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Heidi McLean is so upset about the front door being unlocked at her sons’ elementary school in Alta Vista that she’s keeping her two boys at home. She says she’s lost faith in the judgment of both the union and the school board in the latest labour dispute to embroil the city’s public schools.

Since Monday, support staff have refused to operate front-door security buzzers, so the Ottawa-Carleton District School board unlocked the doors at the 60 elementary schools that have them.

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“This has just gone too far,” said McLean, who lobbied to have a buzzer installed at her sons’ school after several unsettling incidents, including a lockdown after someone was wandering the neighbourhood with a knife. “I always assumed that safety would be first, but it’s not.”

Elementary schools have been hit by escalating work actions since the school year began. Teachers won’t organize field trips, attend meet-the-teacher nights, fully complete report cards or handle permission forms as part of a work-to-rule campaign. It’s been inconvenient, and piled extra work on administrators.