LONDON, ON – CUPE 4222 and the Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU) strongly condemn the Thames Valley District School Board’s decision to move ahead with significant staffing cuts, with ongoing understaffing and growing student needs across the Board.
The Board recently notified the Local that it plans to eliminate 31 Designated Early Childhood Educator (DECE) and Care for Newcomer Children (CNC) positions following the end of the school year.
CUPE 4222 represents approximately 2,000 education workers including ECEs, CNCs, custodians, maintenance workers, IT staff, media and graphics workers, secretaries, and drivers at the Thames Valley District School Board.
“The Local is deeply concerned about the staff who remain because they are already stretched thin,” said Mary Henry, President of CUPE 4222. “Many DECEs are spending much of their day responding to medical, behavioural, and safety concerns instead of being able to focus on the educational and developmental support they are trained to provide. Eliminating these positions will only make an already difficult situation worse.”
The Board has cited declining enrolment as part of its rationale for the cuts. However, kindergarten enrolment is projected to decline by only 285 students, or 2.7 per cent, next school year, while the elimination of 31 DECE positions represents an 8.3 per cent reduction in permanent DECE staffing. The cuts will increase the kindergarten student-to-DECE ratio across the Board and come at a time when many classrooms are already facing large class sizes and increasingly complex student needs.
Some of the affected positions are Care for Newcomer Children (CNC) positions, which provide childcare for newcomer children while their parents participate in language training and settlement programs. Recent reductions in federal funding tied to lower immigration levels have created additional pressures on these services and the workers who provide them.
The Local is also concerned about the Board’s decision to reconfigure classrooms in ways that reduce the number of DECEs required under provincial regulations, despite the growing pressures facing students and workers in kindergarten classrooms.
“These cuts are happening while the Thames Valley District School Board remains under provincial supervision by Paul Boniferro,” Henry said. “Workers and families were promised improvements, but instead they are seeing fewer frontline staff and fewer supports in classrooms. Students deserve better.”
The OSBCU says these cuts reflect a broader pattern driven by chronic underfunding of education in Ontario since 2018.
“What we’re seeing at Thames Valley District School Board is part of a broader pattern, where education workers are being asked to pay the price for underfunding,” said Joe Tigani, President of the OSBCU. “These are the people who support students with special needs, maintain safe schools and ensure schools function every day. Cutting these workers hurts everyone.”
CUPE 4222 and the OSBCU are calling on the province to properly fund education and on the Thames Valley District School Board to immediately reverse these job cuts.
“Students deserve safe, supported learning environments,” Tigani said. “That starts with investing in the workers who make that possible. The OSBCU stands behind CUPE 4222 members as they fight back. We are united in defending good jobs, protecting vital services, and pushing back against a system that continues to undervalue education workers and the students they serve.”
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For more information, please contact:
Chitra Kunnath
CUPE Communications
[email protected]
416-317-0285
