ARTICLE

Letters to the Editor

October 2007

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Re: “The Pervasive Threat of Declining Student Enrolment,” June 07

This past year the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board moved a French Immersionschool into our building and displaced our students to two other schools. When ourstudents, support, administration, and teaching staﬀ were moved out, we looked to our Federation for support. We found that a situation where one staﬀ displaces anotherwas unprecedented. We were declared surplus and that meant that the process bywhich we were to secure a position was the same as for teachers who were choosing tomake a move from their current assignments.

Mr. Kendall wrote that declining student enrolment will undoubtedly shape thebargaining goals for the next round of negotiations. Vacancy lists should be just that: areﬂection of teaching assignments available after contract teachers have positions.Some locals have recognized that a teacher declared surplus is not the same as a teacher wishing to change assignments, and so surplus teachers are placed before theﬁrst vacancy list. This should be the practice everywhere. Let’s put some protection inplace for the increasing number of teachers that will be declared surplus in the nearfuture.

Sara Burke

Fielding Drive Public School

Ottawa-Carleton District School Board

Re: “Pension Strategies for Occasional Teachers,” June 07

I was advised by OTPP that limitations on occasional teaching don’t apply when one reaches age 71, contradicting the author’s statement that “these limits don’t apply ifyou are 69 years or over.” Who is correct? I retired from teaching in June, 1999. Iexpected to have no limitation on my occasional teaching days when I reached age 69,as that was the rule when I retired. I would think that therefore I would be allowed toteach at 69 without limitation even though there might be a new rule.

If the rule has been changed to age 71, I would ask that ETFO make a presentation tothe Ontario Legislature on behalf of retired member teachers who are approaching age69 and wish to continue occasional teaching without limits.

Stuart Ring Occasional Teacher Toronto, York Region

Lorraine Stewart explains:

The change in age is the result of the federal government’s actions, not the province’s.The 2007 federal budget changed the rules relating to RRSP and pension contributions.When the Federal Income Tax Act was amended, the OTPP rules changedautomatically to reﬂect these changes. Since teachers can now contribute to the planuntil age 71 the re-employment rules now also apply until age 71. Unfortunately it tookOTPP time to review the federal changes and determine how they would aﬀect theplan. Rule changes were not announced until after the June issue of Voice waspublished.

Re: “It’s Elementary”

As a member who is involved with the Elementary Teachers of Toronto‘s archivecommittee, I would like to thank Barbara Richter, the author of this four-part series which appeared in last year’s Voice. I especially enjoyed the Part 2 article inDecember’s issue (vol. 9, no. 2), which reviewed our federation’s history from the early1800s to 1944. For me, it is important to remember how far we have come from the early days when women worked for less, had to leave the profession once married, andwere thought not to be able to handle the discipline of the older grades. I would like tosee this series printed into a book or pamphlet so that we never forget our beginningsas a union.