Teachers unimpressed with province’s proposal on classroom composition

The second meeting between the provincial government and the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) in about a week had the teachers’ representatives leaving less than impressed.

The two sides are trying to work out a way to tackle classroom complexity and composition outside of the teachers’ collective bargaining agreement.

On Thursday afternoon, they met in a conference room at a downtown hotel and traded proposals. This was the first time the provincial government’s proposal had a number attached for money to deal with the problem.

But STF president Patrick Maze said the number was way too small.

“Looking at that number and knowing the vast supports that are required right across the province, I don’t know that it would help address (the issue) in one school division let alone right across the province,” said Maze.

Maze said the number wasn’t close to enough to get the sides to come together for a deal, noting they’re still far apart.

According to Maze, the teachers need a real commitment from the province that something is going to be done to fix the problems they’re seeing in classrooms when it comes to more complex student needs.

“Everybody around the table agrees it’s a problem but government just seems to say, ‘Trust us, it’ll get better.’ But obviously, they’re the ones that have been responsible for this issue over the last several years into creating the issues that we’re seeing,” said Maze.

Maze said the new proposal from the province isn’t enough to take potential job action off the table.

Education Minister Gord Wyant was in on the meeting and told Maze and his side that the province has a new mandate in collective bargaining talks with teachers so they want to get back to the table in that regard as well. However, Maze said Wyant wouldn’t explain what the new mandate is.

Maze said the teachers still want supports to deal with classroom complexities in the collective agreement so that there would be some certainty involved and they could hold government to account. If something were to be figured out outside of the agreement, Maze said it would have to be “tightly worded.”

The teachers came with their own proposal. Maze said it was a concept, a mechanism, on how to fund classrooms in the divisions and address those varied and individual needs.

From Government

When he came out of the meeting, Wyant said the two sides had had a “good conversation.”

“What our suggestion was that there would be some resources to begin to deal with the challenges of composition while we move forward with the work that’s being done by the committee that I formed last fall to look for some long-term systemic solutions to the challenges of composition,” explained Wyant.

When asked how much progress was made in the talks on Thursday, Wyant said he thinks having a two-hour meeting shows that there’s something for them to talk about.

Wyant said they all recognize this is an important issue and a robust conversation about it is important, even though the sides are far apart.

“The conciliator had indicated to us in the conciliation board report that we needed to try to bridge that gap, that we needed to try to find some middle ground, and that’s really precisely what the conversations are about,” he said.

Ticking clock

The sides took the other’s proposal and will present it to their own teams, but there is a time crunch for both.

The provincial budget is to be presented March 18 and any funding to address classroom complexity would ostensibly need to be included.

Wyant said there isn’t a deadline, but with the budget coming up, the sides talking again in the next couple of days would be a good time frame.

Maze said it would be nice to have thing worked out in time for the spring budget so teachers can have resources in place for the new school year in September, but he also said his team won’t undersell students just because there’s a timeline.

“We need to make sure that the number’s right and that it’s going to make meaningful change in our classrooms,” said Maze.