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HSCDSB Responds to Anticipated Labour Action – No School Friday

After thoughtful consideration, the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board has made the decision to limit access to schools this Friday if the political protest takes place by CUPE employees.  This means that students are not to attend school this Friday, November 4th. 

 

CUPE represents many workers in the board, including school and board office clerical,caretakers, dayworkers and maintenance staff, educational assistants, early childhood educators, early years assistants and library maintenance workers.  They are valuedmembers of our Huron-Superior Catholic family who provide important supports to ourstudents and staff and are crucial to the operation of safe, healthy schools and worksites for everyone. Without CUPE staff in place in schools, we cannot provide a safe and healthy environment for students or staff.

“We recognize that families started this school year hopeful it would be free from interruptions. However, considering the number of employees involved in Friday’s possible political action, and the integral roles they fill in our Catholic school communities, our board has determined that this is the responsible course of action at this time.  This decision was not made lightly and aligns with school boards across the province who have a significant number of staff represented by CUPE,” said HSCDSB Director of Education, Danny Viotto.

 

As mentioned, on Friday, there will be no instruction provided to students.  Should the protest continue into next week the board will send out communication with respect to plans for student instruction and learning.  Students are encouraged to take home any personal belongings they may require before leaving on Thursday.

 

Any field trips, events, or after-school activities, as well as Community Use of Schools permits will be cancelled for the day.  For before and after-school childcare programs and daycare services, families are encouraged to reach out to providers for more information.  Parents are not required to report their child’s absence as schools are closed to students for the day.

 

Viotto went on to say that, “If a settlement is reached before Friday, this plan will change and again, we will communicate with families as quickly as possible.  We are doing our best to make timely decisions based on current information.  We respect that families require time to arrange child care if this is the situation they find themselves in on Friday.”

 

The board is committed to ensuring parents have timely, accurate information, and will provide regular labour negotiations updates on our Board website, as well as on our social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram). Families will also receive updates through School Messenger.

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