NSTU concerned with school closure review announcement

HALIFAX, April 4, 2013 /CNW/ - Nova Scotia Teachers Union president Shelley Morse is concerned with potential ramifications of the suspension of the school-review process announced yesterday by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

"Is the department prepared to provide the school boards additional funding to absorb the cost of maintaining small schools?" asks Morse. Morse goes on to say that the Minister herself has said that "you cannot have school closures just to balance budgets," so one would assume that any board deciding to delay school closures would be given some funding reprieve.

"I have concerns that without additional funding the programs and services that are offered to students will be negatively affected," says Morse. "School boards, school board members, teachers, students and their families have suffered through the stresses of the school review and closure process for months now and it would now seem that it was all for naught."

The Nova Scotia Teachers Union represents more than 10,000 public school teachers, Community College faculty and professional support staff in Nova Scotia, and teachers who work for the Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Since 1895, it has worked to improve the quality of public education offered to children and youth in Nova Scotia, while promoting and advancing the teaching profession in the province.

SOURCE: NOVA SCOTIA TEACHERS UNION

Angela Murray, NSTU Public Relations Coordinator
Telephone: [phone], Cell: 902-497-0194,
Email: [email protected]