Great news — EAs, Please see your personal email for a flyer with information regarding the resolution of the NDTR Grievances.

Any questions or enquiries – please contact the employer 🙂

Calling all EAs – Please check your personal email for a zoom link to a Special Unit Meeting for the EA unit on December 11th at 5pm.

Wear RED for ED on Tuesday Nov 18th to show the Ford Government we do not agree with Bill 33.

Please read:

Ontario’s Education Unions United Against Bill 33

As the provincial legislature returns, l’Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO), Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA), Ontario School Board Council of Unions (CUPE-OSBCU), and Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) have issued the following joint statement:

The Ford government introduced Bill 33, the Supporting Children and Students Act, earlier this year. It is a regressive piece of legislation that does nothing to support students and everything to consolidate power in the hands of the Minister of Education.

Our schools are facing a crisis, but not the one this government is pretending to solve. Ontario’s public education system is buckling under the weight of underfunding. Class sizes are ballooning. Essential programs are being cut. Teachers and education workers are stretched to the breaking point. Student needs are going unmet, resulting in learning gaps and growing school violence. Put simply, there are not nearly enough trained professionals or services to properly support our students.

We have seen this playbook before. The centralization of power, the erosion of local democracy, and the imposition of punitive systems are hallmarks of American-style politics. Unfortunately, Premier Ford seems eager to emulate them all. This is not the Ontario we believe in.

Minister Paul Calandra’s first legislative act in his new role is not about improving safety or educational outcomes; it is a calculated political maneuver designed to distract from the real crisis in Ontario education: chronic underfunding and reckless understaffing. Instead of investing in smaller class sizes and supports for students in schools, the government is choosing to scapegoat trustees while trying to hide that, since 2018, they have cut $6.3 billion out of our publicly funded education system.

In early September, Minister Calandra said he is ‘100 per cent’ looking at eliminating the role of trustees. Trustees across the province, elected by their communities, could be replaced by government-imposed appointees or supervisors for most school boards, as it is currently doing with five Ontario school boards. For over 175 years, locally elected school board trustees have diligently represented the voices of parents, students, caregivers, and communities.

We know trustees are not perfect, but the role is an important part of our education system. They are accessible and accountable to the Ontarians who vote them in, and if trustees fail to serve their communities, they can be voted out. Appointed supervisors answer to the Ford government and no one else, not to parents, students, or local residents. This is how democracy dies.

Ontario’s students need thousands more trained teachers and education workers in their schools. They need smaller class sizes, enhanced special education and mental health supports, and fully funded programs that reflect their needs. What they do not need is more surveillance or more control from a government unwilling to invest in their success.

We must stand together—educators, parents, students, and concerned Ontarians—to defend our schools from this egregious political overreach, as stronger schools start with stronger local voices. The Ford government must abandon this regressive legislation and make the meaningful investments our students and educators deserve. It is time to leave the cuts and the centralization schemes in the past—Ontario students deserve a future that is as forward-thinking as they are.

Martha Hradowy, OSSTF/FEESO President

René Jansen in de Wal, OECTA President

Gabrielle Lemieux, AEFO President

David Mastin, ETFO President

Joe Tigani, CUPE – OSBCU President

Seniority Lists have been posted on Staffnet!!! Please login to your HCDSB account and ensure the list shows your correct seniority rating. YOU HAVE THIRTY DAYS to correct this with the employer!!! Please ensure you check and contact the Board within the timeline.

OSSTF D20 and ETFO Halton are hosting an Education Forum on Thursday, November 6. This event will be available in person and online. Our publicly-funded education system is in crisis and our local democracy is under attack (Bill 33). This event will be hosted by Lyne Frank who is a dedicated educator, wellness expert, and women’s empowerment advocate uniquely positioned as Ontario’s only classroom teacher who travels province-wide to coach and lead wellness programs for thousands of educators. She supports staff across more than 15 school boards and unions, including OSSTF, OECTA, and ETFO.

The panelists are:
Amy Collard, Chair of the HDSB Board of Trustees

Stuart Miller, former Director of the HDSB

Andrea Grebenc, past Chair of the HDSB Board of Trustees

There will be a moderated conversation and then an opportunity for audience members (in-person and virtual) to ask questions.

Event details are as follows:

Thursday, November 6, 2025

6:30pm

1122 International Boulevard, Suite 201

Burlington

Link to join virtual meeting: https://tinyurl.com/EducationForum25

WE NEED YOU – OUR MEMBERS to please join our Bargaining Committee !!!!!!!

Please email your unit VP if you are interested 

BIG News from last nights GMM – We had our By-Elections…..A big congratulations to:

Dawn Groen as the newly acclaimed VP of EAs & to Amber Colonico our newly acclaimed Secretary Treasurer

Thank you for stepping up and volunteering for the executive positions!!!!!!! 🤩