MUSKOKA, ON – While students get the day off, teachers are bearing the cold with picket signs outside of schools.
Educators across the province are participating in a one day strike to protest proposed cuts to education by the province.
Jon Ray, a teacher at BMLSS in Bracebridge, spoke with MyMuskokaNOW.com outside the facility. He said if the government has its way, 20 fulltime teachers will lose their jobs at BMLSS and student sections would be cut down from 300 to 180.
“The impacts would be serious. They’d be severe,” Ray said. “It’s unprecedented and would be like nothing we’ve ever seen in public education. We are here to let the government know that these cuts aren’t supported.”
Ray added the Ford government has failed to negotiate and find a solution to keep Ontario eduction as strong as it has been in the past.
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF) announced the potential of a one day strike last week if a tentative deal wasn’t reached by midnight Tuesday.
According the organization, which represents teachers across the province, the two sides are still “far apart” when it comes to reaching an agreement.