Contract Ratification Only Equals Bum Deal For Jarvis Athletes
Vanessa Rankin
Have you heard the good news? High school teachers in Toronto have ratified their contract. Work-to-rule has ended. 'Excellent', you say; now you can get back to playing some of those sports like soccer and hockey that you have waited a good two thirds of the school year to take part in.
Think again. As an athlete at Jarvis, you were most likely the one to feel the earliest effects of work-to-rule. All decisions regarding whether to proceed normally with extracurricular activities were halted pending a solution between the teachers of public high schools in Toronto and the Toronto District Board of Education regarding, amongst other things, workload. Most teachers were faced with the task of balancing an increased workload along with limited prep-time and the instruction of new curriculum, leaving little time for anything else.
Toronto high school teachers were looking for acknowledgement and a fair contract from the Board of Education in return for their teaching an extra half credit a year, totaling up to the instruction of 6.5 classes. The solution came in the form of a pay raise of 8% over the next two years. Although this solution has ended the teacher's legal strike action, it does not mean that teachers will be rushing back to volunteer their time to coach sports teams as their workload has not changed and will not change in the immediate future. "Much of the coaching has been left up to the Phys-Ed department and I can't see anyone else volunteering… There has to be a motivation for teachers and that motivation is getting the time back," spoke Mr. Kreiner.
That time is something that has disappeared with the instruction of an extra half credit, and that extra credit course, has become a huge hindrance to teachers volunteering their increasingly valuable time to coach sports teams. "Currently, I'm teaching seven courses, as many other teachers are, and I can't even picture coaching an additional two hours afterwards. It seems almost impossible," said Ms. Misko, one of two teachers in the girls' Phys-Ed department.
Besides an increase in pay nothing else has been changed with this new contract, and high school students along with teachers now find themselves in virtually the same situation as under work-to-rule, regarding time for athletics. "Just because the teachers' pay has been increased, it doesn't mean that they have the energy or time to contribute to extracurricular activities and the coaching of teams," commented Jane van Keerbergen, a Grade 12 student. Teachers just don't have the time to coach teams that have thrived and depended on their assistance in the past.
Another large factor contributing to the fact that resurgence in high school athletics will not be seen this spring is that many key people involved in the athletic organizing bodies for Toronto high schools resigned. These resignations came in opposition to the Government's law (Bill 74) mandating that all teachers participate in extra curricular activities. As the ratified contract ending work-to-rule has come through so late in the school year, it will take much reorganization and cooperation on the part of associations such as OFSSA and high schools, to pull together tournaments and establish leagues, including the officials to oversee them. "We have been trying to run sports but it is extremely difficult to do so under the present circumstances. There are so many obstacles. There is no framework in place, no budget and no support for coaches," explained Mr. Kreiner.
What has been most discouraging, however, is the effect of little to no sports at J.C.I, on new students to the school and those in the younger grades, particularly the nines. "I like sports and I do want to join some teams but there are none," voiced Mey Mey Fung in Grade 9. In fact, out of the twenty-two or so teams that normally operate in the school year at Jarvis only two have survived and those have been both the boys' and girls' basketball teams. A few teams such as boys' soccer, did get underway for a short while before Christmas but there was little advertising done by teams that had become operational due to possible problems their operation would pose under the constraints of work-to-rule.
So how does the future look for athletics at J.C.I.? Some solutions have been proposed by the Board of Education to free up that much-needed time during the day which could then, possibly, be put towards coaching teams. The main solutions will most likely come in the form of changes to the timetable, allowing for some time to be freed up during the school day, which may possibly be put towards coaching but these solutions are only just being considered.
Unfortunately, when some teams do begin in the spring it will not be an "all or nothing" attitude. Spring teams that do have teachers willing to volunteer their time to coach will go forward but others will not. Some coaches have expressed concern over the fact that, once again, it has been the fall and winter sports that have suffered. The situation which has not been entirely fair will, hopefully, in the coming school year resolve itself, and support for our once active sports teams will return to previous levels.
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