What Activities Are Covered?

Funds dispersed through Article 8.02 are used to reimburse permanent teachers for the use of their personal vehicles while involved in extracurricular activities. The list of activities included in this are wide and varied, which makes it difficult to provide a definitive list to which members can turn. Some activities are easier to identify as qualifying, while other activities may be debatable.  

As a guiding principle, extracurricular activities are not part of your regular curriculum. This can include attending the school BBQ, coaching teams, running a club etc. If, however, you were running an activity for your class which required running around to collect supplies, that type of activity would not qualify. Likewise, activities which are Board driven would not qualify, and should more appropriately be reimbursed through a Board mileage claim. 

As a best practice, we offer the following suggestion: Get together at lunch as a staff and go through the calendar to figure our what activities would be included and then have each teacher add activities to their own personal forms as you go through each month. This would help to eliminate any animosity between teachers given that you are  all on the same page. The expectation is that the honour system is used so it’s important that all teachers are included in the discussions to avoid conflicts as much as possible. 

Some Scenarios

• It is important to avoid making a decision to just use the money for a staff function or school event. If a staff wants to do this, each teacher should be given their portion of the funds and then if they choose, they can donate the money back.

• If you coached a team and all your games were at your home school so you did not have to drive, this would NOT be covered. However, if there was a late game and you went home and back, then it would be covered.

• If you picked up snacks for the school snack program, this would NOT be covered.  It should be covered under board mileage.

• If you were holding a popcorn sale to raise money for a class trip and used your car to pick up popcorn, this would NOT be covered. It should be covered under board mileage.

•  If you were doing a craft with your class and went to the store to purchase supplies, this would NOT be covered.

• ·If you coached a team and there was a game on Saturday, mileage from home to the game and back home would be covered.

• The donation of money to the CYO or any other charity should not be the result of a majority vote or the wishes of the majority.  It is a choice each recipient makes.  The preferred method would be for the school to issue the cheques to each eligible individual who could choose to donate the money.  That way teachers would not feel pressured and they would receive a tax receipt.

For the first time ever, the Association is launching a full-scale census of our membership. Simply put, we are seeking some simple and important – and confidential! – information from you and as many of our 45,000 Catholic teachers as possible, to provide a clearer picture of who our members are, so we can better reach and advocate for all Catholic teachers more effectively.

Your privacy throughout the census process is paramount, which is why we have engaged our long-standing partners at Pollara Strategic Insights, one of Canada’s leading research firms, to help conduct this census. Your information will be held in the strictest of confidence. No one associated with OECTA will be able to connect an individual’s responses with their identity – not the Provincial Executive, not Provincial Office staff, not unit presidents, and not members who complete the survey.

The ultimate success of any census depends on participation. Over the coming weeks and months, you are going to see a LOT of communications about this project. We will attempt to reach Catholic teachers to inform them of this opportunity in a variety of ways – from emails, to traditional “snail mail,” to peer-to-peer texting, and more. You will see advertisements posted in your schools, and we will attempt to encourage participation through a series of draws for exciting prizes – while always ensuring confidentiality.

The more Catholic teachers we can bring into this project, the better positioned our Association will be to further transform and improve what we do. So please, watch your email and for future updates, so you can do your part to make your voice heard, and be counted.