As another day of talks between the Nova Scotia teachers and the provincial government wraps up with no deal, students in Colchester County are making a public plea for an end to work-to-rule.
Students at South Colchester Academy uploaded a three-minute long video to YouTube, hoping to send their message.
"As you pull and push on the rope that is this strike, that when the rope snaps, it is the students you leave crushed in the middle," the students said in the video.
Co-creator Marika Schenkel says the students want Nova Scotians to know the impact work-to-rule is having, and the impact the job action will have if it continues.
“No more graduations, no more proms, no more safe grads. It's just really scary,” Marika said.
Nova Scotia teachers have been working to rule since Dec. 5. They remain in a legal strike position.
The union and the government are in the midst of a fourth round of talks. So far, union members have rejected two contract offers.
“We really hope they come to a resolution soon,” said Marika.
That hope is echoed by Allison Garber, whose seven-year-old son needs adaptive programming at school. Garber is also on the board of Autism Nova Scotia.
“I think it's a struggle for the teachers at this point to be able to accommodate the different planning requirements that they have,” Garber said.
Garber says her son's teachers are doing everything they can to make sure there's little to no disruption in his education. But she wants this situation to result in a major disruption to the inclusion model.
“Speaking as the parent of a child with a special need, I’ll say flatly that the inclusion model is not working,” said Garber.
She hopes the labour dispute has started a conversation about the problems with inclusion, and will lead to changes that make the education system better.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Sarah Ritchie.
