Questions that needs to be asked and answered are: (1) How do teachers’ union collective agreements and the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) policy impact how efficiently a principal can do his or her job? (2) Does that impact affect the safety and well being of Ontario’s children?
Yesterday, Moira MacDonald wrote an interesting column in the Toronto Sun. It was about how the current trend towards “total handgun bans” was actually going to make our schools and our society less safe — because the only people that will have access to guns will be those who have illegal guns that they are not afraid to use, no matter what their age.
But, as I read the column, something else more subtle jumped off the page — the hint that the Ontario Principals Council (OPC) somehow wanted less time for supervision and that the teachers’ unions weren’t happy with the idea that teachers would have to pick up the slack.
So, I went to the council’s website and this PDF file is what I found. Check out items 3 and 4 in particular. For non-educators it is going to sound like a lot of edu-babble but read the points carefully because what this is all about is NOT less supervision for principals but a way for them to do their jobs effectively and efficiently.
Why would collective agreements and OCT policies be a problem? Well, if I am reading this principal’s council leadership strategy correctly, it is because all too often they are stymied by aspects of decisions coming from both. In short, it seems the principals are having problems doing their jobs.
For example, can a principal freely question or reprimand a teacher’s behaviour? Are they able to ask a teacher’s to do something to improve safety? Or, would such a request mean a teacher would have to make a grievance or get the school’s union steward involved?
However, if they can’t, which is what I suspect is happening given the OPC leadership strategy, how on earth are principals supposed to do their job?
Remember, principals and teachers are supposed to be in the place of the parents – ”in loco parentis.” And, principals are supposed to be the school’s CEO, director, leader and boss, right?
Yet, if that is no longer the case, because principals are trying to be all things to all people, while simulteously being stymied by the professions official body and collective agreements, who is protecting the welfare of our children?
C/P With Good Reason.
Filed under: Principals, Teacher Unions | Tagged: Principals, School Safety
