Royal West students plead with schools to end extra-curricular ban

Grade 11 students at Montreal's Royal West Academy have created a video asking schools to reinstate extra-curricular activities in the midst of a teachers' work-to-rule pressure tactic.

S​tudent Liam Pantis posted the video on the Students for Schools Facebook page on Saturday morning accompanied by a request to have students share how the extra-curricular ban affects them.

Pantis, student council co-presidents Karley McIlwaine and Chloe Ginsberg, and Taylor Morganstein made the video together and posted it to YouTube on Friday night. (They've since changed their message on social media from #LifttheBan to #WeAreWhatWeLearn.)

"Teachers are some of the most important people in our lives, and once we heard of the conditions they were working under, the amount of extra hours they were working without being paid and the already low wages at which they were being paid at, I honestly felt it was our duty to step up and make a change," Pantis said.

"We felt that making a video, making these petitions and actually reaching out to our peers and their parents, people in the community — we felt that was the best way to get the message out to [Education Minister] François Blais and make him aware of the consequences of the budget cuts and the other conditions under which the teachers are working," he continued.

Earlier this week, Royal West Academy and the English Montreal School Board announced extra-curricular activities would be put on hold as part of the pressure tactics being used by the teachers' unions to negotiate collective agreements.

In March, the Quebec government announced the province's education budget would see an increase of only 0.2 per cent, which amounts to a cut, when the rate of inflation is factored in. 

Students step up for teachers

Pantis and student council president McIlwaine said parents and other volunteers have offered to step in for teachers, but that their generosity cannot be accepted due to liability issues in case anything happens to the students on their watch.

That leaves students like Pantis and McIlwaine in a less-than-desirable situation.

Pantis said the Royal West rugby team, on which he plays, has been undefeated for three consecutive years. He said the team's momentum may be stalled due to the suspension of the school's extra-curricular program.

McIlwaine, who shot the video, said the student council is on hiatus until the the ban on extra-curricular activities is lifted.

She said she chose to go to Royal West because of its wide offering of more than 150 extra-curricular activities — so when the announcement of the suspension was made, she was initially upset.

"When a lot of students found out about the ban, we were totally against it. We thought the teachers were doing it to punish us. But almost every teacher that I've had has sat down and explained why they're doing it," McIlwaine said.

"Once we heard their side of the story, I can't believe that we ever thought they were doing this to hurt us. Now that we understand the conditions they've been working under and what's trying to be implemented on them, we're so for them. We just want to get them what they want."