THUNDER BAY -- Job sanctions played a role in the cancellation of a longstanding high school basketball tournament, says a Lakehead Public Schools superintendent.
The public school board decided to cancel the Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute Tiger Tip-Off senior boys’ basketball 34th tournament over concerns of that there was not enough supervision to ensure everyone’s safety.
The tournament was already halfway through when the school board made the announcement Friday.
Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation announced this week that job sanctions would be reinstated immediately.
The job sanctions include not participating in assigned duties within the school.
Superintendent Ian MacRae said the job sanctions played a role in the decreased level of supervision at the tournament.
“It is extremely important that supervision be at a very high level,” he said. “We were not convinced that the level of supervision that was being committed to the tournament would ensure a safe environment. Part of the job sanctions do include a portion about supervision and that played a part in it.”
The tournament is nearly as old as the school, which was built in the 1960s. He added that he hopes that the players and students can move on from this incident and from the disappointment.
MacRae also gave an update regarding the negotiations with local secondary teachers, saying they have undergone extensive negotiations with teachers as well as educational assistance and early childhood educators.
He says he feels assured they were coming close to an agreement.
But Paul Caccamo, teacher’s bargaining unit president for OSSTF in Thunder Bay, said when situations like this come up he would have preferred to sit down and work together.
He said he’s disappointed that so much effort went into the tournament for it only to be canceled half way through completion.
Caccamo said he understood the board’s decision to put safety first, but he added even though teachers are in a strike position, they’re still committed to providing supervision.
“I’m told by tournament organizers that there was over 100 hours of commitment to supervise the gymnasium, the locker rooms, the concession stand and the gym’s entrance,” Caccamo said.
“That’s a fairly sizable commitment to supervise. We’re very disappointed that in the end the tournament was still canceled.”
Even with the job sanctions in place, Caccamo said his members were committed to supervise the extracurricular activity.
Caccamo, who taught at Westgate, said in the 34 years that the tournament has run he can’t recall a significant incident happening.
