High school sports teams and supervised clubs could soon resume after the union representing public secondary school teachers recommended on Friday that its members end political action that has blocked the extracurricular activities.
Crestwood Mustangs hockey and boys field lacrosse coach Wade Wiggins expects the announcement will lead to the Kawartha District Athletic Association fielding a full slate of spring sports.
?I?m very confident things will be up and running,? Wiggins said. ?It?s too late for winter sports but moving forward I think everyone will be delighted to start up with spring sports.?
He said it?s still up to each teacher to decide on their own if they want to volunteer and he respects those who may choose not to return to coaching. In his case, he was hoping for this announcement.
?It's a great announcement for me, the school, the whole board and provincewide,? Wiggins said. ?The last few months have been pretty dismal at most schools and kids and staff were getting anxious.
Teachers withdrew from voluntary, extracurricular activities at schools to protest the provincial government?s decision to impose new two-year contracts. Elementary teachers are still boycotting extracurricular activities.
The provincial government committed to creating a process table to deal with outstanding issues, Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal said.
?There will be a process in place. There will be a forum where issues of concern can be discussed and hopefully resolved,? he said.
Leal praised the work of the head of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers? Federation, Ken Coran, and the president of the local OSSTF unit, Janie Kelly, on lifting the ban.
?They?ve showed leadership and co-operation in reaching the result,? he said.
Leal added the provincial government is offering the same process to the Elementary Teachers? Federation of Ontario.
?We look forward to things resuming back to normal,? he said. ?I know many OSSTF teachers in the Peterborough area and I know their passion and dedication to extracurricular activities.?
The two unions walked away from negotiations with the provincial government over a framework agreement for new contracts last summer.
The government reached an agreement with the Catholic school teachers? association, then gave the unions and local school boards until the end of 2012 to sign contracts that fell under the provincially-approved framework. When they failed to meet the demand, the government used legislation to impose new two-year contracts.
The government forced through a pay freeze for most teachers, a reduction in the number of sick days allowed each year and ending the cashing out of accumulated unused sick days when teachers retire.
It was part of the government?s efforts across the public service to rein in cost increases to help eliminate the provincial deficit.
Beyond a short statement issued Friday, OSSTF representatives aren?t commenting on association?s decision about extracurricular activities until a press conference on Monday.
?We expect that this sign of good will from our members will prompt the government to have genuine discussions that can lead to a fair resolution to the current impasse,? Coran stated in the release. ?We still maintain that voluntary activities are just that: voluntary? We encourage members to review recent information and decide if they are willing to return to participating in the activities we know they feel so passionately about.?
Kelly told The Examiner that she won?t comment until after the press conference on Monday.
It?ll be up to the principals and teachers at each school to work together and decide how they move forward with extracurricular activities such as sports teams and clubs, Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board chairwoman Diane Lloyd said.
?We?re pleased. We think that extracurricular activities are an important part of school. For some kids, that?s their motivation for going to school,? she said.
? with files from Mike Davies, Examiner Sports Director
brendan.wedley@sunmedia.ca
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