Prince Albert school divisions layout guidelines for students and parents with teachers set to resume job action on Monday
With new work-to-rule by the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) membership to start on Monday, June 10 both the Prince Albert Catholic School Division and Saskatchewan Rivers School Division have updated parents and students on plans around work to rule.
The STF announced on Wednesday that work to rule would start again on June 10 after contract negotiations with the province reached an impasse for the second time.
In Saskatchewan Rivers, teachers will provide supervision starting 15 minutes before the first bell and for 15 minutes afterward. No lunch hour supervision will be available, meaning that parents may need to arrange for their children over that time.
“Limited lunch supervision will be provided in schools and as a result, we will have alternate supervision plans, this will be done differently in each of our schools, ” director of education Neel Finch said in the letter to parents.
Starting June 10, teachers will no longer provide voluntary services outside the restricted workday, including a withdrawal of all extracurricular activities. The job action also includes a restricted workday, meaning teachers will not arrive at school until 15 minutes before the start of the school day and leave 15 minutes after it ends. Teachers have also withdrawn all noon-hour supervision.
Teachers will not participate in extracurricular activities, such as sports. Announcements about upcoming graduation ceremonies have not yet been made public in either school division.
Prince Albert Catholic also has a varying schedule based on individual schools, but the main impacts will depend on the age range of the school.
“Many aspects of our school operations and educational planning may be impacted in the coming days and weeks, including but not limited to the impact on transportation services, student support services, lunch periods and school hours," reads the letter from director of education Lorel Trumier.
Elementary students will have to remain in the building for lunch, but parents are being asked to pick their child up for lunch if possible.
The lunch period in Catholic Division elementary schools is being shortened from 50 minutes to 30 minutes.
Ecole St. Mary High School students are being required to leave the building and school property. They cannot be in the parking lot, the football field, or the tennis courts either and their lunch time is reduced from 60 minutes to 40 minutes.
Parents are also being told of how the sanctions could possibly change, including withdrawal of instruction where teachers could potentially walk out of the classroom for some periods, and should make childcare arrangements accordingly.
The Catholic Division encouraged parents to monitor Edsby and they will continue to notify of changes as much in advance as possible, as they have been throughout the STF and provinces
The STF is required to and has given 48 hours notice for all job actions.
The letters were similar to ones sent out when the STF launched work-to-rule in April before the two sides returned to the table and reached an impasse again this week.
The Prince Albert Daily Herald reached out to Prince Albert Area Teachers Association (PAATA) President Jean-Marc Belliveau for comment but did not hear back by press time.
Michael Oleksyn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prince Albert Daily Herald
