By Michael Boriero
Local Journalism Initiative
Megan Stratton was among several thousand early childhood educators taking part in a province-wide strike nearly two weeks ago, in a bid to push the government into reducing workload and increasing wages to retain staff heading towards burnout.
The Record spoke to Stratton on Oct. 14, the first day of a two-day strike action, and according to the educator at the CPE Jardin de Fanfan in Magog, the system has been slowly unravelling since she started in the field over 14 years ago.
“It was already going downhill, so when the pandemic hit, it was very difficult. Pedagogical councillors, administrative directors have to leave their job in the office to go on the floor into a classroom because there’s nobody,” said Stratton.
While the Jardin de Fanfan has been able to avoid major setbacks, such as turning away children or closing down the centre, Stratton said the past two years have dealt a significant blow to her colleagues. A few of them have switched careers or simply retired.
