Liz Sandals called on the government to appoint a Commission or Expert Panel to make recommendations to study the delivery of extracurricular programs and the distribution of workload in other jurisdictions and suggest new models that could work in Ontario. She emphasized that there is a real urgency to solve the problem by March, given that Boards need to know the province's workload requirements to be able to hire new teachers. The advisory group will be chaired by Doug Brown, currently a Governor of the Ontario College of Teachers' Governing Council. It is unclear at this time if the advisory group's mandate is broad enough to deal with workload issues or whether their work will be restricted to the delivery of extracurricular activities. As reported in the major media in Ontario.
New protocol covers 'serious incidents'.
School boards have until September to implement new province-wide guidelines for reporting serious incidents to police. The 23-point protocol says schools must call police when there are physical assaults requiring medical attention, sexual assault, robbery, criminal harassment, weapons offences, such as trafficking. We would actually like to see protocols extended so that every school board has protocols with children's aid societies, with the court system, with probation officers. As reported in the Toronto Star, City TV, Global TV, OnTV and CTV, December 9. Tests seen as only one tool used to assess how well students learn.