Saskatchewan Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill speaks to members of the media after the release of the Saskatchewan budget in Regina, on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Cockrill says the province will make sure graduation ceremonies go ahead this summer should teachers take job action. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu

By The Canadian Press/paNOW Staff

SASK SCHOOLS

Sask. government promises graduations will go ahead despite labour spat with teachers

Mar 28, 2024 | 12:30 PM

Saskatchewan’s education minister says the province will make sure high school graduation ceremonies go ahead should teachers take job action.

Jeremy Cockrill couldn’t provide details on the plan but said the government is working with school boards to ensure students can walk the stage.

The Saskatchewan Party government and teachers have been at an impasse for months over a new contract, resulting in rotating strikes and disrupted extracurricular activities.

Job action this month led to HOOPLA, a provincial basketball tournament, being cancelled and international trips.

On Thursday morning, Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF) President Samantha Becotte addressed recent comments made by Cockrill and the Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA).

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Cockrill has stated that teachers are targeting students with their job action and that graduation could be in jeopardy.

Becotte responded by saying that’s not the case.

“We should have never been forced to take these steps or have had any sanction action,” she said. The conversations that are occurring now should have been happening over the last ten months, and if they had happened six months ago or back in May when we started negotiations, we would have never come to this point

The minister could be directing those resources in that time and energy to coming to an agreement with teachers.”

Becotte also shot back at a comment from the President of the SSBA claiming that school divisions have policies and practices aimed at addressing classroom complexity.

“These policies that are made by school divisions are aspirational documents,” she said. “It’s something that we hope to achieve. They’re not binding documents. There is nothing in there that ensures that those are the conditions that we have in schools. They do not ensure that there’s predictable and sustainable funding or genuine investment in education that will provide improvements to the experiences of students in our classrooms.”

Despite this, Becotte is pleased with the province’s introduction of an accountability framework connected to a recent multi-million dollar funding agreement with the SSBA.

Becotte said this could turn the tide in their negotiations.

“I truly feel that this is as close as we have been within the process to getting back to the table,” she said. “We’re hopeful but also cautious with that and ensuring that it is something that is going to work for teachers and most importantly.”

She added the two sides will be talking over the long weekend and Becotte is hopeful they can return to bargaining next week.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on March 28, 2024.