A packed house filled a rural Nova Scotia community centre as many parents came out to hear why teachers are concerned over the future of education in the province.
“Transformation takes a lot of thoughtful collaboration and we’re not seeing that at the moment and that’s what needs to happen if we have any hope of this being successful,” Cynthia Bruce said, a mother of children who have gone through the provincial public school system.
The Glaze report
Last fall, the province hired Dr. Avis Glaze, an “international recognized expert” to review the public school system in Nova Scotia for the first time in more than 20 years.
The Glaze report made 22 recommendations, including moving principals and vice-principals out of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union and into a new professional association.
The report recommended the establishment of an education ombudsperson to investigate and resolve concerns or complaints in the education system.
Glaze also called for a provincial college of educators to license, govern, discipline and regulate the teaching profession.
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The province plans to implement all of the recommendations and that’s where concern from the Nova Scotia Teachers Union has come into play.
Grant Frost has over two decades of teaching experience and is also the president of the Halifax County local.
“I think that I’d be very happy with a pause button right now, so that everyone can catch their breath. Let’s put a pause on the Glaze report, let’s not rush this. If you rush this through, we’re going to leave kids behind and I think that’s a very real concern,” Frost said.
He says he’s not against making changes to the education system but feels the province is rushing the process. Frost hopes the move to ask NSTU members for a strike mandate demonstrates the need to slow down.
“Really, what I think we’re trying to accomplish here is to have an opportunity to sit down with this government and all the stakeholders, to try to figure out exactly what some of our concerns are and have a legitimate conversation around them.”
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