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“These opinions that I have are based on years and years of watching the education system as a reporter,” D’Amato said. “I’m not a teacher hater. I feel they have a really important and difficult job.”

A statement from editor-in-chief Melinda Marks says D’Amato has the paper’s support and they are “disappointed by the action being taken by the teachers’ union.”

The paper found out about the boycott when a local teacher forwarded the memo sent out to ETFO members, and the union never tried to discuss the columns in question directly with D’Amato.

A spokesperson for the central union said this was a decision made by local leadership concerning local issues.

ETFO Waterloo Region President Greg Weiler said the idea came from the grassroots, not leadership. He said the move was born out of frustration and a sense teachers weren’t being heard.

“I think that’s ultimately what got members to that point, that feeling they weren’t being heard or weren’t being given the same amount of time,” Weiler said. “In the past we’ve approached the Record when we felt what they were printing was ignoring one side of the issue.”

Both sides say they hope a new dialogue can be opened to help rectify the situation, though the boycott’s actual effects may be minimal.

If their response to someone who doesn’t agree with them is to try and punish and silence that voice, then I worry about what’s happening in the classrooms

“I don’t think this boycott is succeeding,” D’Amato said, adding she and the paper have received a lot of supportive messages, including a number of emails saying readers plan to renew or restart lapsed subscriptions.