Education system on wrong path

I have carefully read every word of the recently released Glaze Report for reforming the education system in Nova Scotia. The report is lengthy and very complex. It references so many situations, issues, challenges and educational models, etc., that it becomes mind boggling.

However, it appears Nova Scotia’s Stephen McNeil government has decided to implement the report and its associated recommendations.

I am a retired school teacher who spent 37 years in the classroom and I have no confidence that this particular government will do anything to improve the situation for today’s students, particularly those with learning disabilities who are in immediate need of more resources.

Make no mistake, the Liberal government is striving to centralize and consolidate its control over the education system as they have done in the health care sector and we should expect no better results. Local input and decision-making will become a distant memory.

The Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union, teachers, administrators, school board members and, particularly, parents of students should challenge the McNeil government MLAs to publicly show how each of the recommendations will improve the situation for students in the classroom. Educators and related stakeholders should fill gymnasiums across the province and demand local MLAs attend meetings and provide the rationale for implementing each recommendation.

If not challenged, I expect the McNeil government will soon have all public school teachers and administrators as disillusioned and despondent as our local doctors. We best not let this happen or our students will be negatively impacted by sheer political manipulation as has been experienced by medical patients across Nova Scotia.

Now is the time to find out if your local MLA is representing your local community or exercising blind loyalty in following the arrogant dictates of Premier McNeil.

Ray Kavanaugh New Waterford