Front doors unlocked at Ottawa public elementary schools as job action escalates
Mayor Jim Watson calls latest bargaining move a 'really outrageous action'
The front doors of Ottawa's public English elementary schools are unlocked and their controlled entry systems are turned off after the union representing educational support workers imposed job sanctions on Monday.
It's the newest bargaining chip in ongoing job action by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, which represents educational support staff in elementary schools in addition to high school teachers.
Secretarial staff who have been working without a contract for more than a year are no longer willing to answer the buzzer and let people into schools because that duty was simply added to their work day by the government's safe doors initiative, said the federation's Jo Dean.
"Without any support it just fell on the secretary in the office who has 1,000 other ministry initiatives that have been downloaded on them and it just interrupts the day constantly," said Dean.
The union said Tuesday that it's aware of only two school boards — the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and the Halton District School Board — that made the decision to leave its previously locked doors unlocked.
"It's not our determination that the schools are unlocked and left open; that would be a board determination. And I can tell you that across the province, boards are doing things differently," said Cindy Dubue, an OSSTF vide-president.
She said other boards have kept their schools locked by asking different staff to monitor the security systems.
"It's more the reaction of the school board to unlock the doors that is angering parents than our not [monitoring the] buzzers," Dubue said.
No mandatory locked-door policy
In Ottawa, 60 of the city's English public schools have controlled entry buzzer systems while 66 do not. None of the high schools have them.
Several years ago, the provincial Liberal government created a $10-million fund enabling school boards to install buzzer systems and video cameras after school shootings in the United States, including the killing of 20 children and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
While there is no mandatory locked-door policy in Ontario schools, parents are right to be worried about the situation, said Education Minister Liz Sandals.
"I was a little bit surprised that a union had chosen the safe entry system as the direction for disruption because obviously safety is important to us," she said.
"But there's nothing in the Education Act or the regulations that even requires this system to be in place."
Visitors to affected schools in Ottawa are being asked to report directly to the main office to sign in after entering unlocked front doors, according to an email sent to parents from Jennifer Adams, director of education for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.
Parents at Glashan Public School in Centretown said Tuesday that they don't approve of the decision to leave doors unlocked.
"I'm just concerned it could be a safety issue. ... The union should pick a different item to pick on," said Steve van Mossel.
"It is the most important thing protecting our schools right now in many respects, and so I would hope that they'd find some way to pull staff that aren't in the bargaining unit off whatever they're doing and make that a priority," said Nancy Faraday-Smith.
'Safety is a top priority,' OCDSB says
"We know that student safety is a top priority for every one of our employees," Adams wrote.
"Our staff will continue with student supervision, safe arrivals and the monitoring of visitors to the school."
On Tuesday morning, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson called the development a "really outrageous action." He said keeping students safe should be considered a basic duty.
Premier Kathleen Wynne said it's always difficult to see kids caught in the middle of labour disputes.
"It's not acceptable that kids' safety should be used as a bargaining chip," said Wynne. "It absolutely is not."
The government and school boards reached a tentative agreement last month with OSSTF's teachers, but have been unable to strike a deal for support staff represented by the union.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees is also trying to negotiate a new contract for clerical and support staff at other Ontario school boards.
There were also tentative agreements reached last month with the English Catholic Teachers' Federation and with Francophone teachers, but not with the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario.
Talks were scheduled to resume Monday between the province, school boards and ETFO, which has also gone more than a year without a contract.
Have your say
Vote here on whether school security systems should be used as a bargaining tool.
With files from The Canadian Press