Strike action by support staff leaves schools unlocked

Parents with children who attend Rainbow District School Board elementary schools might have noticed something different if they visited their school this week: The main doors of the building were unlocked.

Support staff at the board’s schools, including custodians and secretaries, are members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (through the Educational Support Staff Unit or ESSU), which is in the midst of a work-to-rule job action against the province.

Since the union considers secretaries buzzing visitors into the school as being outside the scope of their members’ primary duties, secretaries at Rainbow schools will not be buzzing visitors in for the time being.

It’s all part of making life more difficult for the school boards and, in turn, the provincial government, said James Clyke, president of OSSTF District Three, when contacted by NorthernLife.ca.

“The schools don’t have to leave the doors unlocked — that’s the principals’ call,” Clyke said, adding that the principals themselves could be buzzing visitors in.

NorthernLife.ca received calls from two parents who are concerned leaving the doors unlocked makes the schools less safe.

The same strike action — and the same concern from parents — has been mimicked in and around Toronto, prompting Premier Kathleen Wynne to issue a statement this week critical of the OSSTF.

“It’s not acceptable that kids’ safety should be used as a bargaining chip,” the premier said. “It absolutely is not.”

Norm Blaseg, the director of education with Rainbow, said he’s urging the union to reconsider this particular job action.

Saying he understands parents’ concerns, Blaseg add that controlling access to Rainbow’s schools with a buzzer is not the only security measure in place.

“The reality is we have several measures of safety,” Blaseg said. “We have personnel in the schools (who keep an eye out for strangers) and all schools have monitors, so those components are still active.”

All other school doors are locked, he said. School visitors directed to visit the office when they arrive at school, as well.

Opposition leaders this week jumped on the work-to-rule action by support staff. Both NDP leader Andrea Horwath and Tory leader Patrick Brown blamed Education Minister Liz Sandals and the Liberal government for the continued tension between Ontario and its teachers.

The province gave school boards $10 million three years ago, following a school shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., to boost school security.