Sask. students, parents protest against potential cancellation of Hoopla

With the fate of Saskatchewan's high school provincial basketball championships hanging in the balance, students are calling on the government and teachers to get back to the bargaining table.

A group of students from Preeceville, about 275kilometres east of Saskatoon, protested atthe Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation office in Saskatoon on Tuesday.

That followed protests held there, as well as at the provincial legislature in Regina, on Monday, in response tojob action by the teachers' federation that began inmid-January.

The union announced Monday that teachers across the province will strike on Wednesday and withdrawfrom extracurricular activities on Thursday and Friday.

Hoopla the biggest high school basketball tournament in the province is scheduled to begin Thursday, but organizers said it will be cancelled if the government and teachers can't come to an agreement under which sanctions can be lifted.

Both the girls' and boys' teams from Preeceville qualified lastweekend to advance to Hoopla the first time the girls' team made it to the provincial championship since 1997.

"You should have seen everyone in our gym so happyjust to make it to regionals," saidKacey Heski, a 15-year-old guard with the Preeceville Panthers whomade the trip to Saskatoon along with her mom.

WATCH | Sask. students protest potential cancellation of basketball championships:

Tense moments at STF office as students, parents beg union to change tactics

8 months ago

Duration 5:15

Students and parents from Preeceville, Sask., drove into Saskatoon Tuesday morning to protest at the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation office. They confronted STF representative Angela Banda about job sanctions that will cancel Hoopla, the provincial basketball championships, if not lifted by Wednesday afternoon.

"This is 27 years since last time we've been [to Hoopla]. This is just Preeceville. We're just heartbroken, devastated," she said outside the STF office.

"This is not just impacting just us. This is impacting our community."

Angela Banda, the associate executive director for labour relations for the teachers' union, came out to talk with the students and parents in Saskatoon on Tuesday.

She told the students she was proud of them for standing up for what they believe in, and she encouraged them to also put pressure on their MLAs.

Banda said teachers recognize that not only basketball players, but also students involved in drama, band and other extracurricular activities,are missing out on opportunities.

"No one wants students to have a lesser education," Banda told the group.

"But teachers are fighting for something bigger than that. They're fighting for funding to ensure that classrooms are safe. They're fighting for predictable, sustainable funding to ensure that education in the long run is quality. And right now it isn't. And we're worried about the future of our education system."

The Optimist Concert Band Festival in Regina is another big event affected by job actions this week. Organizers announced Tuesday that performances and clinics set for Wednesday and Thursday are cancelled.

Kira Dureault, a student atcole Monseigneur de Laval in Regina,attended question period in the legislature on Monday. She said she doesn't want Hooplaused as a bargaining chip.

"Of course we feel caught in the middle," Dureault said."We fully support our teachers, but at a point we're like, 'What have we done?' All we want to do is go to school.We want to play our sports. We want to further our education."

Neither side budging

Last week, the teachers' federationinvited the province to enter into binding arbitration on the issueof class size and complexity, which teachers want to see included in their collective agreement.

The STF said that if the government agreed to the arbitration, teachers would return to the table to negotiate on the remaining issues.

Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill declined. On Monday, he maintained the same position.

"We're not going to negotiate with a gun to our head on this," he said.

"This is what I find really disappointing of union leadership this morning, to really use this tournament as a target and a point of political leverage in these negotiations."

STF president Samantha Becotte blamed the government for forcing teachers to continue job action this week.

"If the government agreed to binding arbitration for classroom complexity or provided their bargaining team with the mandate that included classroom complexity, we could return to the table to negotiate an agreement andall sanctions would be cancelled or suspended," Becotte said.

Students plan protest to support teachers

Kaia Newman, a co-president of the student councilat Aden Bowman Collegiate in Saskatoon, said students from at least four schools in the city are planning a walkout next Tuesday to support teachers.

"We are in full support of the teachers and it's clear to me that the government is not caring. SoI just want to show my full support to the teachers, and I just also want to have a school year that is not limiting my extracurriculars or education," she told CBC in an interview outside her school on Tuesday.

"We can do this by showing that the students are involved in this, and they are walking out."

Newman said as of now, students from her school and three others in Saskatoon Marion M. Graham Collegiate, St. Joseph High School and Walter Murray Collegiate are planning to participate in the March 26 walkout.

They are also in talks with high schools in Regina "to try to make this one of the biggest walkouts in the province," she said.

Abbie Shynkaruk, a co-presidentof the student council at Walter Murray Collegiate, said she is reaching out to high schools in Regina to "get the whole province involved" in the walkout planned for next week.

The 17-year-old said shesupports theSTF's sanctions.

"Our classrooms are so overfilled right now," Shynkaruk said in a Tuesday interview with CBC.

"The slogan going around through the students about the walkoutis, 'If the government doesn't care about our educationwhy should we?'"

Their plan is to walk out around the noon hour and protest outside the office ofDon Morgan, the Saskatchewan Party MLA forSaskatoon Southeast.

Newman, 18, said thecancellation ofextracurricular activitieswould mean her school musicalthe lastproduction for the Grade 12 studentcould be in jeopardy.

"We're being hurt,and the government is just turning a blind eye. That's just completely disrespectful," she said.

"We hope to spark a change. We hope to show the government that not only the teachers care, we do too."