www.ChrisLaBossiere.com

I support Education Minister Dave Hancock's decision to suspend the elected board of the Northland School board, and replace it with an appointed "Official trustee". At the earliest indications, I am a supporter of the decision. For two principle reasons:

1) The facts speak for themselves. There is a major problem with the results and work of the board:

Accountability Pillar Results for Northland School Division

The Accountability Pillar measures results on a set of 16 criteria of success including both survey results and student outcome measures such as dropout rates, high school completion rates and post-secondary transition rates, as well student performance on Provincial Achievement Tests and Diploma Examinations.

Students in Northland School Division achieve results considerably below those of students elsewhere in the province.  Some of the most significant measures included in the latest Accountability Pillar report of October 2009 highlight this difference: 

• The percentage of Northland students who complete high school within three years of entering Grade 10 is at 19.6 per cent  when compared to 70.7 per cent  for the province;
• The overall percentages of Northland students achieving the Acceptable Standard on Provincial Achievement Tests (40.4 per cent) and Diploma Examinations (40.5 percent), compared to the provincial average at 76.8 and 84.4 per cent respectively;
• The percentage of Northland students writing four or more Diploma Examinations is 5.6 per cent compared to 53.3 per cent provincially; and
• 13 per cent of Northland students between the ages of 14 and 18 drop out of school compared to 4.8 per cent of students elsewhere in the province.

2) Minister Hancock has proven himself to be a very considerate proponent of teachers, education and children of the Province. His wife Janet is a well-respected high school teacher, and I trust him that he "gave this course of action careful and serious consideration, and am disappointed at having to enforce this section of the School Act,.."

Also, I saw the response of the Alberta Teachers Association, and on Twitter today they posted this:

I don't take everything the union says as gospel, but when speaking in generalities, I trust teachers more than I do politicians. Clearly they see a major problem here, and as they say, exceptional circumstances warranting the decision.

Minister Hancock's statement to the press today adds a very real perspective, "[What] I had to determine is, do we continue to work at an incremental level or do we need a seismic shift? And I think we need a seismic shift."

However necessary, the decision is only going to set a new start-line. Unless real change is proposed by the the interim Trustee and three-member inquiry team, things could get much worse.

This story is indicative of a much greater problem in our Province. There is a major disconnect between our existing legislation and governance models and what might be required by our remote, largely aboriginal communities. There needs to be a major shift in how we approach these problems, and in my personal opinion it will require a serous committment to deal with aboriginal poverty and finding respectful methods of aboriginal self-governance which do not entirely impose broad-brushed methods. Of course we need to protect basic human rights, and that is what I believe the Minister is doing here.

As Minister Hancock says himself, "we must recognize that we do not have all the answers,” said Hancock.  “The feedback and advice that we receive from community, staff and student participants in this important process is fundamental to making true transformative change in the division. We must come together to focus first and foremost on the interests of students.”

Of course this is true, but unless the goverment actually makes a serious investment in policy and governance change, and not just write oil-revenue cheques, the divide will get even worse.