Labour Update: UGDSB contingency plans for week of Nov. 21-25, 2022

November 17, 2022

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*In the UGDSB, CUPE represents custodial staff in many schools, maintenance staff in all UGDSB schools, and ESL Instructors in our Adult ESL Continuing Education program.

Please see this important update regarding provincial labour negotiations.

As you know, this week CUPE Ontario gave 5-days notice of a province-wide strike, putting them in a legal strike position as of Monday November 21. If the strike proceeds on Monday, the UGDSB will implement the following contingency plans: 

*Please note that there will be differences in schedules for schools with CUPE custodial staff and schools without CUPE custodial staff. For a list of UGDSB sites with CUPE Custodial Staff, please refer to the chart below. 

Schools with CUPE Custodial Staff:

• In-person learning Monday Nov. 21, Tuesday Nov. 22, and Wednesday Nov. 23.
• Switch to remote learning for Thursday Nov. 24. 
• PA Day on Friday Nov. 25 – no school for students. 
• **PLEASE NOTE: Students in our Life Skills class placements, Youth Options, and Education and Community Partnership Programs (ECPP) will continue with in-person learning throughout the strike.

Schools without CUPE Custodial Staff: 

• In-person learning on Monday Nov. 21, Tuesday Nov. 22, Wednesday Nov. 23, and Thursday Nov. 24.
• PA Day on Friday Nov. 25 – no school for students. 

*For a list of UGDSB sites with CUPE Custodial Staff, please refer to the chart below. 

Please know that we will do our best to keep schools open to in-person learning as much as possible, however this will be very challenging without the services of our valued CUPE employees. 

The contingency plans above, with CUPE custodial schools staying in person 3 days next week, and schools without CUPE custodial staff staying in person 4 days next week is based on what we learned from the previous withdrawal of services, our overall system maintenance needs and our ability to perform the necessary functions to keep schools safe, clean and the whole system operational.

Changes at ALL UGDSB schools/sites:

• Community Use of Schools permits will be paused/cancelled at all UGDSB sites.
• Child Care Centres will remain open throughout the week.
• Before and/or After School (BASP) Programs will operate only on the days a school is open for in-person learning.
• All Adult ESL classes offered through Continuing Education will be cancelled. This includes the Adult ESL classes located at St. George’s Centre, Tytler Public School and the Wellington Centre for Continuing Education.

IMPORTANT:

• While our focus is to keep students in schools learning as much as possible, extenuating circumstances may require that we close schools on additional days, and this may be done with short notice. These circumstances could include, but are not limited to:
  • Maintenance issues with no qualified staff to tend to the work. CUPE maintenance staff work in ALL UGDSB schools/sites. 
  • Weather conditions putting a further strain on the system and staffing resources due to required snow and ice clearing, salting, mopping floors to ensure safety, etc. 
  • Inclement weather: Typical to every winter, inclement weather might mean that schools must close and we would have to notify families of the shift to remote learning that morning. 

COMMUNICATION:

• Updates will continue to be shared with the public at https://www.ugdsb.ca/board/labour-updates-2022-23/. 
• In the event of a school needing to close with short notice, families of that school will be contacted directly through various communication channels.

We sincerely appreciate everyone’s understanding and support and we are committed to providing regular updates so students, families and staff can plan accordingly.

Thank you,

 

Ralf Mesenbrink, Chair of the Board
Peter Sovran, Director of Education

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CUPE Custodial Schools/Sites:

Aberfoyle PS	Alma PS	Arbour Vista PS
Brant Ave PS	Brock Road Con Ed	Centennial CVI
Central PS	Centre Dufferin DHS	Centre Wellington DHS
College Heights SS	Credit Meadows ES	Drayton Heights PS
Edward Johnson PS	Erin DHS	Erin PS
FA Hamilton PS	Gateway Dr. PS	Grant Evans Ed Centre
Guelph Board Office	Guelph CVI	Guelph Lakes PS
John McCrae PS	John F Ross CVI	John Galt PS
June Ave PS	King George PS	Kortright Hills PS
Laurelwoods PS	Minto-Clifford PS	Montgomery Village PS
Orangeville DSS	Ottawa Cres. PS	Paisley Rd PS
Parkinson Centennial PS	Princess Elizabeth PS	Princess Margaret PS
Prior Park PS	Rickson Ridge PS	Sir Isaac Brock PS
Spencer Ave. ES	St. Georges Centre	Tytler PS
Victory PS	Waverley Dr. PS	Westminster Wood PS
Westside SS	Westwood PS	Willow Rd PS

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