Sask. school division asks parents to step in for teachers during lunch-hour walk out

A Saskatchewan school division is trying to get parent volunteers to fill the gap that will be left when teachers refuse lunchtime supervision on Thursday.

Teachers will walk out of schools at noon for an hour as part of an ongoing campaign of job action as contract talks with the Saskatchewan government continue to falter.

The planned responses by Saskatchewan school divisions have been mixed, with some going as far as shortening the school day. According to an email to CTV News from a parent, Southeast Cornerstone Public School Division (SECPSD) asked principals and vice principals to lean on parents in the hopes they would be willing to monitor the lunch hour.

"We are aware that different divisions are doing different things to ensure that students are safe during the noon hour one of those things includes trying to find a pair of volunteers to cover supervision that had previously been done by teachers,” STF President Samantha Becotte told CTV News when asked about the measure.

Becotte also said principals are often called upon to provide leadership in unexpected situations, they shouldn't have been asked to convey this particular message because they are also STF members.

"That is within the principal’s role, but at the point where the announcement was made – principals and teachers should not be participating or creating any contingency plans for school divisions,” Becotte said.

“Just like all teachers across Saskatchewan, they have the right to participate in job action and creating contingency plans really undermines that action this this is a responsibility of the school division,” she added.

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts from across Saskatchewan sent to your device

In a statement to CTV News, CEO of Southeast Cornerstone Keith Keating confirmed the division was seeking out parental help in its contingency plans.

“While we are not in a position to discuss matters relating to the bargaining process, there are contingency plans in place for supervision in SECPSD which include para-professionals, parents and community members,” it read.

Becotte said she recognizes the effects of recent job actions have had on families.

“We recognize that all of our job action has had a significant impact on students and families across the province. It's unfortunate that it has gotten to this place,” she said.

“We would have loved to have an agreement negotiated at the table even prior to getting into conciliation. But even through conciliation, and even after two province-wide withdrawals of service and now additional days of rotating strikes – this government is not engaging in the process in good faith and it's disappointing.”

Southeast Cornerstone School Division represents a total of 35 institutions including schools in Estevan, Weyburn and Moosomin.

The main sticking point in negotiations is the STF's desire to include items around classroom size and complexity in its new contract, something the province has repeatedly said is a non-starter and that it's only willing to talk about pay and benefits.

In a series of updates late Wednesday afternoon, the STF suspended all job action ahead of a planned resumption of negotiations.