[Fdu] Faculty letter in support of teachers, for circulation

Mon Feb 10 11:12:18 EST 2020

Apologies for x-postings. This is making the rounds.
*
*
*
*
*Please consider signing the below letter and circulating to your 
colleagues for their signature.
*
*
*
*We would ask that signatories add their names by tomorrow evening, 
Tuesday, February 12th. We will be updating the signatory list 
periodically.
*
*
*You may add your name at this link: 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1GX_rGeT2fB_pVW7HtjPd-iR6qwvI336qAUqTDniUO5U/edit*
*
*

*

With this letter, we, post-secondary educators, demonstrate our 
willingness and commitment to stand with Ontario’s Public School 
Teachers, Education workers and their Unions as they fight to defend our 
public education system.

We recognize that that they take this stand to prevent incalculable 
damage to our public schools.

The Ford government has steadily cut 
<https://educationactiontoronto.com/articles/fighting-ford-on-education-its-not-just-about-education/>public 
education at all levels, just as it continues to cut 
<http://behindthenumbers.ca/2019/11/06/ontario-fall-update-multi-year-plan-to-squeeze-public-services-continues/>other 
vital public services. The impact on our public education system to date 
is well documented. An interactive map 
<http://behindthenumbers.ca/2019/09/04/ontario-school-boards-map/?mc_cid=b071f836bd&mc_eid=2671466737>prepared 
by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives illustrates how $430 
million in real cuts to school boards in the 2019-2020 year have been 
experienced at school boards across the province. Among the effects to date:

  * Class sizes are already increasing significantly
  * Course offerings in both mandatory and optional courses in high
    schools have been cut
  * Crucial special education funding and funding to support vulnerable
    students has been cut
  * Programs to combat racism at school
    <https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/it-s-a-tragedy-provincial-funding-cut-puts-an-end-to-school-programming-that-combats-racism-1.5055731>and
    to incorporate Indigenous content and perspectives into the Ontario
    curriculum
    <https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-education-truth-and-reconciliation-commission-trc-1.4739297>have
    been cancelled.
  * Staffing losses of Teachers, Guidance Counselors, Speech and
    Language pathologists, psychologists, and social workers have
    already occurred
  * Exorbitant user fees for programs such as International
    Baccalaureate
    <https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ib-program-fee-1.5381467>(IB)
    are making it difficult for students to complete their programs.

Such austerity measures disproportionately affect those with the lowest 
incomes, Indigenous families, newcomers and English language learners, 
communities of colour 
<https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59c5671151a584d45fa797b8/t/5ce474bb36ac2f00014b6245/1558475963657/SURJ-PublicEducationIsARacialJucticeIssue-2019.pdf>, 
children who are gender diverse, children with disabilities and/or 
individual learning needs, and others who already face barriers in our 
education system. These cuts fuel social inequality 
<https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/education-cuts-ontario-doug-ford-inequality/>: 
the damage done to our children’s futures, and to our society broadly, 
is profound.

Left unchallenged, we believe that the Ford government will continue to 
cut public education without limits.

Thus, we cannot support the idea that the teachers’ unions should “meet 
the government halfway” or that “both sides” have to compromise.

There must be no capitulation to proposed class sizes of 28 students, 
leading to the removal of 30,000 classes from the system, and making two 
online classes mandatory at the high-school level. This would open the 
door to the Ford government’s plans for 35 students per class, 100,000 
classes removed, and a majority of online classes. Compromising on 
already inadequate special education funding means our students with 
diverse learning needs fall even further behind.

We have seen that this government cannot be taken at its word, even when 
Unions have attempted to work with them.The Ford government is already 
backtracking 
<https://north99.org/2020/01/27/ford-government-withholding-58-million-at-risk-students-and-special-education/>on 
the commitment secured by CUPE education workers in the fall that 
provided special education supports and resources.

The support for public-school teachers, their unions, and their 
bargaining positions at both elementary and secondary levels continues 
to grow. They fight to maintain the current all-day kindergarten model, 
ensure that already large class sizes not increase, provide adequate 
funding for special education, and end pedagogically questionable 
on-line ‘learning’ experiments.

We also see the Ford government escalating their attacks:

  * Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce are stepping up their
    portrayal of Teachers, Education Workers, and their Unions as
    self-interested and greedy.
  * Wealthy Ford supporters have paid for costly newspaper
    advertisements from a fake parents group
    <https://pressprogress.ca/group-behind-mysterious-anti-teacher-attack-ads-is-chaired-by-a-well-connected-conservative-millionaire/>to
    try to discredit Teachers in the public eye.
  * While$42 million has been cut from the Toronto District School
    Board, the $60 that the province promises to reimburse parents for
    every day of the strike will cost $48 million *each day*
    <https://www.broadbentinstitute.ca/education>.

The destruction of the public education system pursued by the Ford 
government affects all levels of education and sets the stage for the 
privatization of public education in Ontario.

At the post-secondary level, the Ford government’s cut tofinancial aid 
<https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ontario-students-dismayed-by-cuts-to-financial-aid/>for 
students has already undermined the ability of those without family 
wealth to attend university. The Ford government’s proposed ‘performance 
metrics’ could lead to a $500 million cut to Ontario’s universities 
<https://ocufa.on.ca/press-releases/ocufa-estimates-fords-performance-funding-could-cut-university-budgets-by-over-500-million-dollars/>; 
the severity of this will rest on an undefined set of indicators likely 
to favour institutions with the largest corporate endowments.

At educators at the post-secondary level, we believe that universal, 
free, public education is important for every individual and for the 
development of society as a whole. We call for adequate funding for kids 
and schools: Kids should have more time with teachers in smaller 
classes, better maintained school-buildings, access to more specialized 
supports, and improved resources for their learning. The children and 
youth of this province should not be the target of purported cost-saving 
measures and profit-making experiments.

Just as the Ontario Parent Action Network 
<https://www.facebook.com/parentaction4ed/> has mobilized 
<https://linktr.ee/schoolwalkins?fbclid=IwAR2sY10tHOx0Y3d_JXE-D0TUpkJ7jR3Dd9B1YtuEQ-LfD-HznTceqBM_T6A>in 
support of our children to demonstrate that parents will not be pitted 
against teachers in this fight, we as post-secondary educators stand by 
our colleagues in ETFO, OSSTF, OECTA and the AEFO. We support teachers 
who are outside in the cold instead of teaching the students they care 
about, in order to defend public education for all.

Sincerely,

Justin Podur, York University

Anna Zalik, York University

Honor Ford-Smith, York University

Stefan Kipfer, York University

Johanna Lewis, York University

Anna Willats, George Brown College,

Alissa Trotz, University of Toronto

Deborah Cowen, University of Toronto

Kiké Roach, Unifor National Chair in Social Justice and Democracy, 
Ryerson University

Natalie Wood, George Brown College

Alejandro Paz, University of Toronto

Natalie Rothman, University of Toronto

Aparna Mishra Tarc, York University

Shiri Pasternak, Ryerson University

        https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJS5NdD8PDQp_itY_7sZV1mcYpJyDcK7krZx9LlKjRCXTjsw/viewform

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.physics.utoronto.ca/pipermail/fdu/attachments/20200210/f12e13c0/attachment-0001.html>