An Update On Work (And School And Politics And Life)

I'm interrupting my cruise recaps to give you all a work update. I've mentioned a couple of times that things have not gone as anticipated so "here's the scoop" on all things work! And how my work, and our entire life, is being impacted by politics. Doesn't that sound interesting?! Also, grab a cup of your favourite beverage because this is a looooong post :) Or you know, skip this post completely and come back tomorrow!

I mentioned the whole process leading up to getting this job in this post here. And I wrote that I am a substitute secretary and that I was receiving the librarian training "the next week" (ie. back in December). Welllll...

I don't know much you all follow Canadian politics, and particularly the politics of the province I live in (Ontario) but we are in the middle of the biggest teacher job action since 1997. Our government is wanting to make some major changes to education and the teachers (and from what I understand, the majority of parents) don't agree with these changes AT ALL.

The basic changes include threatening to end full day kindergarten, really cutting extra support for students with any kind of learning issues (including emotional behaviours), increasing class sizes (especially in high school), and mandating four e-learning courses for each high school student. The proposed cuts affect everyone from Junior Kindergarten kids to high school seniors.

Thus, the high school teachers union has been having rotating one day strikes across the province since December and the elementary teachers have been increasing job action since November. Our kids have had field trips and extracurricular activities cancelled, they haven't gotten report cards, and teachers are not spending any extra time at school. And for a few weeks in February the elementary teachers were striking two days a week.

Our elementary schools have been hit particularly hard because the secretaries/librarians/custodians and other supervision workers in our board are also a part of the high school teacher's union. So when that union goes on strike, our elementary schools are closed because it isn't safe for the kids to be there without those extra staff and supports in place. Oh, and did I mention that I'm a part of that union, so then I also have to go picket?

This means that Sam and Rachel have only been going to school two to three days a week for all of February. Thanks to our vacation, this week is the first time since the first week of January that our kids will have to go to school all five days. Yes, you read that correctly :)

As you can imagine, this has had a HUGE impact on my job.

It means that the library training scheduled for December was cancelled. It was rescheduled for January during our cruise (which I was so disappointed about), so I signed up for the first available training in February. During the time between when I signed up and the January trainings, the union decided that no trainings could be held for current staff, only for new hires. So the January trainings were cancelled and the February training was closed. But I was still signed up... And because of that loophole (I signed up before the union made the "no new training declaration"), I was able to take the training along with nine new hires.

There are about two - three library positions available every single day and there are only ten new people to fill them. So a lot of them aren't getting filled. And there are about thirty people (that I know of) who are desperate for library training who can't get it. It makes me sad.

I had my first library shift last Thursday at an elementary school and it was really fun. I am going back to that school this week and I have three days in the library booked at another school in another few weeks. I am really looking forward to all the library work!

In terms of secretary work, there have only been about three days since I was trained when I wanted to work when I haven't been able to pick up a job. I was NOT expecting that. I figured I would get between one and three days of work a week. This week I am working all five days. I have worked as the only secretary at an elementary school (I think these are my favourite days), I have been the second secretary at both elementary (JK - Gr 6), middle schools (Gr 7 & 8) and one high school (where I was only responsible for the attendance for last names A through L).

I enjoy the chance to work with a head secretary at an elementary or middle school because every single one I have run into has been so supportive, willing to show me new things, and some have even passed my name on to other secretaries as a substitute. In fact, the two days I worked with a secretary at a middle school opened up the door to some new opportunities.

She passed my name on to a few secretaries who were looking for someone to take "temporary permanent" hours. These are hours which are consistent (same school, same time, every week) from now until the end of the current school year in June. After talking with a few principals, talking it over with Dave, and thinking about some options, I picked up four hours one morning a week at a school. This allows me to know my schedule one day a week from now until the end of June which I love.

Unfortunately, this also means that if the elementary teachers are on strike on that one particular day, I still have to go to work for those hours. And my main job during those hours is to do the attendance, which doesn't leave me anything to do when the kids aren't there :)

Between all the strikes and the way the other hours have been spread out, I haven't accepted any other "temporary permanent" hours. I don't want to have to work three hours a day (and have to find childcare) when there are no kids at school. Once this job action is done, I will be thinking quite differently about taking on more of these kinds of hours.

One elementary teacher strike day, I took a high school job, but other than that I have been able to be home with the kids. Unless of course, my union is on strike and then I've been going out to picket, which is a whole different blog post :)

So this is a small taste of how our February has been going -- working, figuring out childcare, striking, and trying to determine how the rest of life fits in there. Thankfully Dave's work has been very flexible if he needs to work from home if I need to work or picket on a strike day. After all, half the people on his team have been affected by their kids not being in school.

I had a conversation with Sam and Rachel about why these strikes are happening and why Dave and I agree with the teachers that this is important. So one strike day we baked cookies to take to their teachers on the picket line. We baked about seventy cookies and there were gone in about twenty minutes. Sam commented, "Next time we need to make a double batch!" And Rachel made a sign and asked her teacher if she could picket with them for a bit. I think her teacher felt so supported seeing her out there. (That's where the picture from above is from.)

I'm getting a little (even more?) political here, but the government keeps trying to make out that this is all about the teacher's' salaries. Being a secretary, especially, gives me a whole new view as to what happens in a school every day, how many behavioural and learning issues there are, and how hard every single staff person (teachers and non-teachers) work to try and support every kid, no matter what, even as more and more support is being taken away.

Last Friday there was historic job action in our province and all four teachers' unions walked off the job. Our city had a big gathering in one of the public squares and the estimate is that 10,000 people showed up. I feel so honoured to be a part of these kinds of gatherings with so many people out there fighting for our kids. I asked this teacher if I could take a picture of her sign, because to me, it speaks to the larger issues. This is about more than money.

So that's my work update for now -- thanks to this current time, it looks a lot different than what I anticipated. This means that once an agreement is in place, my job prospects, and thoughts as to my job future, will, once again, look different, so look for another update in the coming months...