Agreement reached involving staffing process with upcoming closure of Widdifield

An agreement has been reached involving the staffing process for the upcoming closure of Widdifield Secondary School.

The deal involves the Near North Board and Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation.

Officials say the agreement was developed to give students and parents a sense of security and comfort during the transition by knowing some of the teachers who will be moving with them.

The board says they want to ensure teacher staffing decisions are made in a fair and equitable manner throughout the consolidation process.

“Our focus remains on what is best for our students, teaching staff and school communities. Providing our students with high quality and diverse learning opportunities requires retention of qualified educators.  We have been able to accomplish this by working with our union partners to develop a mutually beneficial teacher staffing model,” says Craig Myles, Director of Education, in a release.

“It is really encouraging to see our board work with the union to come up with an agreement to support our teaching staff. This is what we can accomplish when we are all working together, and I am positive my members will continue to do an outstanding job this year and into next year when the transition to the new schools is completed,” says Glen Hodgson, OSSTF President.

Widdifield is closing at the end of the school year.

(File photo by station staff)