Principals given one year to decide
Decision: leave union or go back to classroom
Cars parked on Water Street are dwarfed by a giant tree stump. A town committee is considering suggestions from the public that the stump could be turned into a planter or decorated like a gnome home.
Public school principals and vice-principals will be given a year to decide if they want to continue in their current roles or return to the teaching ranks and remain in the Nova Scotia Teachers Union.
“This a response to concerns that we are getting on the road, meeting with teachers and principals,” Minister Zach Churchill said Thursday afternoon, Feb. 15, during a short break in meeting with front-line educators and advisers in Cape Breton.
“We don’t want people feeling forced to make a decision in a pressure-cooker,” Churchill said. “We want people to have the time and space to make a good decision that’s informed and that is in their best interests and the best interests of the kids and the system.”
Changes are coming
That system will look much different come September and a new school year. The province has accepted all 22 recommendations of the report from Avis Glaze that advises sweeping educational administrative changes, including the elimination of the elected English-language school boards, the removal of principals and vice-principals from the union, and the creation of a college of teachers that will govern discipline and licensing.
The government intends to introduce legislation to support the Glaze report recommendations when the House reconvenes at the end of this month. Originally principals, vice- principals and administrators were only going to be given only about three weeks from the time the legislation would pass until an end-ofMarch deadline to decide their futures.
You have senority, do you have a job?
To allow principals and viceprincipals to return to the class- room full- time will require available teaching positions.
“We will ensure that there is a smooth transition back into teaching if there are those who decide to pursue that option,” Churchill said, promising that any principal or vice-principal who decides to return to the front of the class will find a job there.
Liette Doucet, president of the NSTU and its 9,600 members, said administrators should not have to make the choice.
“While it is positive the minister is willing to keep the lines of communications open, it is unfortunate he is still not open to doing the proper thing for our education system,” Doucet said in a release after speaking earlier with Churchill. “In essence the government’s position has not changed. As I have stated before, teachers are not prepared to allow (Premier) Stephen McNeil do to our schools what he has already done to our hospitals.”
Doucet said the Glaze report as presented will bring chaos to the education system at the expense of students.
“What is worse is that the government has taken our public education system down this path without any meaningful consultation. Our position remains the same, the government needs to halt the implementation of the Glaze report and collaborate with teachers, students and parents to help create meaningful change in our schools.”
She said it is clear the public is not comfortable with the government implementing the Glaze report.
Churchill said he has heard from teachers who are concerned about the recommendation for a student progress assessment office.
“I want to reassure teachers that any changes involving student assessment will not be part of the spring legislation,” he said. “We will continue to talk to and listen to teachers while we determine how to address this recommendation.”