THUNDER BAY – Lakehead Elementary Schools will be closed on Friday. The solution that the Ontario Government put forward on solving the dispute with Ontario teachers is resulting in more job action. The Lakehead Board of Education shares, “Following notification of a one day political protest by the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO), all Lakehead Public Schools elementary schools will be closed on Friday, January 11. Secondary schools will be open for regular classes”.
Teachers are taking Friday to protest. “The minister made a deliberate and provocative choice to wipe out the democratic rights of tens of thousands of educators rather than work towards a respectful solution,” said Sam Hammond, President of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO). “She could have taken our olive branch and waited for a new leader to try and find solutions, but she chose not to.”
“Our members are standing up to say that democratic values must trump party politics in this province. What happened to educators must not happen to any other Ontarian. The stain of Bill 115, enacted four months ago this Friday, serves as a permanent reminder of that.”
As a result of this political protest, all Lakehead Public Schools elementary schools, including the Grade 7 and 8 classes at Churchill Elementary located in Sir Winston Churchill Collegiate and Vocational Institute, will be closed to students on this date. Students in JK to Grade 8 who ride the bus to school will not be picked up on Friday, January 11.
Daycares located in elementary schools will remain open on this date.
