Importance of local voice in education stressed
Glaze recommends beefed-up role for school advisory councils
The need to maintain a local voice was stressed as those with vested interests in the province’s education system responded to the release of a new report.
Avis Glaze, a consultant hired by the province, unveiled her report and recommendations Tuesday at a press conference held in Halifax that was also webcast.
Eliminating most of the province’s elected school boards, removing principals from the teachers’ union and creating a college to regulate teachers are among her recommendations.
The prospect of removing the elected local voice from the education system may cause concern for those who are now lamenting the elimination of district health authorities, which critics have said has resulted in the loss of local decision-making.
But in a phone interview with the Cape Breton Post, Glaze said she recommends a beefedup role for school advisory councils.
“They represent every school and I think there will be a better chance of getting local voice when parents who care deeply about their schools decide to serve on their schools, without the superintendents and the principals, to reach out to people in the community,” she said. “We have to reach out to people, ask them to serve, ask them for their input so that that local voice is maintained and in
fact by having this enhanced role for school councils we’re ensuring that every school has an opportunity to contribute to the future improvement of this province.”
While the province’s Acadian school board would remain, the seven regional elected boards would be disbanded, the administrative boards would retain their boundaries and names and operate as regional education offices.
Glaze said her motivation was ensuring that no motivation “political or otherwise” would take away from a laserlike focus on student achievement. She added she is not anti-board, but is in favour of using the available resources to ensure students do better.
Glaze’s report notes relatively high rates of acclamation for school board members in the province — in 2016, six of 14 members in the Cape BretonVictoria board were acclaimed while eight of 10 Strait board members ran unopposed. Despite a $13,000 stipend for board members — the vicechair receives $15,800, and the chair $21,300 — there seems to be little competition for many elected board seats. How to potentially remunerate those who volunteer for school advisory council spots is something the department will have to consider, Glaze said.
“It’s going to be the minister who will make those decisions,” she said.
Any savings realized through administrative changes should be redirected to the classroom, Glaze said.
The review is the first in more than 20 years to look at how public schools are administered.
Last October and November, Glaze met with more than 500 people during 91 consultations across the province. Another 1,500 people responded to an online survey.
Glaze also stressed the need to revisit the current funding formula — called the Hogg formula — which has been in place for about a decade and is mostly enrolment-based.
Cape Breton’s school boards have long advocated for a shift to more program-based funding.
She added her approach would also see protections for small schools retained, as is the case under the Hogg formula.
“I do not agree on just enrolment (-based funding),” she said. “We have to look at our children in rural areas. I hear some of the most challenging stories just about what people have to do in Cape Breton just to get their kids on a bus. I have not forgotten those … Uniqueness must be considered, the rural, the poverty issues, all of those must be addressed in the funding formula so that all children regardless of culture or geography or socioeconomic status have the same quality education regardless of where they live in this province.”
Steve Parsons, chair of the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board, was in Halifax Tuesday to take part in a briefing with Glaze prior to the public announcement. He said the board members embrace change to improve the system, however he was “somewhat shocked” and overwhelmed by some of the recommendations.
“(They’re) changing the complete system,” Parsons said of Glaze’s findings. “We want to ensure that local and nonpartisan, democratic voice in public education continues to be heard. What that is going to look like, of course, we have no idea until formally we’re meeting the minister tomorrow.”
Transparent decision-making is important, he said, adding he believes there is a role for elected school boards.
“I think … the public at some times doesn’t know exactly what we do and I think that’s a communication opportunity,” Parsons said. “I do firmly believe certainly there’s a role for boards in terms of the protection of students at the local level. I’m a firm believer that centralization is not always the best approach.”
While there can be advantages to doing away with some bureaucracy, Parsons said a centralized approach may not be the best in ensuring that local concerns in rural Nova Scotia are heard.
It’s difficult to react to the report in the absence of knowing how the province intends to act upon it, Parsons said.
He did say he would be pleased if the reliance on the Hogg funding formula was reviewed.
Brett Hanham, who has been involved in the George D. Lewis school advisory council and has worked on the Louisbourg hub school proposal, said his initial reaction to the report was that it potentially contained both good and bad.
“To me, it’s sad to say that the boards have come to this point where I do believe that we have to come back to this community level,” he said. “To me, the boards have become too bureaucratic — I think they used the word top-heavy in her conference there, and I believe that to be true.
“I think taking it back to the community root where it is teachers, it’s students and it’s parents all interacting together, that’s where you’re getting these great ideas like our hub school idea and other ideas how we can better spend the money we have.”
Hanham was among those consulted by Glaze across the province in the course of her study.
It’s a risk to potentially lose the local voice, Hanham said, but if bureaucracy is eliminated and local communities are empowered and given an avenue for their passion, it could benefit students.
Education Minister Zach Churchill released a brief statement Tuesday advising he will respond to the report Wednesday.