Pandemic pay to senior managerial school administrators sparks outrage

BY PAUL JUNOR

The announcement that the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) planned to pay between $2.2 million to $2.4 million in extra compensation to its senior managerial staff has raised red flags.

In a statement by TDSB’s spokesperson, Ryan Bird, “Vice-principals and principals will receive 3-5 days of remuneration at their regular pay rate, which is equivalent to five days of the daily rate for a summer school principal.”

The decision to do this is necessary, the statement notes because ,”In order to meet additional requirements for a safe reopening of schools in September, Principals and Vice-Principals were required to attend work earlier in August compared to previous years.” In addition, some administrators will be able to retain a certain number of unused lieu days from the previous years, according to Ryan, “As they were unable to take them due to significant labour unrest followed immediately by the pandemic.”

The extra compensation has received the blessings of TDSB’s Interim Directors: Andrew Gold, Karen Falconer and Monon Garder who in a letter of support stated, “So much work has been accomplished by school leaders to reopen our schools. On behalf of our students, their families and our staff, thank you for all that you have done to get our schools to this place.”

Toronto District School Board has indicated that the bonuses will be paid to the administrators by December 10th, 2020. The terms for principals and vice-principals to receive the bonus include:

Performing the duties of a principal specified in any act, regulation or ministerial guidance

2. Performing the duties and orders assigned by the board and its designate(s)

3. Ensuring that his/her school is used at the end of the school year in accordance with the direction of the school superintendent.

4. Ensuring that his/ her school is prepared for full operation by the first day of school in accordance with the direction of the school superintendent.

There has been criticism levelled at the TDSB for this expected pandemic pay to administrators. Leslie Wolfe, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, and Toronto Teacher Bargaining Unit (TTBU) expressed, “OSSTF teachers and education workers have spent literally hundreds of thousands of hours planning, re-planning; preparing, re-preparing and then starting all over again due to the TDSB’s constant changes.

We too have members who answered the call to support school opening in August. We too have members who are owed lieu days.”
This is particularly concerning that many teachers are currently dealing with the realities of large class sizes, while others are expecting to be tracked from 2018-2019 based on budgetary issues.

“This ill-conceived compensation of one group of your so-called ” team” is divisive and completely undermines whatever tiny bit of morale might have benefit among OSSTF Toronto members,” Leslie finishes.

TDSB Chair Alexander Brown reported that the bonus for the administrators will come from savings due to having to spend less money on supply teachers and professional development. Many critics insisted that: teachers, educational assistants, early childhood educators, custodians and secretaries also should be recognized for the extra work they do in ensuring that schools are safe. In addition, they believe that some of the money could go toward online learning and technology.

At the end of the day, the needs of the students should be a priority.