School board trustee elections long overdue, says Dale Kirby
Liberals say having non-elected members is 'unfair' and 'unacceptable'
The Liberals are calling on Newfoundland and Labrador's largest school board to elect new trustees, arguing it is "unfair" to have important decisions made by non-elected representatives.
The current trustees were chosen from the four school districts that were amalgamated to form the English School District two years ago.
At that time, the minister of education committed to holding school board trustee elections within one year.
Now, Opposition education critic and St. John's North MHA Dale Kirby said the fact that elections have yet to take place shows a clear violation of the Schools Act, which calls for trustees to be elected soon after a new district or board is created.
"They are basically violating the law as it pertains to public schooling in Newfoundland and Labrador, and it's antithetical to the notion of democratic school government," Kirby told CBC News.
"It's completely wrong, and they need to get their act together now and tell the public what their plan is."
Claims current situation is unfair and undemocratic
Kirby said he wants to see new trustees chosen before the provincial election on Nov. 30.
"After this election is over we'll be about three years into the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District being in existence," he said.
"Three years without elected school board trustees — that's absurd, that's ludicrous."
Kirby said the current situation, where non-elected board trustees are running all of the English schools in the province with no accountability, is unfair and unacceptable.
"Right now we've got a bunch of hand-picked school board trustees running all of the English schools in the province, making decisions around everything from curriculum, to human resources, staffing, infrastructure and so on with no accountability to the public," he said.
"The whole idea of having elected school board trustees is fundamental to the whole notion of public schooling that we have, not just In Newfoundland and Labrador, but in Canada and the English-speaking world," Kirby said.
"They are basically violating the law as it pertains to public schooling in Newfoundland and Labrador and it's antithetical to the notion of democratic school government."
With files from Mark Quinn