Teachers of deaf, blind return to classroom

From: Toronto Star, Canada - May 7, 2004

FROM CANADIAN PRESS

A tentative agreement has been reached between the Ontario government and about a dozen special schools, sending 239 striking teachers back to work, the union said today.

The teachers, who've been on strike since Monday, were preparing Friday to get classrooms ready for students' return to their studies next week as part of the tentative pact reached overnight.

There was no immediate word on when a ratification vote would be held.

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation and provincial negotiators had been meeting virtually non-stop since the strike began.

Neither side would give details of the tentative agreement. The teachers had been seeking wage parity with public school colleagues.

The teachers work with deaf, blind and deaf-blind children and in correctional institutions and demonstration schools.

Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved.