If you missed it, I’m sure you weren’t alone. Let us first recall The Week that now, thankfully, was. First, of course, there was the emergency session of the legislature scheduled for last Monday night, but which was delayed a day by Snowmageddon #1. Our premier apparently needed not only a weatherman, but also the entire...
An Injury to All
What the teachers' strike shows us about reparations, and what the reparations movement teaches us about educational justice.
On Friday, teachers in Nova Scotia walked out in a historic strike. Locally, the teachers’ resistance is a blow against the Liberal Government’s “war on labour.” As Larry Haiven writes: Eager to balance the provincial budget by the end of its first term, the Liberal government has declared war on labour. It introduced a spate of […]
The finger thing means the taxes! Morning File, Thursday, February 16, 2017
News 1. Weather There’s more weather. 2. Teachers strike The Nova Scotia Teachers Union has called a one-day strike for Friday, issuing the following statement yesterday morning: The complete lack of respect displayed by Stephen McNeil and his government towards teachers, students and their families has left NSTU members with no choice but to initiate a […]
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! Morning File, Wednesday, February 15, 2017
News 1. Teacher Appreciation Week This is National Teacher Appreciation Week. What better time to force a contract on teachers, eh? It will no doubt be a week of theatrics, true drama, protests, and unexpected twists at Province House. Strike? “The president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union would not rule out a full strike […]
Apocalypse Now: Morning File, Monday, February 13, 2017
News 1. Monster Lizard Everything is cancelled, including transit, schools, universities, malls, liquor stores, etc… everything except Province House. 2. Teachers On Saturday, Premier Stephen McNeil called the legislature into session for 8pm tonight in order to introduce legislation forcing a contract on teachers. His press release: This week, the third deal recommended by the Nova Scotia Teachers’ […]
Another Monday in Chaos
It’s Monday. So it must be time for the latest zig in the zig-zaggy, twisty-turny, tortured tale of Stephen McNeil and the Nova Scotia Teachers Union.
It’s Monday. So it must be time for the latest zig in the zig-zaggy, twisty-turny, tortured tale of Stephen McNeil and the Nova Scotia Teachers Union. On Friday afternoon, the union announced its 9,300 members would resume their work-to-rule job action today because — in the words of union president Liette Doucet — “we don’t...
Perplexed by Wanda’s strange disappearance: Morning File, Wednesday, January 25, 2017
News 1. Teachers “Nova Scotia’s 9,300 public school teachers got their first look at the latest contract offer from the province Tuesday with union leaders telling them it was ‘the best deal that was available,’” reports Michael Gorman for the CBC: The four-year deal is worth an extra $60 million, but it was given a lukewarm reception, at […]
The playground where hope goes to die: Morning File, Monday, January 16, 2017
News 1. Teachers “Officials with the provincial government and the Nova Scotia Teachers Union will resume contract talks on Monday,” reports Michael Gorman for the CBC: A day after the two sides reached an impasse, which cancelled talks that were scheduled for Sunday, the union announced in a news release they would meet with a conciliation officer again beginning […]
Teachers: light at the end of the tunnel? What tunnel?
In my role as a university professor, I occasionally visit classrooms to talk with students. Those brief forays into the P-12 school system have given me some modest appreciation for the incredible work the best of our teachers do, and the increasingly difficult circumstances in which they do it.
It’s been a full week since the Liberal caucus revolt Stephen McNeil insists never happened; since Education Minister Karen Casey’s 180-degree, we-must-close-all-the-schools-right-now-to-protect-student-safety/no-we-will-reopen-all-the-schools-tomorrow-to-protect-our-government’s future; since the government called its special session of the House of Assembly to pass legislation to impose a rejected contract on the province’s 9,300 teachers, then sent the MLAs home with nothing...
How the government chose to build two new schools in the “right” place in the right pre-election time
Perhaps they wrote the names of the two schools on sheets of paper and put them in a hat, picking them out one by one. “Oh, look, Karen, you won,” says the premier. “My turn! My turn!”
The very suggestion the Nova Scotia government would cherry-pick new school building projects from the bottom of the priority pile simply because said schools would be built in constituencies held by Education Minister Karen Casey and Premier Stephen McNeil, is — cue the harrumphs — “a ridiculous comment to make.” So says the minister herself....