A new agreement between London’s public and Catholic school boards will once again allow all athletes to compete in provincial championships.
The Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) and London District Catholic School Board (LDCSB) have agreed to separate sports schedules.
Winning teams from each board will then compete in district, regional and finally provincial competitions.
In a statement, TVDSB superintendent Laura Elliott called the solution a win-win for students.
“We want to get our sports teams playing again despite the current labour unrest and this new plan will make it happen.”
LDCSB superintendent Ed DeDecker says “The winter was a particular challenge and our student athletes competed but really had a lost opportunity because they couldn’t compete in WOSSA and then at OFSSA.”
Teams from the Catholic board continued to play during the job action by teachers at the public board, but could not advance to provincial finals.
Extra-curricular sports are expected to return to public secondary schools over the next few weeks.
But Elliott says “OSSTF may decide or may release a message to our membership that would not allow them to continue with extracurricular activities.”
There are concerns about the plan though, which could require significantly more travel, and therefore higher travel costs, for area sports teams.
While the agreement is set to expire at the end of August 2014, both boards say they’ll review the agreement after the spring,
But while the Catholic board aims to return to normal in September, the public board is looking at an ending that coincides with the end of teachers’ contracts.
