Toronto school board preparing for possible fall teachers’ strikes

An unusual assembly line is creaking into action at the country’s biggest school system, with even the highest officials at the Toronto District School Board getting ready to punch in numbers for 154,600 elementary report cards.

The board’s decision to issue limited report cards by mid-July, after teachers refused to write them as part of their strike action, means enlisting not only administrative staff but superintendents who manage dozens of schools.

But that last-minute effort is still a minor hiccup compared with the magnitude of adjustments the board could have to make next fall, when elementary, high-school and support workers could all be holding different labour protests at overlapping times. The kaleidoscopic of options have the board making complicated contingency plans more than two months in advance.

“We have classrooms where there’s teachers, nurses or health care professionals, all kinds of special education support professionals,” said Chuck Hay, the TDSB executive superintendent responsible for managing labour disruptions. “If one of those groups goes on strike, we always have to ask the question: what kinds of supports can we safely provide for our children? And balance that with our obligations to the parents,” he said. “We can’t just say: ‘We can’t do it.’”