http://nationalpost.com/opinion/opinion-teachers-unions-are-blocking-better-education-during-the-pandemic
"...My friend Jeff’s wife, Jodie, is a teacher. Unlike most teachers, however, she teaches at an independent school, not a public school. When the government announced schools were closing, Jodie’s school pivoted the way hospitals did. They had two days of meetings, learned how to use Google Meet and by the third day held their first virtual classroom.
This was, literally, months ago. Since then, Jodie has been meeting with her class twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and in between holds small group meetings and one-on-ones. All the while, Jeff and Jodie — like so many families — are struggling to teach their own children, because their kids go to a public school.
Why does it have to be this way?
Resist the temptation to blame “teachers,” because it isn’t them. Some public school teachers — many, in fact — wanted long ago to fire up the virtual classroom. I know this because another friend — let’s call him Jim — told me the story of how right after the lockdown started, he received an email from his daughter’s teacher giddily announcing the commencement of live video classes. Jim was elated. Virus be damned — the learning would go on.
Hospitals are government-funded, just like schools. And yet there they are, pivoting in the face of emergency.
But then a day later, the live chat was cancelled. The reason? “Livestreaming communication is not approved by ETFO.”
You read correctly. Apparently, the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario had killed video chatting before it had even been born. As the world slipped further into chaos and economic uncertainty, teachers were being told not to teach..."
@ETFOeducators, @TeachersOntario, @OSSTFtoronto, @otffeo, @osstf, #osstf, #etfo, @Teachers__Unite
