Back to school for students and teachers in the Rainbow board

English public high school students are back in the classroom today, following a four week strike by secondary school teachers.

On Tuesday night, the Ontario Labour Relations Board ruled three strikes by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation in the Sudbury, Durham and Peel regions illegal.

Rainbow District School Board chair Doreen Dewar said the boards filed the joint application on May 12, with the hope the ruling would come quickly.

"Our students and families were caught in a dispute between the province and the OSSTF through the central bargaining issues," she said.

"The legislation that has been passed indicates that you must bargain locally on local issues and any strike action must be based on local issues."

Dewar said although the ruling came Tuesday night, schools would be ready for students Wednesday morning — despite being out of class for 21 school days.

"We're going to have to take a good hard look at maximizing the time we have left," she said.

The union representing the teachers said it's disappointed with the ruling.

"We will comply with the ruling of the OLRB," Paul Elliott, president of the OSSTF, said in a release.

"However, this ruling does not change the fact that our members have grown increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress at the local and central bargaining tables."

Elliott added the union will assess all aspects of the ruling and its implications.

"This ruling will in no way impact our resolve to protect the working conditions of [our] members and learning conditions of our students," he said.