QMI Agency

Ontario public elementary teachers have marching orders from their union for strike action to begin Monday.

The work to rule action means an end to student clubs and other extra-curricular activities, The Free Press has learned.

The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario has told teachers:

they must arrive at school no more than 30 minutes before classes start and leave no more than 30 minutes after classes end.

they can't go on field trips, play days or participate in any voluntary or extra-curricular activities

not to participate in any school-based or system-level meetings

not to attend any board- or ministry-sponsored professional development worskshops, activities or events

not to do any reading, writing or math assessments, other than those a teacher thinks are needed to report on student progress

not to complete forms or surveys from the Thames Valley District school board or the ministry of education

not do do any filing, sorting, data entry, collecting money or verifying attendence

not participate in standardized testing, do parent interviews outside of the school day

not distribute board or ministry memos about the union's work to rule campaign or negotiations to parents or students

As of Dec. 14, teachers will stop going on field trips.

Teachers will continue to take daily attendence, teach student and give extra help, talk to parents during the school day and provide scheduled supervisory duties.

Elementary teachers in the province are in a legal strike position on Monday and the Thames Valley District school boards is telling parents they should have back-up childcare ready in case the strike action escalates.

"We are telling parents that the sanctions will probably be administrative and that there is a potential for teachers to not report to work, so they should arrange alternate childcare," said Mike Seredea, the board's superintendent in charge of human resources.

The Ontario government has the legislative tools to end the impending strike but Education Minister Laurel Broten would not say Thursday how quickly she would bring the hammer of Bill 115 down.

ETFO has said it will give parents 72 hours' notice of job action.

Broten wouldn't say if she intends to take action within that 72-hour time frame, but would act in the interest of student safety.

"We do not want students in the middle and we will not let their success be threatened in the classroom," she said. ETFO calls Bill 115 "an attack" on the right to collective bargaining.

"We have no option," ETFO president Sam Hammond said. "This is the very last thing that we want to even consider."