Wednesday, November 16, 2022
As you may have heard in the media today, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), representing education workers across Ontario and a number of staff at HCDSB, have given notice that they will be moving to strike (full withdrawal of services) effective Monday, November 21, 2022 if a provincial settlement is not reached before then.
CUPE represents a number of our school and system support staff across HCDSB, including:
- Custodial Staff
- Designated Early Childhood Educators
- Educational Assistants
- English as a Second Language (ESL) Instructors
- Information Technology (IT) Technicians
- Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) Instructors
- Library Technicians
- School and Board Administrative Office Staff
The following is a summary of the plan in place in the event that the CUPE strike proceeds:
- All HCDSB schools will be CLOSED to all students effective Monday, November 21st and for the duration of the strike.
- As of Monday, November 21st, we will move to synchronous (real-time), remote instruction for all students. This includes all secondary credit courses offered through Thomas Merton Adult and Continuing Education.
- Special education resources will be provided to support the continuity of learning and access to specialized (i.e. SEA) equipment. Virtual services and supports, through a variety of special education staff, will continue to be provided. The Empower Reading Program will also continue to be offered in a virtual capacity. School staff will ensure ongoing communication with parents/guardians to monitor progress and needs.
- All student transportation to and from school will be CANCELLED.
- All Before & After School programs will be CANCELLED.
- Elementary in-person tutoring will be postponed, while virtual tutoring will continue as scheduled.
- Childcare centres will remain OPEN as they run independently from our schools.
- All interschool athletics will be POSTPONED.
- Community use of schools will be CANCELLED in all schools maintained by CUPE custodial staff.
Information Updates
We are monitoring this situation very closely and will continue to provide updates to families and staff as new information becomes available through the following ways:
- Emails to families and staff
- HCDSB’s website
- Twitter @HCDSB
A message will be sent to all staff and families no later than 6:30 a.m. on Monday, November 21st, confirming the final plan, either way.
Thank you for your ongoing patience and understanding during this period of job action.
As a Board, we value all of our staff as dedicated, caring professionals, and we respect labour laws that affirm the legal rights of our unionized employee groups. We remain hopeful that a new provincial agreement will soon be reached with our CUPE staff.