All public schools in province closed this Friday

By Haldimand Press Staff

HALDIMAND—All four public school unions have announced a province-wide full withdrawal of services on Friday, February 21, 2020. This means that all public schools in the province will be closed for the day.

The four unions are the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA), and the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO).

“This is the first time since the political protest of 1997 that teachers and education workers from Ontario’s main education affiliates will all be out of their classrooms on the same day,” said a release sent out by the unions. “Nearly 200,000 teachers and education workers will strike across 72 school boards, affecting nearly 5,000 schools across the province in protest of the government funding cuts to education.”

“It is clear to all four Ontario education unions and our members that the Ford government and Education Minister Lecce care nothing about students or educators and everything about taking money out of the publicly funded education system,” says AEFO President Rémi Sabourin. “To achieve their cuts, they have knowingly thrown students, families, educators, and the system into chaos.”