Latest / Kvetch & Release / What you need to know for BACK TO SCHOOL

Transcript

What you need to know for BACK TO SCHOOL · Kvetch & Release

• 0:20
  Speaker 1: We are back.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: John Mudkey here am eight hundred CKLW hard to believe
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: that it is the thirtieth of August. We are going
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: into Labor Day weekend, and of course that means following
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Labor Day Monday on Tuesday, things go back to normal
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: summer ends in that traditional context, and back to school
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: will be starting. Joining me right now to talk about
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: back to school prep and all things that people need
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: to know about as the school year starts off. As
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: a district president with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation OSSTF,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Aaron Roy joins me right now.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Hey erin Hello, how you doing good? Yeah? Getting ready?
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: It's that time of year.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: It sure is. So what does that look like? What
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: does getting ready look like for you and for teachers?
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Ah, well, you know it's uh, it's been a relatively
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: quiet summer and so I think it's just sort of
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: getting back into the to the swing of things. Like
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: we do have a couple of new builds, so I
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: think there's some anxiousness about getting into those buildings to
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: make sure that they're set up. You know, there's been
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: some changes. I know there's been lots of chatter about
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: the cell phone policy and whatnot. So I think there
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: has I've had I've received quite a few questions about that,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: but really it's similar to what we've always done, you know,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: with probably a greater focus on you know, they're distracting
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: as they're distracting, so when they're distracting you, they need
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: to be put away.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I can't imagine how difficult it must be
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: to be a teacher and to have the cell phones
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: in class and trying to trying to maintain students' attention,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: let alone with all of the information at their fingertips,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: just must be really difficult. It must be good that
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: there are these new policies that are put in place
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: from the ministry to just make it so clear cut.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not so clear cut because I don't know
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: that I don't know that it's going to be much
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: different than what we've always had. It could be that
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: if a kid's being distracted by the cell phone, then
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: you know, it's put it away. It's just I think
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: there's some anxiety about whether or not there could be conflict.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: I'll say there was a lot of grace because after
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: the pandemic, students certainly were I would say heavily addicted
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: to their devices because that was the way that they
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: socialized with their friends. For the most part, they weren't
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: allowed to see them in person. So I think I'm
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: a parent myself included screen time rules went out the window. Yep.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: But that's the way you can communicate with your friends,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: and that's the way that you can and so you
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: have to remember that was a couple of years of socialization.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: But I think now there's lots of research and data
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: to show the effects of that on the brain, especially
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: a diviloping brain, and so I think there's just going
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: to be a real shift to talking about the negative
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: impacts of always checking your screen or and even they're talking,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: there's going to be a lot more talking about vaping
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: because vaping has been an issue in schools. It's been
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: an is smoking in the bathroom has been an issue
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: in schools for a long time. But I think I
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: think there needs to be a real shift to the
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: education piece about you know, just because it smells prutty
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: doesn't mean that it's going to be good for you.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: It does have a negative impact on your lungs, and
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: so I think there's going to be a real shift
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: to education about boundaries with your devices and boundaries with
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: you know, making sure that you know the negative effects
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: of things like vaping. So I think that's going to
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: be the shift, and you know there's going to be
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: bumps along the way, as as always when there's changed.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: There's also a few things, like there's a new curriculum
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: that hasn't that people are a little bit anxious about
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: because there was no consultation and there has been very little,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: I guess, very little training from the ministry on how
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: to implement that, if at all, or any resources. But
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: as always, we'll just make it work and we'll go
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: from there.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: That's all that you can do. I suppose, right, we
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: can do make it work. So you said you mentioned
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: you know, new schools coming on board. That must be
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: exciting for you know, for teachers, for parents, for students
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: to be able to be part of a brand new school.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: I remember when I first started out in grade school here.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: I was the first graduating class of Google Public School
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: when it opened up in nineteen ninety two downtown. It
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: was it was really cool moving into a brand new place.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it is a it's a cool experience. It's just
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: you know, I would say in my experience, and I've
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: been on time relief for fourteen years. We've been so
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: I've had I've had the pleasure of representing teachers that
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: have opened multiple buildings. There's always going to be hiccups,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: and so there just needs to be a little bit
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: of grace because there's going to be something that wasn't
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: done right, or just even the last minute moments of
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: getting in and unpacking, because you know, if you're at
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: the same school year over year, you're just kind of
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: getting back into sud of your class. But setting up
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: your classroom that's existing but one and unpacking boxes and
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: finding where things are is quite different. So it's exciting.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: But their news, I think that's it adds an added
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: layer of like, okay, where are a thing? You know,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: where's the lots room? I don't know, I haven't been
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: in this building yet, that type of thing. But once
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: they get settled in, you know, it is just exciting
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: to be in a new place and I haven't been.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: For me. At the secondary level, we have a new
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: EARI migration in Kingsville. I haven't been there, but I've
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: seen some videos and it looks beautiful, so well.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: Hey, hopefully you know everything goes well, and they didn't
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: forget to install like the chalkboards or something. Do they
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: still use tuckboards in schools these days?
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: I think more whiteboards and smart boards.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Now smart boards. Well, I get that that makes sense.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: I mean it's been a while since I was in
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: elementary or high school. Let's be perfectly honest. So what
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: do parents need to know where guardians need to know
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: as these school year is starting up.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that it's going to take a village
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: with the policies on cell phones as well as even
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: sort of the more focused on education with baping. Like
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: I said, I think we kind of there's a lot
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: of grace after the pandemic and there was a lot
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: of you know, there was some lost lost learning, and
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: so I think, you know, we're kind of over that
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: now and we're really looking to get back into like
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: what we do really well, which is, you know, getting
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: back to normalcy and getting back to real education. But
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: when it comes to like cell phones and not having
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: them out, when the student's not having them out, like
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: there needs to be support from their parents in order
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: to do that. It's got you know, there has to
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: be conversations at home. I have a high schooler. My
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: conversations are, it's in your locker, you don't need it.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: If you need it, your teacher role let you know
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: if you need it. So I think, you know, it's
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: going to take a village to get there, but I
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: think in the long run, it will be better to
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: talk about, you know, if you're having you know, eight
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: plus hours of screen time, what is that doing to
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: your brain? What is that doing to your vision? Moving
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: to that education piece about setting those boundaries, you know,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: and even with you know, things are moving fast, even
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: with AI. You know, people talk about you have those
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: computers at your fingertips, why not use them? But there
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: is a piece of understanding the basics as well. So
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: I think we also will see kind of a shift
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: back to basics, Like I need to see that you
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: have those fundamentals because those are the building blocks for
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: your brain, even though the computer computer can do it
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: for you.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: You know, I say, put the phones in the lockers,
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: leave them there. When I was in high school, I
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: wasn't allowed to use a calculator in math class because
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: I was told you're not going to always have a
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: calculator in your pocket. Well, that didn't prove to be true,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: I do always have a calculator in my pocket these days,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: but still that's not the point. Make them learn the
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: way that I learned. I think, come on, it's just
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: just for fairness and equity.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Sake, it's also just just the building blocks of your
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: brain and reality like that, just because you have that
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: calculator in your pocket, as you say, there is a
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: real value in shopping and being able to calculate what
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: you have in your cart without having to get out
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: of device, like just being able to do like, there's
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: building blocks in your brain that that lead you to
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: other connections, and so, you know, in some ways we
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: need to make sure that those fundamentals are there, even
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: though those fundamentals can be done by a computer, just
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: so that because essentially a computer is whatever a human
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: feeds into it, right, and we need to you know,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: so you need to have those building blocks in order
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: to continue that progress that we've seen so rapidly over
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: the last you know, however many years. So I think
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: there's going to be a shift to like, you know,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: understanding what our brains are like and what those building
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: blocks will be and just understand that, you know, always
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: always just go getting the quick answer from Google or
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: using AI isn't helping your brain develop those pathways which
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: you need for throughout your life. So I think we'll
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: see a real shift education. But that's going to take
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: a village. I know that many parents are frustrated when
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: you know there's kids won't get off their phones, So
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: I think that they're probably welcoming the no cell phone.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: But it's going to take some conversation at home as well.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: Like I said, it's going to take a village.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, or the same thing that could happen
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: that happens to me when my smart watch dies and
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: I look down at it and it's now just like
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: fashion accessory. Your cell phone can die and now you
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: don't have that calculator and you go, oh, I can't
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: do this math. I really need a calculator. Now you
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: should have those basic skills. Okay, Hey, last question for you.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: This is an issue that it affects almost everybody, whether
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: or not you have someone in school or not, kiss
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: and ride programs and drop offs. Are there any changes
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: to it this year that people need to know about
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: because it's always just such a mess sometimes, I think
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: is a good way to put it.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's another thing that really just takes a village
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: like it take because you're dealing with municipal governments as well, right,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Like I'm thinking of our largest high school, Vincent Massey.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: Like at one point they build a road through Juice
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: to assist that though, you know, yeah, if you're talking
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: speaking to me personally, I think if we can get
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: back to you know, kids can walk, if they can,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: and whatnot. But lots of the kiss and writings is
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: not going away. People are dropping people off and picking
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: them up, and there's a real danger in some places.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: I know that the communities try to do their best.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: I know, I just got a memo about from the
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: school board that there's construction going on by this school,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: so be very cautious. I just think there needs to
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: be patients. It's going to be patience forever. Even if
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: you don't have kids in school. When the buses get
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: back on the road, you notice it on your commute.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: So I think just getting back into the swing of
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: things is going to be require some patience. But even
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: at the kiss and rides, I think we just, if
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: at all possible, you know, does it have to you know,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: do you have to pick them up? Can they walk?
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Can they be bussed just to really the congestion and
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: if they can't, then I guess you know you're going
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: to be dealing with that. But it's going to require patients.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: You know. I was at a cost Go Park parking
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: lot the other day and lots of honking and I'm like,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: that doesn't help anything. Just everybody, you know, we just
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: don't need to have some patience with one another.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it might give you a bit of a temporary
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: stress relief, but it doesn't move the car forward whatsoever. Hey, Aaron,
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: I thank you so much your time. I really appreciate it.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: And happy Labor Day weekend.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah you too, take care.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Aaron Roy, district president with the
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation. And let's throw it to
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: you the listening audience. We want to get your comments
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: and calls and we want to know as we approach
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: back to school, are you excited to know that the
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: kids are going back to school. You're going to miss
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: them hanging around like they were during the summer. What
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: are your concern