NLTA gives Greene Report failing grade

Association president says some recommendations ‘ill-informed and insulting’ to teachers

Members of the Premier’s Economic Recovery Team (PERT) could have used some tutoring on the province’s public education system before making recommendations to cut costs and suggest changes to administration and labour agreements, the association that represents teachers said on Friday.

Dean Ingram, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association (NLTA), said the Greene Report released by Dame Moya Greene on Thursday lacks vision when referring to K-12 education.

“The recommendations for public education will devastate communities, especially in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, and send the wrong message to young people, families and immigrants,” Ingram said. “Now is not the time for austerity, but for a proactive vision and plan for the future, a future that includes strong public services and good jobs that will attract and retain professionals and their families.”

Among the recommendations for the K-12 education system in the report is the suggestion to streamline administration by eliminating the province’s two school districts, and ensuring principals, viceprincipals and other supervisory staff are not members of the NLTA.

“Being in the same union puts administrators in conflict with the people they supervise,” it stated.

It also recommended changing school opening and closing hours for teachers to an eight-hour workday “so they can use non-teaching time for professional upgrading and collaboration.”

Ingram called this suggestion “ill-informed and insulting.”

The Greene Report was tasked with reviewing government expenditures, the province’s fiscal capacity and how services are delivered in an effort to develop a plan to pull the province out of its fiscal crisis.

It stated it found many financial gaps and inefficiencies in the K-12 system.

The report noted that of the 259 schools in the province, 45 have fewer than 50 students, and 22 Englishlanguage schools have fewer than 25 students — including three schools with no students and 11 with between one and 10 students. It suggests the province should find a way to reduce the number of schools, such as funding students to attend larger schools.

“Rather than looking at the best way to spend existing funds, new funding has been provided to address gaps,” the report states.

Ingram on Friday addressed a number of these issues and said the NLTA looks forward to the consultation process to come on the report.

“‘The Big Reset’ report is critical of the provincial public K-12 education system, its teachers, the curriculum and government’s ongoing implementation of recommendations made in 2017 by the Premier’s Task Force on Improving Educational Outcomes,” Ingram said. “Yet there was nobody on (PERT) with extensive background, experience or expertise in public education. By way of consultation, the NLTA was afforded one meeting with Dame Greene for less than an hour in late November of 2020.”

Ingram said that to “level up” the K-12 system as the report suggests would mean there would be no public education offered to children in rural areas of the province.

“The only solution proposed in the report is to pay families to be separated from their children for the duration of each school year,” he said. “There is no talk of rural renewal or the many contributions that our rural communities make to the provincial economy.”

Ingram also said the report demonstrates a “disturbing lack of understanding of and appreciation for the reality of teachers’ workdays.”

He said that outside of instruction time, teachers spend time preparing for class and evaluating assignments, writing reports and supervising students before class, during recess and lunch breaks, and following dismissal. He said teachers make contact with families after regular school hours, attend after-school meetings with parents and colleagues, and volunteer time for extracurricular activities such as sports, music, drama and student leadership programs.

The Greene Report also focused on the salaries and benefits of public employees, which cost the province $3.49 billion and make up 41 per cent of government expenses.

It recommends the provincial government work with public-sector unions to develop new compensation packages and that pensions be converted to a collective defined contribution plan in three years, that the government freeze wages and that the province enact balancedbudget legislation.

If negotiations with publicsector unions to develop new compensation packages fail, the report suggests that the provincial government enact legislation to impose a settlement the province can afford.

Ingram said the NLTA will fight any changes to its collective agreement.

“The disrespect for the public sector and negotiations is appalling. The NLTA is always willing to engage in good-faith discussions with government. However, Dame Greene’s blatant call for a legislated approach to settling labour relations matters is an unwarranted attack on constitutionally protected collective bargaining rights,” Ingram said. “I will say again that the NLTA and its members will respect collective agreements that they negotiated and gave concessions to achieve. The NLTA and its members will respect the pension reform agreement that they negotiated and gave concessions to achieve. And to be clear, we will fight any attempt by government to legislate changes to these agreements.”