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Written by: Alyssa Sabo On December 4, the members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) went on strike. OSSTF in the WRDSB represents secondary school teachers and other education workers (ie. secretaries, custodial and maintenance staff, hall monitors, etc.). The work-to-rule campaign includes 83 000 public elementary school teachers that are part of the OSSTF. They united and formed this campaign in the hopes of promising that the education of students will not be negatively impacted. Essentially, the red shirts they wear on Friday represent unionization and that members of the campaign stand for education. On November 26, OSSTF announced to its members to “work-to-rule” on certain issues aimed at the provincial government. Secondary teachers and education workers will not do anything work-related when directed by OSSTF. For example, they will not participate in EQAO preparation, complete Ministry of Education reports, add comments on secondary provincial reports, etc. OSSTF initially began positioning picket lines in front of worksites as a way for their voices to be heard. However, picket lines turned into strikes. On December 4, OSSTF announced that their members will go on strike. The strike happened because negotiations with the government have reached a stalemate. The union wants the government to not increase high school class sizes to a provincial ratio of 25:1, and to cancel mandatory e-learning program that will begin next year. The union also wants a 2% per year salary increase and the government wants to give them a 1% increase. When a strike like this happens, it means that all education workers have to withdraw their services on that day. “It is a legal part of the negotiating process. And in dealing with a unionized environment, it is a process that we have learned to live with,” says Principal Ray Teed. On December 4 in the WRDSB region, all schools and after school childcare programs were closed. Bus transportation, extracurricular activities, and evening rental permits were cancelled. The next day, schools resumed. Amid all this political turmoil, it is evident that in Canada, citizens are at liberty to voice their concerns about various issues through a peaceful demonstration to obtain the government’s attention. “My hope is that we come to a resolution soon,” mentioned Principal Teed. Here are some reliable websites: https://www.iheartradio.ca/610cktb/news/education-minister-says-public-elementary-teachers-work-to-rule-will-hurt-children-1.10218188 https://www.osstf.on.ca/en-CA/news/mr-dec-06-2019.aspx https://www.wrdsb.ca/blog/2019/12/04/all-schools-will-be-closed-on-december-4-2019/ https://www.cbc.ca/ References Figure 1. Ontario high school students return to class after the one-day strike ends. (2019, December 5). Retrieved from https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-high-schools-students-return-to-class-after-one-day-strike-ends-1.4716300?cache=yesclipId104062?autoPlay=true. Figure 2. Ontario high school students return to class after the one-day strike ends. (2019, December 5). Retrieved from https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-high-schools-students-return-to-class-after-one-day-strike-ends-1.4716300?cache=yesclipId104062?autoPlay=true.
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Written by Katelyn Basso Edited by Rhythm Dang Cameron Students and other citizens of Kitchener walk to protest outside of the City Hall area on September 27. - Brianna Jegeris, Cameron Student A Small Effort for Huge Change: On September 27, 2019, there was a world-wide climate strike in attempts to grab the attention of world leaders. The event was held during a time that has been deemed a climate crisis by many governments and citizens everywhere.
Cameron’s Participation: Many people from Cameron were very enthusiastic about this event. Social media posts and verbal communication, all played very big parts in drawing students' attention to the walkout. On the afternoon of September 27th, dozens of people from the school all joined together to walk out, as their efforts to participate, and show their concern for the climate crisis. The walkout, inspired by Greta Thunberg -a Swedish political spokesperson, advocating for change to the climate crisis from world leaders-, was near Kitchener Town Hall and had hundreds of participants. “Going to the climate strike was the start of something amazing, the start of the fight for our future on this planet.” Cameron student Brianna Jegeris says, “The climate strike alone will not do much to help our planet, but it’s a good start and an inspiration for people to start taking action.”. Lasting Message from Students: Students who were unaware of this strike, or were unable to attend can still make a change. There is always the potential for larger strikes like this one. Even in our everyday activities, we have the potential to make small changes that could end up making a significant impact; such as using less water and finding substitute sources of transportation. The climate strike was only one event. It is just the beginning of what could be a massive change to our planet and future. It’s up to us to decide how large of an impact we choose to have for our future. No matter how small, there will always be potential to create change for the better, for our society, our planet, and for the future generations to come. By Priyanka Dwivedi
The 2019 Brain Bee competition which was held on April 6th at the University of Waterloo was the eleventh annual brain bee competition. The Brain Bee competition consists of 80 multiple choice questions in which all the answers are completely anonymous but only the top three winners get awarded cash prizes and the first place winner gets the opportunity to compete in the national brain bee competition. This year, Cameron Heights had the largest number of participants attend out of all the schools in the Waterloo Region. The Brain Bee doesn’t just consist of answering questions, but students have the opportunity to hold and look at real brain cadavers (if they choose to), they get to experiment and try out various electronic machines that are used for research by students at the university specifically the applied health science students. Dr. Robyn Ibey, a neuroscientist at the University of Waterloo spoke to us and told us that she took the initiative to keep the brain bee competition running as when she was in high school students weren’t exposed to neuroscience and that’s why she wants to continue the legacy and instill an interest for neuroscience in highschool students considering the health science. Overall, the the Brain Bee competition is a fun opportunity for highschool students to discover and perhaps fulfill their passion about the human brain and get a taste of the university-level setting before actually finalizing which university the individual wants to attend. By Katelyn Basso & Jessica Awad
A recent announcement to changes and cuts in the Ontario Education has caused many provincial-wide protests within the last month. Premier Doug Ford has so far stated that they plan to increase the average class size from 22 to 28 students, which will directly affect an estimated 5,500 teachers across the province. Many different programs, such as the arts, will see significant cuts, whereas the major programs, such as the maths and sciences will see major increases in class sizes but still have the same teaching material. When hiring teachers, seniority will now be focused on rather than specific skills or previous performance. Many changes will be made in the schools themselves. Some of the programs that are facing change include: the sexual education curriculum, math programs, and First Nations Studies curriculum. The new curriculum for sexual education will be the 1998 version, rather than the 2015 version. Gender identity and consent will still be taught, but at an older age (grade 8 instead of grade 2). Math programs will be changed to focus only on “fundamentals” than the previous “discovery math”, which was introduced by the liberal party, will no longer be used. Students will also receive a new curriculum for First Nations Peoples studies, which the government collaborated on with some indigenous partners. Ford also announced that four (4) of the mandatory courses for students to graduate secondary school will now be required to be completed online. Finally, cell phones will be banned from classrooms during instructional time starting next school year (2019-2020). All of these changes have sparked protests all through the province, including two (2) here at Cameron Heights. The first protest was held on March 20, 2019, lead and organized by Cameron's very own Mia Kulafi, was a very successful first step. She says “It is a super important cause and I thought that many people felt the same way I did and something had to be done. Most of us are under 18 and can’t vote but are still affected so we had to make our voices heard and I thought that was a good way to get started.”. An Instagram account was created (@chciprotest) for the protest and gained many supporters and promoters throughout the school. It is estimated that approximately 50 students attended the first protest, however, it seems that many more are interested now and want to participate. When asked if there is anything that students can do if they can't come to the protests, Mia says “For sure! Sign an ongoing petition, as well as [some] help[ed] make posters and just bring awareness to the cause.”. “I’m proud that they are contributing to important events going on in our community. I’m glad that they are taking it upon themselves to further educate themselves and understand that we need to do something.” The second protest, on April 4th, was held as a provincial-wide school walkout. Each secondary school created social media accounts to discuss routes and a plan for the day. Cameron Height’s walkout was led by the incredible: Anna Winge-Breen and Jade Jones. Within 24 hours of creating the social media account, for the Cameron Heights walkout, it had 200 followers. Students then walked together to Kitchener City Hall to voice their concerns. This was then an opportunity for students to make empowering speeches and reveal their creative posters (which you can view through our website’s gallery!) . This walkout held a different meaning for everyone, due to the large number of cuts to be implemented. For a majority of students, the cuts would affect their ability to pay for university. For others, their passions (such as arts) will no longer have the needed amount of resources. Students with various learning needs (such as IEP) will now be learning in a classroom that does not suit their needs. This Curriculum change affects us ALL, in one way or another, and it will affect future generations as well. “Education is an Investment, not a cost.” - Anna Winge-Breen Learn more information about the changes being made here and make your voice heard by signing this petition. All photo's are credit to Clara Ackley (@clarackleyphotography) Written by: Danish Bibi
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December 2019
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