100 UCDSB teachers receive redundancy notices

More than 100high school teachers with the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) received redundancy noticesTuesday in what their union is framing as a"direct result" of the province's proposal to increase class sizes.

The UCDSB covers awide swath of eastern Ontario from Brockville to the Quebec border, and employsabout 650 secondary school teachers.

The notices don't necessarily mean 100 teachers will lose their jobs, because some redundancies will likely be absorbed by retirements and voluntary departures.

Danny Thomas, district president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF), blames the redundancies on the PC government's proposal to increase class sizes.

"Going from 22 [students] to one[teacher] to 28 to onein the student-teacher ratio, that could result in one in every four teachers in Ontario losing their job," Thomas said. "Teachers are going to be stretched even thinner to provide a highquality of education to the students."

Bus deficit to blame, chair says

But board chair John McAllisterdenied the class size proposal is behind the redundancies.

"That [government proposal]has had no impact on this round of redundancynotices whatsoever. It has no bearing on our calculations," he said.

Instead, McAllister blamed the redundancies largelyon a serious student transportation deficit now facing the board. The UCDSBowes$20million in retroactive payments to school bus companies stemming from a recentarbitrator's settlement.

"The board is bare to the bone, and thesettlement is hanging over our heads," McAllister said."We have anobligation to be fiscally responsible."

Thomas, who taught withthe UCDSB for 17 years, said he's"fully aware" of the arbitrator's ruling.

"But I believeFord's cuts play in role in this as well," he said.

The UCDSBmustpass its budget by the end of June.