Too many unknowns
Concerns of administrators are ‘serious and just,’ says NSTU’s Liette Doucet
Shelley Morse is stepping down as vice-principal of Aldershot Elementary because she says there are too many unknowns for administrators in Nova Scotia.
Morse will work as a guidance counsellor and split her time evenly between both Aldershot and Glooscap elementary schools. While she is looking forward to her new role, she says deciding to leave her role as administrator was not easy, but necessary.
She is not alone — other administrators in Kings County are also leaving their positions.
“Once the province removed us from the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, it really changed things. I didn’t become vice-principal to become a manager,” says Morse, who is a previous president of the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union.
Not an easy decision to leave: Doucet
The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development announced its decision to remove administrators from the NSTU on March 1. People from different streams of education — specialists and teachers alike — have continued to argue these decisions lacked consultation, but department minister Zach Churchill has been steadfast in his responses that consultation did happen.
Churchill has stated all changes were a direct result of consultation, since Dr. Avis Glaze consulted with teachers, specialists and others while completing her report.
NSTU president Liette Doucette says she has heard from many administrators who have either decided to return to teaching or leave their jobs due to the changes.
Others, she says, have also de- cided to retire, “when they’d had no intent to retire yet.”
She says it’s a hard decision for all to consider.
“They’re making the decision after a significant amount of consideration — these people have worked hard to become administrators,” she says.
Union relationship not yet defined: Morse
Morse is among those arguing proper consultation did not happen. She also says the terms and conditions provided to administrators after these changes came through lack clarity and contain points that are just too vague, such as no specifying specific daily hours, nor exact dates administrators’ school year ends.
She says the lack of specific cut offs could mean long days and long years. She added that the department has yet to clarify exactly what administrators’ relationship with the NSTU will look like.
While she loves her job, she says the unknowns became “too much” and she had to make a change.
She points to British Columbia as an example, where administrators were removed from the union and that decision was later reversed.
“I’m not comfortable working in a non-unionized environment. [People] have a constitutional right to freedom of association — that’s been legislated away from us,” she says.
“In my final years as a teacher, I decided the classroom was where I wanted to be rather than deal with these unknowns.”
The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development issued the following statement in response to a request for comment:
“Each year, some administrators make the decision to leave their positions or choose to return to the classroom for a variety of reasons. These decisions are personal and up to the individual. Of the approximate 700 principals and vice-principals in the public school system today, we have heard the vast majority will continue in their roles as educational leaders with the move to the new affiliated association in August. The Regional Centres for Education (RECs)/ CSAP are responsible for staffing and will use their normal processes to fill any open positions, and we are confident in their ability to do so. With regard to teaching, administrators may perform the duties of a teacher up to 50 per cent of their working hours during a school year.”