Nova Scotia’s early education minister says that an independent review of how the province’s education system is administered will be completed by the end of this year.
“That’ll be with the goal of making sure we have the best administrative model possible,” Zach Churchill told Global News on Tuesday.
The revelation came during an interview on Churchill’s decision to halt all school reviews in the province. He says it was necessary to implement the platform the Nova Scotia Liberal’s campaigned on during the last election.
“We’re in the process of making some transformative decisions for our education system in the province,” said Churchill. “There are important pieces of information that school boards need to be armed with before making a decision.”
READ MORE: Nova Scotia’s early education minister hits pause on all school reviews
Churchill said this was especially relevant due to the government’s new initiative which they say will see every student in the province have the opportunity to attend pre-primary care.
On Friday it was revealed by the Halifax Regional School Board that Churchill had sent out a letter informing all school boards to immediately halt any ongoing school reviews.
That effectively stalled the Auburn Drive & Cole Harbour District Family of Schools report — which was due to be finalized on Wednesday.
The report had recommended the amalgamation of schools throughout the HRSB, including a plan to condense enrolment into the yet-to-be-completed Eastern Passage High School.
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“It’s unfortunate that the work the community put into it is paused at this point but hopefully we can get around this and finish up the work we put in,” Dave Wright, the Chair of the HRSB, said on Tuesday.
READ MORE: Four Nova Scotia elementary schools to close
Churchill says that Friday’s announcement has been in the works since the election and that the timing of it was purely the result of a government process to approve the letter.
Even though the decision has stalled the report, Churchill says that information won’t be going to waste.
“The folks who were involved in these reviews need to know that the work they put into this will be essential to any decision the school boards make at the end of the day,” said Churchill. “The volunteers have done great and they’ve received great feedback and they need to know that their work is valued and will inform the process going forward.”
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