A local educator fought back tears as she shared her experiences of teaching in Pictou County in front of parents Thursday night, describing every day as “a constant triage for me.”
For Nikki MacInnis, that means juggling the needs of students who may have autism spectrum disorder, mental health challenges, or simply come to school hungry because their parents cannot afford to feed them.
“We’re struggling, I will admit it. And so are the students,” said MacInnis in her speech at the Pictou County Wellness Centre.
She joined fellow educators and union representatives one day after teachers voted for strike action in a bid to halt planned sweeping reforms to education by the government recommended by education consultant Dr. Avis Glaze.
These include removing principals and vice-principals from the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, as well as scrapping elected regional school boards in favour of a central advisory council.
Teachers asked why the government was pressing ahead with such reforms when children are struggling and classroom conditions remain tough.
MacInnis and her fellow teachers are often forced to spend their own money to help students needing help in class.
“Every dollar I spend on my classroom is a dollar I don’t have for my own family,” she said.
As tensions build, MacInnis did not want to name her school, fearing possible trouble from her employers after teachers in Halifax were warned against speaking out.
However, she had a clear message for Premier Stephen McNeil and Minister of Education Minister Zach Churchill.
“I’d want them to visit our classrooms and see the conditions that we work in, the conditions that our students come in and to focus on these kids and not necessarily the bureaucracies,” said MacInnis.
Parent Mandy Cholmondeley, whose child goes to school in Thorburn, said the government should not run the education system like a business.
She said that teachers are often taken for granted, despite how much “they actually help to raise our children.”
But if teachers do not receive the support and resources they need, students will suffer, a situation that left both her and other parents “frustrated and angry.”
“It just snowballs into how they grow up and how they develop,” said Cholmondeley.
Her question for McNeil and Churchill was blunt.
“I’d like to ask them where their conscience is,” said Cholmondeley.
Canadian Union of Public Employees Nova Scotia President Nan MacFadgen said the education reforms were coming at a time when 100,000 Nova Scotians still do not have a family doctor and many people in the province live in poverty.
She was alluding to the centralization of regional health authorities into the single Nova Scotia Health Authority three years ago, which she said was a failure.
“When you have a government that will not talk to labour, the whole province has a problem,” said MacFadgen.
She added that the NSTU had “proven its worth,” by fighting for children’s education in the province.
