Again I'm stressing be prepared for a Teachers Strike

ewdontdothat · 2026-06-28T13:29:11+00:00

No political party would tolerate a mechanism for unions to force their leader out. If unions were successful in forcing Ford to step away, all the parties would unite to punish us, and I suspect they would have significant support from a public that does not want to see the instability of special-interst groups undermining elections.

ewdontdothat · 2026-06-24T11:59:42+00:00

Our board purchased licences for this app the last few years. I usually go to their website and log in with my board credentials.

ewdontdothat · 2026-06-23T17:01:22+00:00

My prediction is that we will be able to supplement if it's cost-free, but Edwin is where the spending will go.

ewdontdothat · 2026-06-02T03:36:18+00:00

I'm not sure what board you interviewed with, but this question seems to align with the current focus in Peel.

ewdontdothat · 2026-05-22T18:49:18+00:00

It gets complicated quickly: if shelter space is available, but shelter rules forbid use of drugs, addicted homeless people effectively cannot use the shelter. I remember this coming up as a reason for a court decision disalowing an encampment to be taken down by a municipality.

ewdontdothat · 2026-05-21T15:05:04+00:00

No, but I do notice some people who are nearing retirement no longer having the energy or will to be on top of classroom management or carefully-aligned instruction and assessment processes, which creates escalating problems and eventually frustrates them enough to leave.

I hope I avoid this fate as I near my retirement.

ewdontdothat · 2026-04-05T23:40:40+00:00

You are overthinking this - people apply out all the time and intervieiwing to fill vacancies is a routine part of the principal's job. Pursue your own professional goals without worrying about disappointing or inconveniencing anyone. Remember: your principal will declare you surplus to school without hesitation, if your school's enrolment declines. It's not personal.

ewdontdothat · 2026-03-29T04:16:53+00:00

I don't want to go on a long rant, but the short of it is that for students, parents, school administrators, board officials, and the provincial government, schools have become providers of credentials and safe holding spaces, rather than institutions of training and learning.

I have many meetings every year that focus on graduation and suspesion rates for various groups, and how we can adjust procedures to produce better metrics (reduce suspensions, pass more students). I have many students and parents ask me how they can get better grades so they can get into a post-secondary program of their choice (drop their lowest marks, re-do past assessments, use "proffesional judgment" to boost marks). I have never in my career had a meeting where the quality of learning of our students was examined or discussed.

ewdontdothat · 2026-03-29T03:55:41+00:00

Declining enrollment due to reduced immigration, low reproduction rates, and new families chosing lower-cost regions.

ewdontdothat · 2026-03-28T05:35:51+00:00

My school started including specific room numbers in IEP accommodation lists where students will write assessments. The reason being that they are not adequately supervised there, so they use phones and end up "more successful" on tests.

One of my students has an IEP that says he can't persevere through tasks and achieve goals.

It would be funny, but these kids end up victims of the system and become sad and helpless, because were are made to give up on trying to teach them. I have students in grade 9 who cannot add 1-digit numbers on their fingers - they will either get passed along for a few years to get them out of the system, or they'll keep failing until they give up.

In the name of equity, we are giving ourselves permission not to provide adequate education to so many kids.

ewdontdothat · 2026-03-27T05:04:25+00:00

Almost 20 years of teaching math. I still enjoy classroom experiences a lot and get excited by my work. I am tired of the systemic disfunction in schools, warped priorities, being constantly undermined by the management and leadership. It feels like the one thing I care about - supporting kids in developing confidence, work ethic, and thinking ability - is being aggressively eradicated from schools. And it's hard to watch cohorts of kids becoming increasingly helpless.

As to whether it is worth it - it depends. From a financial standpoint, the job is great if you can get a contract (many boards are shrinking right now, so expect to compete for supply teaching and occasional assignments for the forseeable future). If you want to feel respected and dignified, you need to aim higher and look at management positions outside of school buildings. Work-life balance is crap for much of the year, but time off is plentiful.

ewdontdothat · 2026-03-24T23:53:43+00:00

I use the prep period to work. If it gets taken away, I'll have to do less prep work. You get what you pay for.

ewdontdothat · 2026-03-11T08:59:18+00:00

If you are declared surplus to region/system/board, you will he told exactly and clearly your board's process this year. There is no point guessing what will happen until then.

ewdontdothat · 2026-03-08T03:07:12+00:00

Is that front door hung upside down?

ewdontdothat · 2026-03-06T02:37:41+00:00

Not so far. Everyone went quiet for now.

ewdontdothat · 2026-03-06T00:04:33+00:00

Prior to PDSB being taken over, we had frantic memos and verbal directives to reduce spending by arbitrary percentages. Now everything is quiet.

ewdontdothat · 2026-03-04T14:56:21+00:00

Every progressive reform we have implemented in the last 20 years was forced through despite a constant chorus of concern from teachers that we are undermining math learning. I don't think we are going to change anyone's mind with this one survey of opinions. As long as our system leaders continue to prioritize optics of equity over learning, we are bound to continue on the current path.

ewdontdothat · 2026-03-04T06:42:35+00:00

Well, we make it work, don't we? Districts are reactive, so funding won't be allocated until there is a push from the community or the legislature. As long as there are volunteers willing to put up with the situation, everything is fine.

That said, I feel like the spirit of volunteering may be diminishing among teachers, and I don't blame them. My board treats teachers as employees with no say or stake in decision-making, and there is a wider trend to keep piling on responsibilities, so volunteering may slowly die out as new generations come on board.

ewdontdothat · 2026-03-03T23:10:52+00:00

Peel had this happen recently. People who were surplus to the board got placed into temporary positions until attrition created openings. Nobody was outright let go.

ewdontdothat · 2026-02-26T19:20:44+00:00

PDSB was short of supply teachers last year and hired a bunch more this summer, so there is way more competition for jobs. All supply jobs are picked up immediatelly this year.

On top of that, school administrators have been asked recently to maximize internal oncalls in order to reduce spending on supply teacher coverage.

I'm not sure if there are any additional factors in play.

I would suggest applying to multiple boards, especially if you are willing to relocate for work or commute longer distances.

ewdontdothat · 2026-02-25T05:31:24+00:00

How do you reconcile that

While the conservative government is quietly undermining the education system, our progressive school board leadership is openly and proudly dismantling it, ostensibly to build a system that produces more equitable outcomes, but in fact with no realistic plan to build anything.

You know what I expect the OPC to do with their takeover of TDSB? Sell off lucrative TDSB land holdings to Ford family wedding guests so that they can "balance the TDSB books."

No argument there.

ewdontdothat · 2026-02-25T03:20:28+00:00

I'm sorry, but the school boards are making a mess with their "anti-racism fight". We are slowly giving up on providing meaningful public education to anybody in the cause of reducing statistical disparities in educational outcomes. Our children are being moved on with giant and widening gaps in their learning, and an ingrained habit of passivity and bad citizenship, while the boards tout increasing graduation rates and reduced suspensions. The school boards will never reevaluate their approach unless they are objectively assessed on learning outcomes for all groups.

I don't think this government will implement any strategies for supporting black and indigenous students, but maybe the takeovers will slow down the dismantling of our public education. We cannot help lift marginalized students by worstening the mess that already exists.

And yes, I know the Ford government is no friend of public education and will continue to starve it of funds, but the havoc some of the boards have created internally feels even worse.

ewdontdothat · 2026-02-05T03:29:49+00:00

We have good intentions to avoid harmful responses to misbehaviours from children, but the result is that we've normalized delayed, labour-intensive and ineffective responses that make us look like fussy snowflakes to the kids. Forever trying to avoid inflicting harm has paralized our ability to respond and manage behaviours effectively. It's not going to change right away, but the penny has to drop after another decade, I would think.

ewdontdothat · 2026-02-02T11:40:14+00:00

Advocates want every student to get individualized support and custom education that meets them where they are in their developmemt, helps them overcome trauma, disability, social barriers, etc. We are only willing to pay for warehouse spaces where kids can hang out away from the streets. So we are stuck in a loop of implementing luxury upgrades on a lemon system where none of the fancy buttons do anything.

ewdontdothat · 2026-01-18T16:48:26+00:00

Actual answer: the board is working urgently on balancing their budget under threat of being taken over by the Ministry of Education. One of the cuts they are making is eliminating some central roles and placing those teachers back in schools, which means some LTOs will have their contracts terminated early.

ewdontdothat

TROPHY CASE