The central agreements with teachers and teaching workers, which are represented by the Ontario Secondary Education Teachers` Federation (OSSTF), have been ratified. This stems from the ratification of central agreements with the Ontario Elementary Federation of Teachers (ETFO) last month. The Ontario Elementary Teachers` Federation (ETFO) has announced plans to hold a one-day visit on Monday, January 20, 2020, unless an agreement is reached by Friday, January 17. All OCDSB primary schools are closed to students on Monday, January 20, 2020. pic.twitter.com/WjLu621t1p staff will now work to implement the terms of the central and local collective agreement, which includes adapting current teacher salary scales, salary plans and allowances. The collective agreements for etFO and OSSTF expired on August 31, 2019. We are pleased to have been able to reach a local agreement and look forward to reaching local agreements with our other negotiating units as soon as possible. This ratification of the local agreement followed the ratification in April 2020 of the central agreement between the Ontario Public Schools Boards Association (OPSBA), the Crown and the Ontario Elementary Education Teachers` Federation (ETFO). Under the School Inspection Act, all conditions of the central and local agreement in force on 17 September 2020 are now in force. The administrators ratified the local collective agreement in August 2020.

The new collective agreement is therefore in effect from September 1, 2019 to August 31, 2022. There is no doubt that the requirement to isolate themselves for 14 days is a burden on families. Today, however, Dr Etches, the Medical Director of Health, reaffirmed the need for the Community to respect this protocol and, with a new public health policy, imposed heavy fines on those who do not follow public health. As a community, we must all work to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Families are encouraged to have plans in case they have to isolate themselves. In schools, this also has an impact on staff, raising concerns about our ongoing ability to ensure safe student care.