Elementary students in the London area won’t be getting first-term report cards this year.
The Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) announced Thursday morning that the report cards, which were scheduled to be given to the more than 55,000 elementary students in the London region on February 14, won’t be handed out.
“Because of the provincial labour action, teachers are not able to complete report cards for students,” TVDSB Director of Education Mark Fisher said in a email to parents. “It is our expectation that communication with parents/guardians regarding your child’s progress has been ongoing throughout the school year. As always, if you have any questions regarding your child’s academic achievement and/or well-being, please contact your child’s teacher(s).”
Members of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) have been engaged in a work to rule campaign. When the campaign was launched in November, the ETFO said teachers would not fill out report cards, but would send marks to administration.
"What the work-to-rule protocol indicates is that for most classrooms, Grade 1 to 8, only marks will be submitted to the office. For our kindergarten and special-ed congregated classes one sentence, brief comment in each of the sections is being submitted. So those will be submitted on the due date of January 30," said Craig Smith, President, ETFO Thames Valley Teacher Local. "The decision not to send those home is clearly the board's decision, which we understand. We keep our assessments and evaluations and we continue to submit our marks."
For parents who want to get a sense of how their child is doing in their studies, Smith noted teachers can always be contacted directly.
"Nothing in the work-to-rule protocol impedes or gets in the way of teachers communicating with parents and parents communicating with teachers," said Smith. "We know the report card is just one of the many ways that parents and teachers are in touch with one another - there is face-to-face meetings and conversations over the telephone. It is a normal piece of what teachers do and remains unaffected by what is happening in terms of the work-to-rule protocol."
Rotating one-day strikes by elementary teachers hit the London area on Wednesday, shutting down schools. Despite the inconvenience to parents, Smith said the membership received very little negative feedback while on the picket line.
"I was out on lines in various parts of the district and the response was the same. Lots of honking in support, but more importantly people coming by and dropping off coffee and small tokens of thanks," said Smith. "There seems to be a good deal of public understanding and support for what we are doing because of the implications for kids as we move forward... I think parents in the system understand that while there might be some short term disruption it doesn't compare to the long term disruption that will happen for learning of students if the cuts and program changes are made."
