South Coast Today - Tri-County School Board

Casey should stop sitting on her hands and protect school libraries, says education critic

Timothy Gillespie — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 18:35:38 +0000

NDP MLA and education critic Lenore Zann says in a news release Tuesday that Education minister Karen Casey must ensure that the needs of rural schools are being met and she is calling on the minister to take action to prevent elementary school library cuts in the Tri-County Regional school district.

This summer the school board was forced to eliminate over 30 jobs due to the McNeil government’s budget cuts, says the release, including 20 teaching positions and 4.3 (FTE) elementary school library technician positions - which means all elementary school librarians have been eliminated in the region.

“The Liberals made big election promises when it came to education funding, but in rural communities families are seeing nothing but cuts and school closures,” says Zann. "To make matters worse they set up the Hub School model in such a way that it was doomed to fail. It’s time the McNeil government starts keeping the promises it made to students and families in rural Nova Scotia. A good place to start would be to reverse these cuts to school libraries and staff.”

In 2012 Karen Casey was quoted as saying, “Libraries are the hub of learning and research in schools but librarians are essential in fostering independent learning, literacy, and in preparation for post-secondary education.”

Three years later Zann wants the Minister to stand by her words.

“If the Minister truly meant what she said just three years ago, she will stop sitting on her hands and do what’s necessary to protect school libraries in the Tri-County region,” adds Zann.

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NS govt aware of Tri-County schools problems before AG report

Timothy Gillespie — Thu, 12 Feb 2015 10:29:53 +0000

No clue about board dysfunction [cbc image]

Nova Scotia's highest ranking education official says the province was aware of problems at the Tri-County Regional School Board before the auditor general's critical examination.

However, Sandra McKenzie, the deputy minister of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, said it wasn't until auditors reported back to the department that it became clear the problem was the board's lack of understanding of its central role.

See full story at CBC
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/tri-county-school-board-s-problems-known-before-audit-says-province-1.2953455

SEE PREVIOUS STORY:

Tri-County School Board, management get poor grades from AG, special advisor assigned

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Tri-County School Superintendent before Public Accounts Committee

Timothy Gillespie — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 12:38:50 +0000

Live-streamed hearing 9:00am Today

Tri-County Regional School Board superintendent Lisa Doucet will appear before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts on Wednesday at 9:00am at Province House in Halifax.

NOTE Watch the committee hearing live streamed at 9:00am today HERE.

Appearing with her will be Department of Education and Early Childhood Development deputy minister Sandra McKenzie.

The pair are likely to be grilled by committee members on the scathing report in December by Auditor General Michael Pickup, in which the AG detailed many problems with the governing board of the TCRSB. Pickup noted that the board doesn't’t ask for information on student performance, nor teacher and principal development and evaluation.

He said the board doesn't appropriately evaluate the superintendent’s performance, nor does it have a process to gauge its own progress as a board.

Further, the school board management is not monitoring student performance in many subject areas, according to the AG. [see report HERE]

The board apparently failed to discuss student performance with any vigor, according to the AG. "Given the importance of student academic performance, we expected this would be a frequent topic at governing Board meetings. However, we found this topic was rarely discussed at either Board or Education Committee meetings. This is despite below-average student achievement results on provincial assessments in the last two academic years, as outlined in the following chart," the report stated.

TCRSB ranked last or next to last (out of seven boards) in several areas of provincial student assessment results.

Pickup released a list of ten recommendations to the board and the government assigned Dr. Jim Gunn as a ministerial advisor to work with the Board.

In January, the Board accepted a report listing preliminary activities that will help the Board work with Dr. Gunn.

That list includes discussing the report at every Board meeting, holding public meetings dedicated to the recommendations, expanding understanding of Board governance.

Noted for its private, in-camera sessions, the Board has also decided to have in-camera sessions after each Board meeting to discuss the meeting.

In a report to the Board, Lisa Doucet said senior staff was committed to working through the problems, but that principals have told her that moral of staff at some schools was down after the Auditor General’s report.

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