Education workers make education work. Without their hard work, we couldn’t run our schools.
Earlier this year, 367 frontline education worker positions were cut by the TDSB. That includes 138 early childhood educators, 81 lunchroom supervisors, 78 special needs assistants, 38 educational assistants, 22 elementary school secretaries, and six outdoor education specialists who now won’t be in our classrooms for the school year ahead. At a time when students need more support to recover from the disruptions of the past couple years, we can’t have less staff trying to juggle an increasing workload.
We must treat education workers with the respect they deserve and ensure that the Board is listening to them when making decisions. As our Board’s frontline workers, they have the experience, knowledge and know-how to fix the issues facing our school system. If elected, I’m committed to:
- Supporting education workers’ right to free collective bargaining
- Standing up against cuts to education worker positions within the Board.
- Consulting with education workers on major decisions facing the Board.
- Advocating for smaller classes to support student learning and address education worker workload.
- Advocating for additional provincial funding to get the appropriate amount of staff support for students with special needs, kindergarten classrooms, outdoor education programs, and more.