School board objects to province’s meddling in hiring practices

We do appreciate the spirit of it, that they’re trying to make fair hiring practices, but we don’t think their objective is going to be met by this legislation. We think it’s going to actually cause more problems than it solves - Tracy Blodgett, Trillium Lakelands Occasional Teachers Local

MUSKOKA - A provincial regulation approved Aug. 29 undermines principals and does not put students first, according to Trillium Lakelands District School Board chair Karen Round.
Round put forward a motion at last week’s Committee of the Whole meeting asking trustees to send a letter to the government of Ontario and Minister of Education Laurel Broten asking that Ontario Regulation 274/12 – Hiring Practices be rescinded as soon as possible.
The regulation requires school boards to establish a roster of occasional teachers ranked by seniority and to use that list when hiring teachers for both long-term occasional and permanent teaching positions.
The motion put forward by Round stated that a “number of the duties of a principal are dependent upon their ability to staff their school, through new and existing staff members appropriately. Using seniority as the primary means of hiring will certainly compromise this ability.”
Trillium Lakelands District School Board has an effective policy and procedure for hiring practices, said Round, and Ontario Regulation 274/12 is unnecessary in TLDSB.
Although the Trillium Lakelands Occasional Teachers Local is also unhappy with the new regulation, president Tracy Blodgett said they do have issues with the hiring practices at the board.
Currently, TLDSB principals must consider occasional teachers within the board for either long-term or permanent positions that open up at their schools, but ultimately, they may choose whomever they decide is the best fit for the school.
“The way it was written in the contract was that if there was no suitable candidate, then they could go external and quite frequently they did,” said Blodgett.
“We would have been happier with a bit more of a closed shop, where people actually had to be on our list and working for us to have access to LTOs (long-term occasional), not necessarily to permanent positions. If somebody comes in with years of experience from another board obviously they’re the best candidate or could be the best candidate, but the LTO positions would go to people who are on our occasional teacher list, that would have been the ideal to us.”
However, Blodgett said the wording in the government’s hiring practices regulation isn’t strong enough and is open to interpretation. For example, though school boards are instructed to create a roster, there is no mention of how large the roster should be.
“It’s not written well enough to really do what they intended to do with it,” said Blodgett. “We do appreciate the spirit of it, that they’re trying to make fair hiring practices, but we don’t think their objective is going to be met by this legislation. We think it’s going to actually cause more problems than it solves.”
The board at TLDSB believes its current hiring practices policy is superior to the province’s regulation and wants the government to exempt them from the regulation for that reason.
“Our policy is working,” Round later explained. “It serves our people well. It gives us a chance to put the best teacher in front of that class, not the one that has just the most seniority. That is a consideration, but it cannot be a deciding factor.”
“I’m very pleased you brought this motion forward,” said Bracebridge trustee Tony Armstrong, who is also the board’s representative at the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association.
“I feel that trustees across the province are equally concerned with this regulation and that contrary to its existence to help with situations in the classroom, I would really feel strongly this regulation will take away the power of providing quality education for students.”
Trustees voted in favour of sending a letter outlining TLDSB concerns regarding Ontario Regulation 274/12 – Hiring Practices to Minister of Education Laurel Broten, and requesting she rescind the regulation as quickly as possible.

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