Sometimes in my line of work, it's best to just remain quiet and see how things play out over time.
Hey, if you don't have a personal stake in what's going on, what good is your opinion anyway, right?
But in our province, a certain topic has managed to stagnate and keep sticking around to the point where it's almost become embarrassing for all parties involved.
I'm talking about the ongoing back-and-forth drama between the provincial government and the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation regarding disputes over classroom sizes and complexities, and addressing the growing concerns of educators from all around the province.
This past Monday morning, the STF provided a 48-hour notice for a province-wide strike on Wednesday, March 20. As well, at the time of this column's publication, teachers were/are set to take part in a two-day withdrawal of extracurricular activities on Thursday, March 21, and Friday, March 22.
Following that update, the STF held a news conference where President Samantha Becotte said that the failure to agree to binding arbitration could be detrimental for students extracurriculars.
“If the government agreed to binding arbitration for classroom complexity, or provided their bargaining team with the mandate that included classroom complexity, we could return to the table to negotiate an agreement and, like I said, all sanctions would be cancelled or suspended,” she was quoted.
Former Education Minister Dustin Duncan recently accused the STF of "moving the goalposts", something Becotte said was not factual.
Back on March 7, the provincial government had announced that they had signed a multi-year funding agreement with the Saskatchewan School Boards Association that would provide a minimum of $356 million a year for classroom supports for the next four years. To be noted, this announcement did not specify how much of the funding was new funding, or if there would be any increases during the next four years.
I have a niece who's an educator in Saskatoon, and my sister recently retired from a teaching career of 32 years that took her to towns and cities all around the province, as well as into the northern parts of Manitoba. I've also covered the goings-on at a number of schools for the past 17 years. I hear and see the complexities that teachers deal with, and those sudden "out of nowhere" situations that can arise.
I also know the complexities that can come with government work and the constant demands that come from citizens of this province regarding a number of different areas of life, whether it's education in this case, or whether it's roads, health care, power, taxes, pretty much every other societal issue can be inserted here.
Unfortunately, when it comes to this situation involving the STF and the government, it's become nothing short of an embarrassing soap opera with equal fault shared on *BOTH* sides. I firmly believe that everyone involved in this needs to swallow some pride, check their dignity at the door, sit down like adults, and hash this thing out immediately.
Why, you might ask? Because on Saturday afternoon, I watched a local basketball team dig deep and push through to take a Regionals Championship, which normally would take them to the HOOPLA Provincial Championship tournament. As of right now, that's completely up in the air with this announcement of a province-wide strike, which includes the withdrawal of extra-curricular activity supervision.
If a resolution of some form isn't reached by 3:00 pm on Wednesday, then HOOPLA is cancelled. Not postponed, it just flat out ends on a sour note for everyone.
I know that teachers deserve things like fair wages and to have their concerns met with reasonable action, and I also know government needs to monitor spending and remain committed to a number of other important areas of everyday life.
But I also know that as a result of all of this, EVERYONE is hurting the people that this centers around - kids. Many who just want to go to school and see their friends and maybe their favorite teachers, and here in Outlook, some deserving young athletes who certainly didn't ask for their championship opportunities to be taken away from them.
As a journalist, it's important not to take sides, and on this matter, that's not what I'm doing. I don't side with the government and I don't side with the teachers because there's obvious fault that can be shared on both sides. Sorry, but I call a spade a spade.
If provincial basketball, a sizable moneymaker for hosting communities, is now off the books, then what's next? Track and field events in May? Graduation ceremonies in June? Do students even graduate? Maybe the better question is *CAN* they even graduate...?
Government and teachers, are you listening?
I just think it's time to wrap this soap opera up because both sides are losing more support than they probably realize.
They're also hurting a whole lot of kids who didn't ask for any of this to happen in the first place.
For this week, that's been the Ruttle Report.
