Ontario Teams in Jeopardy for 2012/2013?

[akoscielski3]

I'm not sure that anyone out side of Ontario knows what is currently happening in Ontario. I am not as knowledgeable about it as I wish I was, but as far as I know the Government and Teachers aren't agreeing, so there may or may not be Extra Curricular activities during the 2012-2013 School year in Ontario. So, yes this would mean that any Ontario FRC, FTC, FLL, and Jr.FLL teams that are in any way associated with a school won't be able to participate this year. (If they don't sort things out).

You can read more on it here.

Today the teacher's did a protest, they all wore black, and there were no after school activities. We were suppose to have a meeting today abut meeting with a company for sponsoring another team, but unfortunately we couldn't have it.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Getting rid of extra curriculur activities would include getting rid of all sports teams, drama/musical clubs, math teams, robotics teams, student councils, class representatives, and much, much, more. I don't see how this could impact a community in any way but negative. Just my $0.02

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by Jay Money 1058

Getting rid of extra curriculur activities would include getting rid of all sports teams, drama/musical clubs, math teams, robotics teams, student councils, class representatives, and more. I don't see how this could impact a community in any way but negative. Just my $0.02

The Government of Ontario passed a bill earlier this week that removed the teacher's unions ability to bargain, on top of wage freezes and reduced sick days. This means that these were imposed on the teacher's unions, without any ability to bargain. This has piqued civil rights issues within Ontario, and is also the major reason why teachers are protesting. If you notice in the article below, all the signs in the picture mention "collective bargaining," which is the removal of bargaining abilities of teachers, which is causing the biggest uproar. It was made illegal for teachers to strike in this bill.

The only way for teachers to fight back now is to stop extracurriculars. That is everything from drama club to chess to robotics to sports teams.

There have already been multiple protests infront of Queen's Park (where the Ontario capital is), including one that is happening right now.

Here is a recent article on the issue, but if you google Ontario teachers 2012, you will find a plethora of information on the subject.

[akoscielski3]

The only way to have a team in Ontario would be if they were not affiliated with any school/school board.

So 99% of the teams in Ontario would not be participating in the season. Unless they some how were allowed to take the school name out of it and partnered with a sponsor or local university, and not all teams would be able to do this.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Ok that does clarify it a bit, thank you. Let's hope everything works itself out, losing most of FIRST Canada would be a big blow to our community.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by Gregor

The Government of Ontario passed a bill earlier this week that removed the teacher's unions ability to bargain, on top of wage freezes and reduced sick days. This means that these were imposed on the teacher's unions, without any ability to bargain. This has piqued civil rights issues within Ontario, and is also the major reason why teachers are protesting. If you notice in the article below, all the signs in the picture mention "collective bargaining," which is the removal of bargaining abilities of teachers, which is causing the biggest uproar. It was made illegal for teachers to strike in this bill.

The only way for teachers to fight back now is to stop extracurriculars. That is everything from drama club to chess to robotics to sports teams.

There have already been multiple protests infront of Queen's Park (where the Ontario capital is), including one that is happening right now.

Here is a recent article on the issue, but if you google Ontario teachers 2012, you will find a plethora of information on the subject.

This situation is being seen around the US.
Personally, if this happened in our State, and the consequences were similar to what is unfolding there in Ontario, I'd be all for it.
Teachers in general have always bent over backwards, dug into their own pockets, and most importantly, given up their personal time to do extra-curricular activities.
This may a good time to reflect and look at all that teachers sacrifice for the success and benefit of students........and often times, at the expense of their own kids.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by waialua359

This situation is being seen around the US.

Chicago. Average teacher salary: $76,000.00, not including benefits. Offered 16% pay raise. Went on strike.

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by Ether

Chicago. Average teacher salary: $76,000.00, not including benefits. Offered 16% pay raise. Went on strike.

As much as I want to agree, I think we are better off setting this discussion in a non political direction. Is there a reason you can't run the teams without the schools? They shouldn't be able to hold your funding hostage.

[F22Rapture]

Originally Posted by Ether

Chicago. Average teacher salary: $76,000.00, not including benefits. Offered 16% pay raise. Went on strike.

It's far, far more complex than that.

Many Chicago classes had 40-50 students to a room, many had no air conditioning, the city broke their 4% contractual pay raise, and from what it looks like has been trying to sweep all the widespread and deep systemic problems under the rug by throwing money on the teachers to keep them complacent. They went on strike despite being offered 16% because the 16% was never what they wanted in the first place, and Emmanuel appears to be the one trying to make it about money to avoid dealing with the real issues.

Here's a 1-page summary of the Union demands, and none of them involve paychecks.

I agree with Tom Line though, let's try to keep politics out of this.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by F22Rapture

I agree with Tom Line though, let's try to keep politics out of this.

Well you just threw the door wide open with your post. But I will refrain.

[F22Rapture]

Originally Posted by Ether

Well you just threw the door wide open with your post. But I will refrain.

I don't think it's ever a fair representation to boil an entire issue down to 2 sentences. Chicago politics is unrelated to the topic at hand.

Back to the topic at hand, I very much hope it doesn't come down to this. The team358 statistics suggest that FIRST Canada represents a solid 6+% of the community, or almost a year's growth in teams.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by F22Rapture

I don't think it's ever a fair representation to boil an entire issue down to 2 sentences. Chicago politics is unrelated to the topic at hand.

Please stop tempting me.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by waialua359

Teachers in general have always bent over backwards, dug into their own pockets, and most importantly, given up their personal time to do extra-curricular activities.
This may a good time to reflect and look at all that teachers sacrifice for the success and benefit of students........

That sounds like a lot of people in FIRST, both educators and not.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman

That sounds like a lot of people in FIRST, both educators and not.

Quoted for truth.

[akoscielski3]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

As much as I want to agree, I think we are better off setting this discussion in a non political direction. Is there a reason you can't run the teams without the schools? They shouldn't be able to hold your funding hostage.

This is actually one of the biggest issues. All of our funding would be held by the School, we would pretty much have to start from $0.