Catholic school board support workers' strike cutting into school time, parents say

Parents and students are complaining that the strike by support staff at Catholic schools is resulting in the loss of several hours of class time.

Brenda Lucier has a son with ADD at Corpus Christi School.

She says he and other students spend most of the day in the gym hanging out and playing on their tablets because the teachers are being held up at the picket lines.

"I was fuming, fuming," said Lucier. "My son has a disability and he needs to have attention he needs to do work. Any change [to the schedule] throws him for a whirl."

The president of the local unit of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association says some students in the high schools are missing the first three periods of the day.

But he says the board is trying to work out a rotating schedule.

"The board is coming up with contingency plans about rotating the courses," said Brian Hogan.

"If you miss period one move period one to the back of the day because all the teachers will be in by later in the day. So they're coming up with plans."

Hogan is urging parents to put pressure on the two sides to get back to the bargaining table. No new talks, which will take place with a conciliator, have been planned.

Hogan said the 11 teachers at St. Thomas of Villanova high school who were suspended on Monday were to return to work Wednesday.

The union is filing a grievance to try to get the board to pay the teachers for the two days they were suspended.

One Villanova student told CBC she is only getting one class per day.

Education Director Paul Picard downplays the problem but agrees students are spending some time in gyms waiting for teachers to arrive.

"Certainly students are congregating for a short amount of time while they wait for their teachers to arrive." said Picard. "I believe the teachers are doing their utmost to get in there as quickly as they can."