Sask. teachers to withdraw noon-hour supervision Thursday as strikes continue

As Saskatchewan teachers continue to hold rotating strikes, their union is adding more pressure in its push for a new contract.

On Monday, the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) said teachers across the province will withdraw noon-hour supervision on Thursday, and will leave the buildings during the designated lunch breaks for their schools.

“Although teachers provide lunch break supervision, it is done on a voluntary basis,” the STF said in a statement.

“The responsibility to provide the necessary level of supervision to ensure student safety is held by school divisions under The Education Act, 1995. School divisions will make parents and caregivers aware of any operational or schedule changes due to Thursday’s job action.”

The union said its members understand that withdrawing noon-hour supervision will be inconvenient for families, and encouraged any parents or caregivers with concerns to contact their MLAs and school board trustees “and urge them to get the government’s bargaining committee back to the table.”

Samantha Becotte, the STF’s president, noted that many parents already have to pay extra for noon-hour supervision.

“A decade of government funding cuts has meant parents in several school divisions are forced to pay out-of-pocket fees of $100 or more for their kids to stay at school over the noon hour,” Becotte said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the STF is planning a second day of rotating strikes on Wednesday, affecting classes at a number of school divisions in Saskatoon and the surrounding area. The first of the union’s rotating strikes was held last week, following a pair of provincewide single-day strikes held earlier in January.

Teachers have been pushing for stipulations around class size and classroom complexity to be built into a new contract, in addition to a salary increase.

Jeremy Cockrill, Saskatchewan’s minister of education, has said the government’s committee remains at the table ready to resume bargaining, but has so far refused to bargain on class size and complexity.