About Our Local:
Welcome to the ETFO Waterloo Region DECE Local. Established in, and part of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, since December 2010.
We represent over 800 permanent and occasional Designated Early Childhood Educators working in Kindergarten within the Waterloo Region District School Board. Our Local strives to serve the professional and personal needs of our members, with a wide variety of committees providing events, workshops and services that help our members develop and enhance their professional portfolios, as well as maintain a healthy work-life balance. We are an equity-seeking organization that works tirelessly to provide an environment celebrating the diversity of our members.
Brief History:
Starting with the 2010-2011 school year, the province of Ontario implemented Phase 1 of 5 of the Full Day Early Learning Kindergarten Program (FDELKP). This is where Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs) would be partnered with a teacher in the kindergarten classroom to deliver the new Full Day Kindergarten curriculum. The Waterloo Region District School Board hired approximately forty RECEs in the first year of implementation and we are now over 800 strong!
In fall 2010, many union affiliates were trying to entice the RECEs to join their organization. Organizing drives happened, with voting commencing in December of 2010. The result was WRDECEs chose to become part of ETFO!! The first New Member Meeting was held on January 19, 2011 and the first executive was formed on February 9, 2011, at our very first Annual General Meeting.
This Executive developed our local constitution with the help of ETFO Provincial, where the membership voted and approved this constitution on March 21, 2011, after which, the Collective Bargaining Committee and table team were selected.
Bargaining, on behalf of the permanent and occasional DECEs, for our first Collective Agreement, began in June of 2011. With negotiations happening over the next year and a half, we arrived at our very first Collective Agreement on August 30, 2012. It was a great relief that we were able to secure it before Bill 115 was implemented. This first CA was a great victory for our local and retroactive to September 1, 2010.
The WRDSB was one of the first school boards to implement and offer the Extended Day Program within their schools in 2010, offering before and after school programming for JKs, SKs, Grade 1, and Grade 2 students. Winter Break and March Break were incorporated starting Winter Break 2011. The WRDECE Local is the only ETFO Local that offers the Extended Day Program, and we now serve families up to Grade 6 in over 65 WRDSB elementary schools.
