North Queens Community School among innovation fund winners

North Queens Community School in Caledonia is one of the recipients of the new School Advisory Council Innovation Fund. (NQCS Facebook page)

North Queens Community School in Caledonia is one of 26 schools across Nova Scotia awarded funding through the new School Advisory Council Innovation Fund.

The fund is sponsored by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. It provides grants of up to $10,000 to test an idea that could be expanded to other schools. The province announced the program in December to encourage new and innovative projects to support student achievement and well-being.

“I am so impressed with the creativity and commitment to bettering schools that SACs showed in their applications to the innovation fund,” said Becky Druhan, minister of education and early childhood development.

“The councils really demonstrated their deep understanding of their school communities and the things that get students engaged in their learning experience.”

The North Queens Community School’s project is a W’koum (wigwam). Led by a community elder, students will sustainably collect materials to build the structure. 

The Primary to Grade 12 school plans a community celebration when the W’koum is finished and it will be incorporated into the school’s outdoor learning environment.

School advisory councils are volunteer-driven and usually include parents and guardians, school staff, students and other community members.

The province received 128 applications for funding. More than $250,000 was awarded to recipients.

Projects will be featured at the first provincewide SAC conference in September.

Some of the other successful projects include: hydroponics to expand school gardens; a model apartment for students with special needs; and a “right to bike” program, which supplies students in grades 3, 4 and 5 with larger bicycles and safety equipment.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Nova Scotia teachers overwhelmingly support strike action

Ryan Lutes is the president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union. (Nova Scotia Teachers Union YouTube channel)

Nova Scotia teachers and educational specialists have voted 98 per cent in favour of strike action, on the eve of conciliation talks with the Nova Scotia government. 

The Nova Scotia Teachers Union released the results Thursday evening of the provincewide electronic vote by 10,313 NSTU members.

Ryan Lutes is the teachers union president. He called the strike vote a “resounding wakeup call to government.”

“The potential of job action is not something that teachers take lightly,” he said in a video statement posted to the NSTU website.

“Nobody wants a strike. But teachers are frustrated by rapidly declining conditions inside our schools and by government’s lack of attention to provide safe and healthy learning environments for students.”

Negotiations began last June.

Lutes said teachers would prefer not to strike, but they will take job action unless the Nova Scotia government addresses their concerns. 

In a union survey by 2,534 members in March and April 2023, 55 per cent said they had been the victim of a violent act or threat at work, while 92 per cent said that they’d witnessed violence “first-hand at school.” Nova Scotia’s auditor general is investigating the issue of school violence. 

A union survey of 3,519 members in February found that 84 per cent of teachers have considered leaving the profession in the past five years because of burnout, high workload, lack of resources, lack of respect from government and concerns about school violence.

“Teachers want to see an end to the escalating levels of violence they and their students are experiencing,” Lutes said.

“They want to see resources allocated to help solve the mental health crisis inside our schools. They want to see a plan to eliminate the teacher shortage that focuses on retention and ensures our substitutes aren’t amongst the lowest paid in Canada. And teachers want the government to come to the table and be prepared to negotiate a fair contract in the best interest of students and teachers but so far that just hasn’t been the case.”

The union has not revealed what kind of a salary increase they’re seeking. According to Statistics Canada, the median hourly wage for secondary school teachers in Nova Scotia in 2022 was $41.76. The national median hourly wage was $45.30.

Becky Druhan, Nova Scotia’s minister of education and early childhood development, said in a statement released Thursday evening that she is disappointed by the vote result, but not surprised.

Teachers were put in the difficult position today of voting while bargaining is ongoing and before they know what is on the table,” Druhan said.

“Today I want to reassure parents that the outcome of this vote has no impact on school operations and does not trigger a strike. This vote is only a distraction that has caused confusion and anxiety for students and their families.”

Lutes said the union has shared the government’s opening offer with teachers. He said their offer has gotten worse since negotiations began.

“It’s time to fix our schools, and our kids deserve better. It’s my sincere wish that government will see the results and come back to the table prepared to engage in meaningful discussions.”

Druhan said the province is committed to getting a deal done while keeping teachers and students in school.

“The government’s energy remains focused on working toward a negotiated agreement on the terms and conditions of teachers’ employment during our next meetings with the NSTU.”

Negotiators for the government and the union return to the table on Monday and Tuesday with the help of a provincial conciliator.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

School workers resolved to keep striking until equal wages are in place

Two women talk as one holds a union flag

NSGEU President Sandra Mullen speaks to a striking working in Chester. Photo courtesy NSGEU

School support workers are a week into their strike with no end in sight.

The members of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) Local 70 and 73 representing the South Shore and Annapolis Valley are striking to demand equal pay with their counterparts across the province.

NSGEU president Sandra Mullen says the pay scale for every other civil servant in Nova Scotia is the same regardless of where they live, and school workers should be no different.

“The wage for a nurse is the same no matter where they work and the MLAs. The base salary for an MLA is the same across this province whether they are in Metro, Sydney or Yarmouth or in between, it’s the same,” said Mullen.

Striking union members were in the Nova Scotia Legislature on Tuesday to allow MLAs to put a face on the workers on the picket line.

On the floor, NDP MLA Kendra Coombes asked Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development Becky Druhan why someone working in the minister’s own riding shouldn’t be paid the same as someone from the city.

The minister replied her government supports parity for all workers across the province, but her department is not directly involved in negotiations.

“There seems to be a misconception across the table as to who exactly is party to the collective agreements that we have in place in education,” said Druhan. “I’d like to remind the members that the parties to our agreements in education are the Regions or the CSAP and the unions. Those are the parties who bargain these deals, those are the parties who are negotiating.”

Mullen isn’t buying it.

She says under the previous school board structure each board would set their own budget and work within it when bargaining wages.

Mullen says since the previous Liberal government under Stephen McNeil abolished the school boards and created the Regional Centres for Education, the money is funnelled from the department so there’s no reason not to set provincial standards for wages.

“So, I believe they’re just throwing it back on the Regional Centre for Education as the employer. Perhaps they are the employer but there’s no doubt in my mind that the decisions they make come from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Learning [Development],” said Mullen. “That is how we have seen pre-primary programs put in every school is because its provincial it’s the same. So, if we’re going to offer the same curriculum, the same programs in all of those schools, support, outreach programs, all of those things, there’s no reason why they can’t be paid the same.”

A conciliator has invited the Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for Education and NSGEU Local 73 back to the table for a meeting Friday.

No word yet on when the South Shore Regional Centre for Education and its union will return to negotiations.

Meanwhile, striking workers are resolved to stay out of schools and walking picket lines until they get equal pay for equal work.

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Nova Scotia schools lift mask mandates

Signs posted on a lawn encouraging people to hang in there, smiles are coming back to schools

Lawn signs welcome the lifting of mask mandates in school. Photo Ed Halverson

Reaction is mixed as students won’t be required to wear masks in school for the first time when they return to class after the Victoria Day long weekend.

Masks have been mandatory in most indoor public places across Nova Scotia since July 31, 2020.

When the restrictions are lifted May 24 the province will be the last in Canada to remove mask mandates in schools.

When announcing the policy change Friday, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development Becky Druhan said masks will continue to be recommended and anyone who chooses to wear a mask will be supported.

In a release, Druhan said, “Masks helped schools mitigate the impact of COVID-19’s sixth wave. But as warmer weather approaches in June and classes can spend more time outdoors, and with Nova Scotia’s health data and school attendance data improving, now is the time to make masks optional in schools.”

In response to the announcement Doctors Nova Scotia tweeted out, “While the school mask mandate is being lifted beginning May 24, masks are still recommended in indoor spaces.”

Minister Druhan echoed the sentiment.

In her statement Druhan said, “We strongly encourage students and staff to continue to wear masks, and we will continue to support staff and students as well as continue to supply masks and hand sanitizer.”

In an interview with CBC, the chief of paediatrics at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Dr. Andrew Lynk warned that his facility is already stretched to its limits.

Lynk went on to say paediatricians across the province had hoped masking in schools would remain in place until the end of the school year on June 30 to prevent a rise in the number of children coming to hospital with COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses.

The weekly COVID update released by the province May 19 shows the number of new cases and hospitalizations continues to decline.

However, 24 people died as a result of COVID for the seven-day period ending May 16; 22 were aged 70 or older and nine lived in long-term care homes.

In an email to the school community Regional Executive Director of South Shore Regional Centre for Education Paul Ash said students, staff and visitors are encouraged to continue following core public health measures, including vaccinations, staying home if feeling unwell, following the COVID-19 daily checklist, and washing and sanitizing hands frequently.

Ash says while masks are no longer required, schools will continue to make them available to anyone who wishes.

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Child care fees dropping across Nova Scotia April 1

Queens County Daycare

Queens County Daycare. Photo Ed Halverson

Families will pay 25 percent less for child care effective Friday April 1.

The change applies for children enrolled in licensed, funded child care through the Nova Scotia Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.

Based on the child’s age, parents and guardians will save anywhere between $3 and $10.50 per day.

In a release, Becky Druhan, Nova Scotia Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development said, “This is the first fee reduction on our way to achieving $10 a day daycare, on average, for families by 2026 and a major step towards making child care more affordable and accessible for parents.”

Licensed centres that have signed-on to the 2022-23 annual funding agreement, will be provided with full funding to offset the fee reduction and which will be applied directly to bills.

Since being announced, 98 per cent of child care facility operators have signed the agreement, accounting for 99 per cent of child-care spaces in the province.

Some parents can look forward to receiving a refund as the reduced fees are applied retroactively to January 1, 2022.

Amounts paid above the new rates between January and March will be returned in the form of a cheque or credit.

Parents can expect to see the retroactive funds by the end of May.

According to the release, the province is still working on its strategy to increase wages and benefits for early childhood educators by this fall.

Nova Scotia is one of the majority of provinces that has negotiated deals with the Government of Canada and either announced reduced child-care fees or already achieved an average cost of $10-a-day or less for regulated child care.

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Shore Shore to pilot school bus safety measure

Three people stand in front of a school bus

L-R Denise Crouse, Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Becky Druhan and SSRCE Regional Executive Director Paul Ash. Photo Ed Halverson

A new pilot project running in the South Shore aims to keep students safer when travelling to and from school.

An extended stop arm has been installed on the bus serving route 245 in Hebbville to reduce red-light violations when students are entering or exiting the bus.

The new arm extends 6.5 feet out from the vehicle into the oncoming traffic lane and includes two stop signs which light up when the bus is stopped.

Transportation coordinator with South Shore Regional Centre for Education Denise Crouse says across Canada, only two other jurisdictions in BC are currently using the new arm.

“They’re seeing a huge decrease so we wanted to bring it on to the East coast to see what our data will show and what impact it will have in terms of student safety in Nova Scotia,” said Crouse.

The Hebbville bus route has the highest proportion of the 178 red light violations the SSRCE has recorded this year.

The regional office will compare those numbers with data collected on the route until the end of the year to determine if more buses will receive the extended stop arm.

Crouse says this pilot project builds on efforts the region has been making to improve student safety.

“We’ve had cameras on our fleet for a number of years but they’re not on our entire fleet,” said Crouse. “For this particular route we do have exterior cameras to catch the driver’s photo and capture their license plate which we need here in Nova Scotia in order to lay a charge.”

Each arm costs approximately $5,500 and is designed to break away if it is hit by a vehicle.

Crouse says if the pilot shows a significant reduction in red light violations the extended arms could be installed on buses across the region in a phased approach.

“It could be something that we would do on a yearly basis, so many buses per year, as we do with our camera systems,” said Crouse.

Passing a school bus from any direction when its lights are flashing is illegal in Nova Scotia.

Motorists can receive a $410 fine and a penalty of six points on their license.

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School holidays will start early due to staffing shortages

A parent walks to small children to school along a snowy path

Photo Ed Halverson

Students across Nova Scotia will enjoy an even longer December holiday as the province announced the break will start Friday instead of next Tuesday the 21.

Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development Becky Druhan says the decision was not based on public health direction but is designed to relieve staffing pressures.

“We’re very grateful and pleased that Nova Scotians are following the public health directions to self-isolate when they’re close contacts. But some of those people are people who are in the school system and that means they’re unavailable to come in to teach, to support the school or to drive buses, if those are their roles. So, as a result of the numbers of people who are on self-isolation due to being close contacts, there are challenges with operating school,” said Druhan.

The department announced just last week that students would return to class two days later than planned, on January 6.

The reasoning was to allow families to monitor students for COVID-19 before they return to school, for public health to assess COVID-19 in the province, and staff to undertake further professional development to support their teaching, while also allowing more time for families to book vaccination appointments for their children.

Druhan says the extra time will allow public health officials to make the best plans for a safe return to school.

“One of the reasons for that is about giving public health some additional time to be able to make a determination about the epidemiology and what the situation is and to ensure we have that time to have really good decisions around what measures need to be in place coming back.,” said Druhan. “And so public health will be taking the time over the holidays to make those assessments. We’ll be working very closely with them to make sure that whatever new measures need to be in place when we come back in January are ready to go.”

The announcement to extend the school break comes as the province reports 178 new cases of coronavirus.

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Government investing in health and cultural awareness at school

A woman stands at  podium in front of a school

Minister Becky Druhan announces new school funding at Hebbville Academy in Hebbville. Photo Ed Halverson

The provincial government will spend $2 million and hold down the price of a carton of milk to promote healthier living in schools.

The Healthy Schools fund, announced Monday, will provide $5,000 and a dollar per student to schools to support physical and mental health or cultural awareness.

Education and early Childhood Development Minister Becky Druhan says each school will consult with their School Advisory Councils, staff and students to determine how the money will be spent.

“One of the exciting things about this is that every school is going to be able to use it in ways that will benefit them and really meet their own needs,” said Druhan.

Those ways could include structured programming like sports teams or social activities, or less structured groups that promote health and cultural awareness within the schools.

Also announced, the school milk program will hold the price of a 250ml carton of milk to 40 cents until September 2022.

Students would have seen a price increase of five cents in January due to increased production costs before the province agreed to foot the bill for the increase for the rest of the school year.

About 330 schools participate in the school milk program.

The cost of the program has been shared between dairy producers, processors, and the department of agriculture since its launch in 1974.

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Parents group wants masks to stay on in NS schools

Parked school bus

SSRCE School Bus. Photo Ed Halverson

A parents group wants masks to stay on in public schools.

Nova Scotia Parents for Public Schools, a Facebook group with close to 18,000 members is raising their concerns after the province’s chief medical officer for health Dr. Robert Strang announced students and staff would no longer be required to wear masks beginning September 20.

Co-chair Stacey Rudderham says the decision whether or not to wear a mask can’t be left up to students.

“Kids don’t know how to make personal choices that are always in their best interests.”

Rudderham says many of the parents in her group are worried ventilation issues at their schools still haven’t been addressed.

That combined with the decision to drop the masking requirement has shaken their faith in public health direction being put forward by the province.

“Last year we saw a lot of people saying that they trusted the situation was going to be fine and after the spring, we’re not seeing a lot of that in the group anymore,” said Rudderham.

Unlike Nova Scotia, many provinces are requiring teachers to either prove they have been fully vaccinated or undergo regular COVID testing.

The lack of proof isn’t an issue for Rudderham.

Despite having any hard numbers to confirm her speculation, she’s confident the majority of teachers have had their vaccines.

“We were very aware of last spring was that the NSTU (Nova Scotia Teachers Union) and the teachers were asking to prioritized; that they should be treated like healthcare workers and they wanted to be vaccinated,” said Rudderham. “They were very much stressed out about the amount of risk that they were facing.”

The Nova Scotia Parents for Public Education group is putting together a letter outlining their concerns to present to the newly appointed Minister of Education Becky Druhan.

Rudderham expects to send that letter off to the department within the week.

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