By Glen Hodgson, President, District 4, Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation.
I find it troubling that the Chair of the Near North District School Board, Jay Aspin, has decided to attack O.S.S.T.F., its members (who are employees of the N.N.D.S.B.), and me as the spokesperson instead of defending our schools, students and communities against the Ford government cuts.
To set the record straight, on numerous occasions there have been stories and headlines in local media that have said, and I quote, “Near North school board chair accuses union president of fear mongering.”
I understand that Chair Aspin often has said he is misquoted but that is an issue that he should take up with the local media and not the union. Certainly to accuse me of lying in the face of these published, publicly available media reports seems to be a little extreme.
The Chair is also been quoted in many media outlets, “Despite the fact that the number of redundancies Hodgson has presented to the public and his members is accurate, Aspin confirmed, all three (Vic Fedeli, Norm Miller and Jay Aspin) maintain no teachers will lose their jobs.” Similar quotes have appeared many times in every media outlet since news of the cuts to public education were first announced.
Vic Fedeli and Doug Ford are also both directly quoted as saying there would be no voluntary job losses of front-line workers.
Again, I understand that the politicians are desperately trying to qualify all of their statements with additional information in order to deflect from their commitments but they did not do so at the time and have only done so recently This seems to indicate that they do not intend to honour their commitment that no teachers would lose their jobs and, as a result, students across the province will miss out on courses, extra-curriculars, and opportunities because of the loss of these caring professionals.
In regards to the Near North, it has been identified that we have been in declining enrollment for over a decade. This is a fact I do not dispute. However, despite having significant drops in student numbers in recent years, we have been able to maintain appropriate staffing levels and maintain programming through a collaborative approach between NNDSB & OSSTF. This year we have over 30 job losses. What is the difference in 2019?
The difference, as identified in the 2019-20 Proposed Budget from the board is the "significant decreases” (their words) to numerous grants and funding that the Ford government is no longer providing to the board.
- Secondary Programming amount in Pupil Foundation Grant eliminated
- Local Priorities Fund (LPF Fund) eliminated
- Human Resource Supplement eliminated
- Cost Adjustment Allocation eliminated
“...this year has been challenging with the many changes we are undergoing and significant decreases in Grants and Revenues.” Source: Staff Recommended Preliminary 2019-2020 Budgeted Expenditures and Revenues – Superintendent Therrien (www.nearnorthschools.ca)
It is worth remembering that the Near North District School Board sent a letter to the Ministry of education on behalf of the Trustees and signed by Chair Jay Aspin outlining their concerns about decreased funding, reduction in staffing and loss of programming because of the government cuts to public education. Does Mr. Aspin deny sending this letter? Does he no longer believe this is a problem for NNDSB?
Finally, Chair Aspin referred to the over 30 secondary teachers that are facing an uncertain future as “pieces of cloth that needed to be cut to fit the table.”
I have a different name for these people. I call them Dan, Natalie, Brandon and Rick (among others). They are not fabric, they are people and they are very upset and so are the communities, students and schools that are losing them.
I understand that the Chair feels the need to defend his reputation and attack mine. That is fine. I really don’t care. My job is not to defend my reputation but rather to defend my members and that is something I will continue to do.
What I do care about is public education and the Near North District School Board and I know without a doubt that what is happening in Ontario is bad for the future of our schools and for our students. I share that concern with a large majority of the people of Ontario and organizations such as The People for Education and the Conference Board of Canada.
I strongly feel that the Union and the Near North District School Board should be united in fighting for our schools, students and our teachers. It is not the job of the Chair of the Board to defend the government. It is the job of the Chair and the Board to demand that the government provides solid and stable funding for every student in our education system.
I hope that we can drop the rhetoric and work together towards achieving this goal.
Glen Hodgson, North Bay.
