PORT HASTINGS: The Strait regional school board (SRSB) continues to alter bus routes, bring in paid and volunteer supervisors and make other adjustments to accommodate the work-to-rule job action launched by Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) members earlier this week at schools across the province.
The board’s superintendent of schools, Ford Rice, used part of Wednesday night’s regular monthly board meeting in Port Hastings to provide an update on the SRSB’s approach to the NSTU’s work-to-rule directive, which has its members arriving 20 minutes before classes begin, leaving 20 minutes after classes end, and foregoing any involvement in extracurricular activities.
Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Rice insisted that he and the province’s six other school board superintendents have spent several weeks in communication with each other and with the provincial Department of Early Education and Childhood Development (EECD), with regard to potential safety issues that could arise if the NSTU proceeded with strike action or a work-to-rule directive in light of failed contract negotiations between the teachers’ union and the provincial government.
“This didn’t happen on Friday afternoon [December 2],” said Rice, referring to EECD consultation with superintendents that Education Minister Karen Casey cited on December 3 when defending her decision to shut schools down across the province.
“In terms of communication with the department, it wasn’t a one-time event, it was a process. We’ve had continuous conversation with the minister and [EECD] throughout the last number of weeks. And throughout those consultations and communications that we had, the safety concern of the school board became evident.”
Asked whether the safety factor had changed significantly by the time Casey reversed her decision on December 4, the only official closure day as of press time, the superintendent replied: “It was the minister’s decision to re-open the schools, and the minister has already answered those questions in the media, so any further questions regarding that would be directed to the minister.”
In the meantime, the board’s contingency plans include changes to 41 bus routes to ensure students arrive and leave the school within the 20-minute timeframe outlined in the NSTU work-to-rule directive. Rice confirmed last week that the board is still tweaking the system to accommodate for a lingering number of students that are still arriving at, or departing from, schools that have no NSTU staff on duty at the time.
“We’ve slowed down our buses, we’ve changed the routes, so that the buses don’t arrive at schools prior to the 20 minutes, but we still have a number of schools where that’s not possible,” Rice confirmed.
“In all of the schools except for one, we still have paid supervisors who are there about 30 minutes before [classes begin], so they would supervise the children once they get off the bus until the teachers of those students show up, about 10 to 20 minutes later.”
The SRSB is also working with its school administrators to ensure that enough supervision is available to students during the recess and lunch hours, through the use of community members that fall under the board’s policies regarding volunteers on school grounds, as well as a small number of paid supervisors.
While the work-to-rule directive has taken its toll on some extracurricular activities, including the cancellation of three of the board’s in-school breakfast programs, the superintendent remained optimistic that the board will continue to adjust to the new reality taking shape across the province’s public education system.
“Give us another couple of days and we’ll have all the wrinkles worked out, so that we can put as much effort into students’ education as possible,” Rice told board members during his presentation.