No noon-hour supervision at some Saskatchewan schools Friday

The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation is planning another day of sanctions on Friday.

In a post on its website, the teachers’ union announced a one-day withdrawal of noon-hour supervision at schools at six divisions around the province.

Schools covered by the withdrawal are in the Good Spirit, Holy Family Catholic, Horizon, Saskatchewan Rivers Public and Prince Albert Catholic school division, and all schools in the Conseil des écoles fransaskoises.

READ MORE:

• Sask. teachers to resume rotating strikes on Tuesday
• STF reveals more sanctions to take place Wednesday across Sask.
• Sask. teachers to pull noon-hour supervision in some school divisions Thursday

As a result of the latest move, teachers, principals and vice-principals will not be supervising students who eat lunch at school or taking part in noon-hour activities. Supervision is done by educators on a voluntary basis.

“Teachers understand that withdrawal of noon-hour supervision is an inconvenience to many families,” the STF said in its post. “Parents and caregivers concerned about the impact of job action should contact their MLAs and elected school board trustees and ask them to encourage the government’s bargaining committee to return to the table with a new mandate.”

The teachers’ union and the provincial government have been trying to hammer out a new deal since the previous contract expired in August.

The union declared an impasse in October and then began sanctions in mid-January, including one-day strikes and rotating strikes.

On Feb. 7, the STF cancelled all sanctions when the government invited the union back to the bargaining table. But talks collapsed Feb. 13, prompting the teachers to reinstitute its sanctions.

Those have included one-day rotating strikes and the withdrawal of lunch-hour supervision and extracurricular activities.

STF president Samantha Becotte has said the union won’t resume negotiating until the Government-Trustee Bargaining Committee agrees to include class size and complexity in the negotiations. That would require the GTBC to get a new mandate from the provincial government.

The province and the Saskatchewan School Boards Association have said those issues should be dealt with by local school divisions, and shouldn’t be part of the collective bargaining agreement.

The union also has raised concerns about violence in classrooms, with teachers sharing stories of abuse at the hands of students. The STF has said that’s an indication the education system has been underfunded by the provincial government.