So, will there be early-morning cross-country practice Thursday or not?

Students and parents are holding their breath to see which of Ontario’s 76,000 elementary teachers will decide not to run after-school activities to protest the new law that freezes their wages.

While the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario has asked members to take a “pause” in extracurricular activities, it stopped short of ordering them to do so or telling them how long the boycott should last.

So no one — not parents, not school boards, not even some local teacher unions — seems to know quite what will happen.

“My daughter had her first cross-country practice this morning at 8:15 and the next one is supposed to be Thursday so we’ll have to see what happens,” Marnie Peacock said Tuesday. Her two daughters attend the Toronto school board’s Gordon A. Brown Middle School near St. Clair Ave. E. and O’Connor Dr.

“We’re all waiting for some sort of news to trickle down.”

Toronto has cross-country meets slated as soon as next week.

In contrast, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation has called on members to wear black and boycott after-school programs Wednesday only in protest.

Parents at Brookdale Public School in Oakville seemed to be in sympathy with the teachers, but also worried their children would miss out on favourite activities. Many of those watching their children play in the schoolyard after class wondered how events would play out over the next few weeks.

“I’m not happy,” said Debora Dickenson, whose daughter, Daria, is in Grade 5 and signed up for the school’s environmental club. “They deserve the activities at this time in their life.”

But Dickenson also said the teachers deserve to be acknowledged for how important they are to students.

Tracy McDougall said her two children would be sad if they could no longer get up in the morning to run with the cross-country team.

“It’s something they both have looked forward to,” she said.

“I’m glad they’re not striking, that’s my first reaction,” said Charity Gaspar, who has two children enrolled at Brookdale.

If teachers stopped coaching, she said, “parents would be disappointed but they wouldn’t demand them to go pick up the soccer balls or other equipment,” adding some parents might pitch in to ensure activities continue through the fall.

Shelley Mayer said her children enjoyed after-school activities at Toronto’s Blantyre Public School near Gerrard St. E. and Victoria Park Ave. Her Grade 4 son runs cross-country, two children took part in the school musical last year, her son is on the chess team “and they usually enjoy the intramural sports at lunch time. All these things, including two annual concerts, take up a lot of teachers’ time.”

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Gordon A. Brown parent Sandra Ballard is a former teacher whose daughter hopes to join the swim team.

“I firmly believe teachers engaged in extracurricular activities will continue because they see the value in it for both parties — it creates a different kind of bond between teacher and student.”