Original CKBW article can be found HERE
The Nova Scotia government announced yesterday they would be reviewing how education is administered throughout the province.
Lief Helmer is a parent and part of the organization that took the South Shore Regional School Board to court to prevent the closure of Petite Riviere Elementary School.
He calls the education system, broken.
“The boards have been reduced to governing boards or policy boards, but they don’t represent the communities they’re voted from. They say that straight up, that they have to represent the system. That’s a very amorphous concept that nobody gets.”
Helmer would rather see an Education Ministry with regional offices.
He says that would to reduce service duplication as well make those representatives accountable to the minister, and ultimately the electorate.
Helmer commends government for calling for the review but thinks the timelines are too tight.
“I’m a little concerned that three months is not enough time for somebody to become immersed in the deep level of dysfunction that exists between the department and its boards and its communities. The public trust has been broken a number of times.”
Helmer feels board superintendents have too much power.
He says that authority should be back in the hands of the elected, Minister of Education.
Helmer’s group will present their concerns to the education review committee sometime in November.