville Public
School and Colborne Public School was awarded to Wayne and Harold Smith Construction, which bid $936,770.

The project includes renovating the existing family and resource centre space
to create two kindergarten classrooms with washrooms. This space is adjacent to the existing kindergarten classrooms, so all kindergarten spaces will stay together. The tender also includes the addition required to replace the space vacated by the family and resource centre. The addition will include an Early Years room, play room, meeting room and two offices. As well, six additional parking spots will be created.

In September 2012, students at GDCI and high schools across the province walked out in support of teachers.

Bullet News TORONTO— It appears public high school teachers are getting ready to take part in extra-curricular and voluntary activities again.

Today, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) voted to recommend to its members that they suspend their political action related to sports, drama and other activities outside of the classrooms.

“We expect that this sign of goodwill from our members will prompt the government to have genuine discussions that can lead to a fair resolution to this current impasse,” said Ken Coran, who is OSSTF president, in a press release issued today.

“We still maintain that voluntary activities are just that: voluntary,” he said. “We encourage members to review recent information and decide if they are willing to return to participating in the activities we know they feel so passionately about.”

OSSTF will hold a press conference on Monday, Feb. 25 at 9:30 a.m.

Ted Doherty, who is the director of education for the Avon Maitland District School Board, is happy with today’s announcement.

“We’ve known that the government has been in discussions with the union and with a new premier and a new minister in place there’s been a hopefulness that relationships would improve to the point that we could end this logjam that we’ve been in,” he said.

Doherty said boards and the union have always agreed that extracurriculars are voluntary.

“I believe that there are lots and lots of teachers out there waiting for positive signs like this today,” he said. “I think it was a sign to the membership that things are headed in the right direction with the new government and they wanted to show support to the members who are wanting to get back to extracurriculars but feeling challenged to do so because of the political environment.”

Doherty said the local board will be brought into discussions between the government and the union when talks progress to the point of interpretation and implementation of points in the contract that was imposed earlier this year. The board and the union local were unable to reach an agreement by the midnight Dec. 31 deadline and had a contract imposed by the government under  the controversial Bill 115.

Taylor Lowe is the school president at Goderich Collegiate District Institute. He’s looking forward to teachers going back to extracurriculars, saying it’s been a ‘tricky year’ that involved recruiting volunteers in order to continue some of the activities.

“Ultimately we’ve been able to do a lot of things but having no teachers able to participate – especially when most of them are so anxious to be able to participate again – has made things difficult and having them back would make it so much easier and a lot more fun for everyone,” he said.

Premier Kathleen Wynne issued a press release after today’s vote.

“I’ve been clear that this issue needs to be addressed within Ontario’s existing fiscal framework. But I am confident that our government’s commitment to fairness, consistency and respect in our conversations with OSSTF and all our partners will continue to result in real work being done for the people of Ontario,” Wynne said.

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, District 8, in the Avon Maitland District, represents approximately 1,600 office, clerical, technical workers, educational assistants, early childhood educators and professional student services staff.

SEAFORTH – Young scientists and inventors in Grades 7 to 12 are invited to show their projects at an upcoming fair in Seaforth.

Registration is now open for the annual Sci-Tech Encounters Senior Science Fair. Teachers, students, parents and principals in the Avon Maitland District School Board and the Huron Perth Catholic District School Board may register projects online.  During the day, students will present their experiments, research papers and science projects to the judges. Five of the students will advance to the Canada-Wide Science Fair.

The fair takes place Wednesday, April 3 at Seaforth & District Community Centre, starting at 8:30 a.m. An open house takes place from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

SEAFORTH – Nominations are now open for the Always Learning Awards, offered by the Avon Maitland District School Board.

There will be a maximum of 10 awards presented to individuals or groups who have gone above and beyond to engage, inspire and innovate.

The Always Learning Awards replace the Key Contribution Awards, which recognized staff, students and community members for their significant contribution to education under one of the five Board Goals. The new awards reflect the mission statement and re-visioning of goals and priorities in a four-year strategic plan unveiled in September 2012.

The new mission statement is Engage, Inspire, Innovate …Always Learning and the strategic plan states: “We will create positive, inclusive learning environments and maximize student outcomes. We will work toward that by valuing our students, our staff, our families and our communities using principles of character, equity and sustainability. The plan will be the primary consideration when someone is nominated for an “Always Learning Award”.

Nominations are being accepted on-line in the form below. The deadline for nominations is Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. The Always Learning Awards will be presented on April 3, 2013 along with the Board’s Years of Service Recognition at the Seaforth Legion. Please complete the online nomination form, referring to the Board’s Strategic Plan for 2012-2016.

Dec. 10 public elementary teachers’ strike. File photo.

HEATHER BOA Bullet News HURON COUNTY – Public elementary teachers across Huron County will not be in the classrooms Friday, instead staging political protests of the controversial Bill 115 across the Avon Maitland District School Board.

About 1,000 contract and occasional unionized teachers in Huron and Perth will join members of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) from across the province on Jan. 11 in a one-day protest of the bill that imposed contracts on them effective Dec. 31, 2012.

Although they are no longer in a legal position to withhold services under the Labour Relations Act, the public can expect a repeat of the one-day strike that took place Dec. 10 locally as part of rotating strikes across the province, said Merlin Leis, who is president of the Avon Maitland Elementary Teachers Federation.

“We will not be in school. We will be protesting in various locations in Avon Maitland yet to be determined. It won’t be business as usual on Friday,” he said. “The protest is not against our employer. It is against the government.”

Public elementary schools, including Grades 7 and 8 classes in secondary schools, across the board will be closed to their 10,000 students.

“Because of issues of safety and supervision of students, we can’t have students coming to the schools,” said Steve Howe, who is the board’s communications manager. All staff who are not members of EFTO are expected to report to work.

A letter providing information from the board to parents will be sent home with students today.

“They did have a contract imposed on them so they are not in a legal strike position. However, whatever the consequences may or may not be will be determined by the minister of education,” Howe said.

Leis said the government has not listened to the unions throughout contract renegotiations and passing of Bill 115.

“We’ve had the terms and conditions of our employment imposed on us. That has never happened in the history of education,” he said, noting that there was no opportunity to respectfully negotiate an agreement. “We are very outraged.”

He would welcome the opportunity to open negotiations with a new premier, after the Liberal leadership conference at the end of this month.

“We’re willing to work with anybody who will sit down and negotiate with us. That’s all we want to do,” Leis said.

Ninety-two per cent of more than 46,000 union members voted in December in favour of a one-day political protest if Education Minister Laurel Broten were to impose contracts using Bill 115. Contracts were imposed on boards and local unions Jan. 3.

“The minister made a deliberate and provocative choice to wipe out the democratic rights of tens of thousands of educators rather than work towards a respectful solution,” said Sam Hammond, who is ETFO president, in a press release today. “She could have taken our olive branch and waited for a new leader to try and find solutions, but she chose not to.”

“Our members are standing up to say that democratic values must trump party politics in this province. What happened to educators must not happen to any other Ontarian. The stain of Bill 115, enacted four months ago this Friday, serves as a permanent reminder of that.”

AMDSB Education Director Ted Doherty. File photo.

HEATHER BOA Bullet News SEAFORTH – A contract between unionized teachers and the Avon Maitland District School Board (AMDSB) will most likely be forced upon them by the province, with no local negotiations scheduled before the midnight deadline.

“I don’t anticipate that there will be a deal by the end of today. There aren’t discussions happening at this moment. Barring something unforeseen, I doubt there will be agreements with OSSTF or ETFO today in our board,” said Steve Howe, who is the board’s communications manager.

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, District 8 represents approximately 1,600 office, clerical, technical workers, educational assistants, early childhood educators and professional student services staff, and the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario locals represent about 900 contract and occasional public elementary teachers in Huron and Perth counties.

A tentative contract agreement with CAW Local 302, representing 115 custodial and maintenance staff, was ratified by both parties this month and awaits approval from the Ministry of Education.

Yesterday, Laurel Broten, who is the education minister, issued a statement reminding unions and boards that local agreements must be submitted by midnight tonight under Bill 115, Putting Students First Act.

“There has been ample time and sufficient opportunity to reach agreements that are fair to teachers and support staff while also being fair to Ontarians who expect us to protect the gains made in our schools,” she said, in the statement.

“To those school boards and unions which have yet to come to terms on fair, balanced and responsible contracts, I say to you that it is time to end the uncertainty for students, parents and taxpayers and get back to doing what we do best: putting students first. We can start by respecting tomorrow’s deadline and we can continue by ending labour unrest in our schools,” she said.

Ted Doherty, who is AMDSB education director, said the minister was emphasizing a position she’s maintained for some time.

“I think the minister is just reiterating what she’s said many times that there is a deadline and she has the ability through Bill 115 to impose contracts if they’re not negotiated locally by the deadline,” he said.

He said there have been no contract discussions over the past weeks. The board and OSSTF District 8 had a tentative contract in November, but it was rejected by the union’s leadership before it reached a ratification vote.

Broten also announced a tentative template agreement between the province and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) which represent about 55,000 members, including educational assistants, early childhood educators, instructors, custodians, librarians and secretaries.

Fred Hahn, president of CUPE Ontario, said CUPE will continue its campaign to repeal Bill 115, including a legal challenge to the bill.

“Collective bargaining works. It creates stable working environments that lead to stable services for the people who depend on them. Bill 115 threatens that needed stability in our schools and puts our collective bargaining process at great risk,” he said, in a press release.

The provincial government’s bill imposes compensation restraints for school board employees in the education system, whether they are union or contract employees. It instructs school boards and local bargaining units of teachers and support staff to negotiate contracts that reflect a zero wage increase for the next two years and cuts to benefits.

The government says compensation restraints will protect full-day kindergarten, smaller class sizes, and the classroom experience.

AMDSB chair 2013, Colleen Schenk.

HEATHER BOA Bullet News SEAFORTH – A trustee from Huron County was elected chair of the Avon Maitland District School Board last night

Colleen Schenk, the board’s longest serving trustee, replaces Jenny Versteeg, who represents North Perth, after nomination and election by secret ballot. Trustee Randy Wagler, who represents the municipalities of South Huron and Bluewater, was also nominated but declined to run.

“This upcoming year may prove to be challenging with labour unrest,” Schenk said during her two-minute nomination address, adding she has the experience as former board chair and two terms president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association to meet the challenge.

Schenk wants to find more time on the agenda to get to questions from trustees on issues that face the board. In a series of meetings held every second Tuesday, trustees start at 5 p.m. and often don’t adjourn until after 10 p.m., after considering agendas that may be dominated by lengthy presentations by staff.

“By the end of the night we get really, really tired. If we cut down on the number of presentations and open it up to alternate Tuesdays to have more presentations or having just a little different arrangement so the meetings aren’t quite so long and onerous. After a certain number of hours, you fade out,” said Schenk.

She added that people making presentations have spent a lot of hours preparing and deserve attention.

Schenk is in her sixth term on the board, representing the municipalities of North Huron and Morris-Turnberry and Township of Howick. During that time, she has served one term as chair and one term as vice-chair.

Lynette Geddes was acclaimed as vice-chair of the board. She is trustee for St. Marys, Perth South and West Perth. She is in her first term as a trustee after being elected in 2010.

Elementary teachers picket outside of GDCI in Goderich, a Grade 7 to 12 public school in the Avon Maitland district.

HEATHER BOA Bullet News Huron GODERICH – Teacher unrest is not about money, says the head of the local public elementary teachers’ union.

“The teachers of Avon Maitland understand the fiscal realities that Ontario finds itself in. We haven’t been clamouring for a raise. In fact, I haven’t heard any of my members state they want a raise at all. They’re okay with a wage freeze,” said Merlin Leis, who is president of the Avon Maitland Elementary Teachers Federation.

Nearly 1,000 contract and occasional public elementary teachers in Huron and Perth counties are back in the classrooms today after a one-day strike that kicks off rotating strikes across the province organized by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario. They continue with the work-to-rule campaign, withdrawing from extra-curricular activities, class excursions and extra duties outside of delivery of the curriculum.

“It’s about the province imposing terms and conditions on us. Things that have been negotiated years and years ago; all of a sudden the government simply says ‘oh, we’re going to change things’ and that’s just not the way to treat us with respect,” Leis said.

However, yesterday, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty a statement in response to the one-day teachers’ strikes that accused ETFO of disrupting “nine years of labour peace over a disagreement about pay.”

He said it was regrettable students were missing class time and families were making alternate arrangements.

“While inconvenient, these one-day legal strike actions do not warrant the intervention of the government and are a small price to pay to protect full-day kindergarten, smaller class sizes and 10,000 teaching jobs,” he said.

He pointed out teachers represented by the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association have reached negotiated agreements with the government.

A grandfather drops off coffees for public elementary teachers on the picket line, courtesy of his grandson, who is a Kindergarten student.

HEATHER BOA Bullet News HURON COUNTY – Nearly 1,000 contract and occasional elementary school teachers across Huron and Perth counties are walking the sidewalks out front of schools, MPP constituency offices and the board office this morning, in protest of McGuinty government’s Bill 115.

In the first day of rotating strikes across the province, union members in the Avon Maitland Elementary Teachers Federation are picketing at six Grade 6 to 12 schools, Huron Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson’s Blyth office, Perth Wellington MPP Randy Pettapiece’s Stratford office and the Avon Maitland District School Board’s office in Seaforth.

Out front of GDCI in Goderich this morning, about two dozen teachers carried red placards that read Respect Teachers; Respect Collective Bargaining. Some secondary school teachers came out to show support, and a grandfather of a Kindergarten child dropped off eight Tim Horton coffees, explaining that his grandson was worried teachers would be cold.

Merlin Leis, who is president of the Avon Maitland Teachers Federation, said the mood at a school in Stratford was “upbeat and friendly,” with a group of students joining teachers on the picket line.

“We’ve been getting lots of messages of support province-wide. Avon Maitland is a little bit off the beaten path, but this certainly has drawn attention to us,” he said, in an interview while travelling with ETFO president Sam Hammond.

Avon Maitland public elementary teachers have been in a legal strike position since Dec. 1. Union members began a work-to-rule campaign on Dec. 3.

Leis said it may have been just luck of the draw that Avon Maitland was chosen as the first site for rotating strikes, but said, “We’re proud and happy to be leading the way. Avon Maitland teachers are very professional, hard-working and when they’re asked to do something like this, which is very important to them, they’re happy to do it and they’re very supportive.”

On Thursday, Premier Dalton McGuinty saad his government won’t put a stop to any legal, one-day teacher strikes – a position that has Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives claiming the government has lost control of the situation.

Bill 115: Putting Students First Act gives time for local bargaining to continue until Dec. 31, to allow school boards and local unions to conclude local collective agreements.

Bill 115 was passed with the help of opposition leader Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives, who stood with the government members despite claiming the legislation as not going far enough.

Leis said the board and teachers’ union won’t be back to the bargaining table unless the province changes its legislation.

He said as the public becomes more educated about the issues, it is supportive of the teachers’ position.

“They should be concerned. Teachers came to school in September faced with the prospect of having the terms and conditions of their employment unilaterally and arbitrarily altered by the government. And that is concerning in a democratic society where past practice has been that you roll over the collective agreement until a new one can be negotiated,” he said.

He said the issue is not wages, but rather about the principle of how the province has handled contracts.

“Our members have been upset by it. They’ve been very supportive of the actions that we’re taking and they’re willing to put their money where their mouth is, take a stand and withdraw their services for a day to send a message to the government that they need to get back to the bargaining table, they need to get serious, and they need to repeal Bill 115,” he said.

When classes resume tomorrow, he said teachers will continue to teach the curriculum, although some other services will be curtailed.