Kindergarten open houses appear to be the latest casualty of the pause on extra-curricular activities by local elementary teachers.
Teachers are telling their schools they may not attend upcoming open houses, which are used to introduce school to the smallest learners.
Next Wednesday all public elementary schools will be open at night to welcome parents and their four-year-olds, who are due to start school in September.
They are usually staffed by the early years teachers, but board officials say many have already said they will not attend.
“Their hands are tied, this is something teachers have to volunteer to do. They're not telling them that they can't. They're not telling them that they can,” says Warren Kennedy, director of education for the Greater Essex County District School Board.
Kennedy says he's worried about getting the message out to parents and their kids.
Members of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario have stopped doing extra-curricular sports and clubs in protest to a collective agreement which was imposed upon them by the province.
Kennedy says the planned open houses give parents a chance to visit multiple schools in one night, to see whether or not they want to send their child to a French immersion school or an English track school.
Regardless of the uncertainty with teachers attending to help, Kennedy says the open houses will go on as scheduled.
