03.11.05

The Western Star

Last week, opposition education critic Eddie Joyce revealed a Tory plan to cut an additional 54 teaching positions from the western school district this year.
That would bring the grand total of teacher layoffs in this area to 114 since the government brought out the trimming shears last year.
It’s hard to understand or justify how almost one quarter of the government’s planned teacher layoffs came from the mainly rural schools of western Newfoundland and southern Labrador.
It doesn’t jibe with the government’s line about investing in the rural areas of this province.
The teachers we have are working flat out to provide the best possible education under the circumstances. But there simply aren’t enough of them to deliver the quality of education children deserve.
When you press government officials on this point they’ll usually refer to studies pointing out ideal ratios of teacher to students.
Unfortunately, those figures don’t apply to every institution. Rural schools face unique challenges in terms of the total number of teachers in a school. Because of the layoffs, larger centres face classroom overcrowding while rural communities face staff room under-crowding.
Teachers are trying to deal with up to four grades at once to children who come from a wide range of backgrounds. Forget about special ed. teachers and social workers to deal with the third world neglect some children in the outports are faced with. They’d be lucky to get enough funding for an annual class trip — visits to the local volunteer fire department notwithstanding.
The layoffs have fostered a climate where most teachers are afraid to speak out against the Tory government. They’re not sticking their necks out to reveal the desperate situation they face in the more remote schools where child poverty and neglect reign. As for school administrators, they’ll tell you — off the record of course — that they’re under a strict gag order. They politely direct all inquiries to the school district head office.
Morale is low at many schools in the district and the stresses on the system are starting to show.
Literacy rates in this province are still way below the national average and youth in rural Newfoundland and Labrador are faced with an uphill battle.
It’s true that one good teacher can make all the difference to a child and every teacher laid off is one less touchstone for some young pupil out there. The province needs to cut spending and shrink government, yet it found enough money to launch a new television ad telling residents how fortunate they are to live here.
Half a million dollars may not sound like a lot of money for an ad, but try saying that to a teacher who’s job is on the line because the government claims it needs to save every penny.