Glaze report Q&A
Minister Churchill talks about decisions, reasons, and implementation
BERWICK - Nova Scotia’s Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development Zach Churchill was at the Annapolis Valley Regional School Board’s offices in Berwick on Feb. 16 where he met with staff.
He’s touring the province in the wake of his announcement Jan. 24 that the province will implement a number of the 22 recommendations made by Dr. Avis Glaze who assessed Nova Scotia’s education system. Chief among those changes will be the dismantling of seven elected regional school boards and removal of principals and administrators from the Nova Scotia Teachers Union.
The Annapolis Valley Register had an opportunity to ask the minister about the changes. The following responses have been provided by Churchill.
How did commissioning of the Glaze report come about? Why was it deemed necessary?
This was a platform commitment in the most recent election. It has been two decades since we’ve looked at our administrative model. It is important that we ensure our system is working as well as it can so that it provides the maximum benefit to our students. We continue to hear from teachers, parents and students that the current system is not working for them. Change is needed. Our students deserve better from us and the system. The status quo is not good enough.
AVR: Minister Churchill:
Why was Glaze the person selected to study the Nova Scotia Education system? Were there other options?
AVR:
Dr. Glaze is an internationally recognized expert. She served as Ontario’s education commissioner and as senior adviser to the Minister of Education. She has extensive experience in system and school improvement having worked with educators in almost 50 countries. She has received many international awards for her contributions to education. We believe that she was the right person to conduct this review of our administrative structure.
Minister Churchill: AVR:
Removing principals and administrators from the NSTU appears to be one of the main points of contention in this shift to department-run schools. It begs the question of who should principals and administrators be accountable to – the union or the department? How will this change the way principals and administrators run their schools?
Principals and vice-principals are the educational leaders in our schools. Removing them from the NSTU gives them greater autonomy and independence. In other sectors, leaders and supervisors are seldom in the same union as the people they lead and supervise, because it can create conflict. That is why this change is being made. They, along with other senior supervisory staff, will continue to provide the same support to our schools, teachers and
Minister Churchill:
students as they always have. We recognize that some principals and vice-principals also teach some classes and they will still be able to do so under the new model. We’ve given principals and vice-principals a year to make the decision after I heard during my tour how they felt and wanted to give more time for individuals to choose whether they remain as principals or return to the classroom.
Regional School Boards were somewhat local in that board members represented specific areas, meetings were open to the public, and the board chair or superintendent were just a phone call away. How will this sense of ‘local’ be replicated in a Halifax-centric, Department of Education-run system? You’re also establishing a provincial advisory council. Who will be on
AVR:
The local voice will not be lost – we see it becoming stronger. Our school boards will now be regional offices that will report into the department and manage the dayto-day operations, but we also want to empower parents, teachers, principals and community members to have more say over local school priorities. They know their schools and their communities. They make local school advisory councils which we will enhance by giving them access to funding to support local priorities and bring the local focus to their school communities. As for Provincial Advisory Council, we are still working through the details and will seek input from our partners on its composition and structure.
Minister Churchill:
School boards have board members representing Mi’kmaq and African Nova Scotians. How will these minority groups be represented under a new system?
AVR:
Dr. Glaze noted in her report the importance of ensuring that the diversity of our culture was reflected in the highest-levels of decisionmaking within the department.
Minister Churchill:
Based on her recommendation, we will be creating two new positions at the executive director to ensure Mi’kmaq and African Nova Scotians’ education and student achievement needs are represented in the curriculum. We will also be working with our partners such as the Council on African Canadian Education (CACE) and Mi’kmaq Kina’matnewey (MK) to determine what representation may look like on both the provincial advisory council and local school advisory councils.
We note that superintendents will become regional executive directors. Is there an opportunity for other current school board employees to continue with their jobs, or obtain new employment with the Department of Education?
The goal of this report is to put more resources in the classroom. We will be redeploying resources, moving teaching support specialists, such as literacy leads and math mentors, out of the regional offices and putting them back in the classrooms four days a week where they can better support our students. Over time, having a unified system will provide more opportunities for shared services, as well as flexibility and movement within the system. There will be no layoffs at regional offices as result of this change. Local bargaining agreements remain in place. Those working in other unions such as CUPE and NSGE will not be impacted.
AVR: Minister Churchill:
The local voice will not be lost – we see it becoming stronger. Our school boards will now be regional offices that will report into the department and manage the day-to-day operations, but we also want to empower parents, teachers, principals and community members to have more say over local school priorities.
You’ve relented somewhat on the timing of principals and administrators making up their minds about leaving the union or returning to the classroom. Are there other areas in which you’re willing to make concessions or compromise?
I believe that change is needed and implementation of these recommendations is key. How we implement these changes is as important as the changes themselves. We have said from the beginning we would be talking to principals, teachers, parents and others, and listening as we work toward implementation. That is why I’m going around the province. After hearing from principals, vice-principals and other senior supervisory positions, we have decided that they will have one year to decide whether they want to remain in their current role, or stay in the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union and return to the classroom. This will give them more time to consider their options before they make this important decision.
See GLAZE REPORT, A05
AVR: Minister Churchill: