Education Review Panel Update – May 13, 2014

As you may know, the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development announced on February 19  that an Education Review Panel would be set up to ask for public input on what is working with public school education and what needs to be improved. This panel is headed by former Lieutenant Governor Myra Freeman and includes five other people.

There is also a partners’ advisory group set up to advise the panel representing a diverse group of organizations and educational partners.  Shortly after the announcement on February 19, I wrote to the Minister to ask that support staff be given at least one representative (preferably, two) on this advisory group. I also offered to assist in finding one or two persons to serve in this capacity.   However, after the Minister turned down our request, I wrote back to ask her to reconsider.

In the meantime, we think it is important for as many members as possible to participate in this consultation process. The School Board Occupational Council met on May 2 and decided to ask all members to complete the on-line survey which can be found at: http://novascotia.ca/review

You can also participate by:

• e-mailing educationreview@gov.ns.ca
• phoning 1-844-424-3777
• tweeting at @NSEdReview
• mailing a letter or written submission to the Minister’s Panel on Education c/o Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, P.O. Box 578 Halifax NS B3J 2S9

The Occupational Council also decided to ask all of our School Board Locals to use and fill out the discussion guide which can be found at http://novascotia.ca/review as well.

Some key themes or topics for our members identified by the Occupational Council were (as found on pages 6 and 9 of the Discussion Guide):

• Supports for Students
• Equity and Human Rights
• Partnerships
• School Climate
• Organization of Schools.

Of course, we encourage you and your Locals to bring forward any other topic of concern in the survey or in using the discussion guide.

Please note that the deadline for all submissions is Friday, June 13.

Feel free to contact us with any questions by calling Nicole McKim (Employee Relations Officer) or Ian Johnson (Servicing Coordinator/Policy Analyst) at 1.877.556.7438 (toll-free) or 424-4063 (in HRM), or by sending us an email at: inquiry@nsgeu.ca

Thank you in advance for your participation in this Education Review.

In solidarity,

Joan Jessome

President

Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union