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The union representing 1,500 local teachers staged a rally outside the Windsor headquarters of the area’s largest school board on Tuesday to protest a controversial plan to trim down a $6.4-million budget deficit.
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The Greater Essex Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario said it was working with other concerned education workers, parents, and community partners.
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The protest outside the offices of the Greater Essex County District School Board on Park Street West began around 5:30 p.m. Trustees were scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. to elect a chairperson and vice-chair for the next calendar year.
The union said the rally was in response to planned “drastic cuts” to special education programs and teachers, social workers, psychologists, speech pathologists, and other positions “yet to be named.”
The board is forging ahead with its Multi-Year Financial Recovery Plan to whittle down a projected $6.4-million deficit in the coming school year. The province has warned the board to eliminate the deficit or face the possibility of being taken over by the Ministry of Education.
The teachers’ union said the Multi-Year Financial Recovery Plan will see at least 62.8 equivalent positions eliminated in the public board.
Board trustees voted Nov. 5 to submit a plan to the ministry that would eliminate the International Baccalaureate (IB) and special education RISE (Reaching Individual Success and Excellence) programs. The plan includes eliminating almost 63 full-time positions.
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The IB program, governed by a non-profit based in Switzerland, operates in more than 5,800 schools worldwide, including 99 in Ontario. It offers higher-level academic studies that aim to give students a more complete worldview and teach the benefits of contributing to their communities.
The plan has already faced harsh criticism and protests in the local community.
Students at Riverside Secondary School staged a walkout in November. Later that month, about 70 people gathered at a town hall to voice their concerns. Parents of children enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program even offered to help subsidize its costs to keep it from being cut.
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