A growing number of Ontario boards — including the three largest in the province — are warning they will shutter all schools starting Monday if support staff walk off the job.

Boards said the unusual move — typically, only teacher strikes lead to the immediate shutdown of schools — was prompted by concerns about student safety and to avoid confusion for families, who must now scramble to make alternative plans for their kids.

The Peel, York and Toronto public boards are all set to close down if the 55,000 custodians, early childhood educators, educational assistants and office staff represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) strike Monday.

“We need to give parents as much notice as possible,” said Maria Rizzo, chair of the Toronto Catholic District School Board, one of many on Thursday to announce a full shutdown if no deal is reached during weekend negotiations between CUPE, and the province and school board associations.

“It is not safe for children or staff — special need kids require one-on-one education assistants and this is our biggest worry,” she said.

Combined with the garbage pile-ups and no staff to flush water every day for lead, boards are facing huge concerns, she added.

In Toronto, picket lines will be set up at both the public and Catholic board headquarters, as well as outside Premier Doug Ford’s constituency office in Etobicoke.

Louise Sirisko, director of the York Region District School Board, acknowledged “it is very rare and exceptional for the YRDSB to close schools to students.”

In a letter to families, she also said “this was not a decision made lightly and done so because of serious concerns about the safety of our students. In examining all possible avenues for contingency planning, there is no capacity to cover the skilled work of these 5,500 staff members.”

A 2001 strike by CUPE workers in the Toronto public board lasted three weeks before schools were shut down — but the board says it no longer has enough administrative staff it can deploy to clean washrooms or empty garbage as it did back then.

At that time, special needs students were asked to stay home, said current Toronto board Director John Malloy, “a decision that we are not comfortable making in light of our commitment to equity and inclusion” and human rights.

“We understand that this is very challenging for our families,” Malloy also said about a potential shutdown. “We get the frustration and anger that this may cause and we certainly empathize with that. But at the end of the day, safety is paramount and we could not ensure that for most students.”

Online courses will also be suspended during the job action.

Other boards that will close all schools include: Dufferin-Peel Catholic, Kawartha Pine Ridge, Peterborough/Victoria/Northumberland/Clarington Catholic and Waterloo Catholic.

All non-CUPE staff are still expected to report to work.

Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board will open Monday 15 minutes before classes start and close 15 minutes after the bell.

A handful of boards, such as Ottawa public, remain unaffected as none of their workers are represented by CUPE.

A spokesperson for Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the government is “focused on three days of bargaining” that begin late Friday afternoon.

“We are extremely focused on reaching a deal to keep kids in class on Monday,” said Alexandra Adamo.

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Parents, however, are now trying to find care and worried their kids will fall behind if schools are shut down — especially teens in Grade 12 who will soon be applying to college or university.

“(My son) is finally getting used to school, but now he’s going to be stepping back,” said Mississauga mom Shannon Marshall, who has a child at McBride Avenue Public School.

“My daughter goes to high school, so she’s going to be further behind in her curriculum, too. It’s not going to work in our favour.”

Boards are urging kids to take home textbooks and any belongings they may need on Friday, and say school-based daycares run by third parties are expected to remain open.

“We hope to settle this by the weekend” and avoid a strike, said Cathy Abraham, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association. “We want to be very clear to say, we hope to not get there.”

She said boards are not making plans to shut down in an attempt to pressure the government to reach a settlement — boards bargain alongside the Crown at the negotiating table, across from CUPE.

“That was not part of the consideration at all — It’s how will this impact kids, can we keep them safe if we stay open? ... if boards are closing, its because they believe there is a safety concern.”

Toronto’s public board alone has 18,000 CUPE workers — almost half of its workforce.

“We all know that the best outcome for everyone — students, parents, families, workers — is for this dispute to be resolved at the bargaining table,” said Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of School Board Unions.

“We’re ready to do the hard work to get there, but we need the province and school boards to be equally committed to a deal, rather than a strike.”

Should staff walk out Monday, the issue is certain to come up at the federal leadership debate that evening as Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has repeatedly tried to link Ontario’s premier to federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer.

Asked about Conservative candidates who are getting an earful about Ontario’s education woes while going door to door, Scheer told reporters that education unions have gone on strike under “governments of all stripes” including the Dalton McGuinty Liberals and Bob Rae’s NDP.

“People in Ontario understand this is a provincial issue and it’s up to the union representatives and the provincial government to come to a deal,” Scheer said.

Concerns have also been raised that many Ontario schools are booked as federal voting stations, and it is unclear if they could remain so during a shutdown.

With files from Iain Colpitts

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