N.S. aims to move faster to address school violence following auditor general report

Nova Scotia's Department of Education has promised to accelerate its timeline on improving policies related to violence in schools, including its provincial school code of conduct.

Deputy minister Elwin LeRoux told members of the public accounts committee on Wednesday morning that a rough draft of the updated code of conduct policy should be ready by the end of September.

This comes in response to a report on school violence by Nova Scotia's auditor general Kim Adair, which was released last week. The report found that school staff are not equipped to deal with rising rates of violent incidents in schools, citing 27,000 incidents reported last year.

That's an increase of 60 per cent in the last seven years.

Adair's report also provided a host of recommendations to the department of education including:

• An update to the provincial school code-of-conduct policy

• The implementation of a province-wide strategy to address school violence

• Improving data collection and tracking of violent incidents

The department has agreed to implement all of Adair's recommendations by September 2025. However, LeRoux said they understand the "urgency of this work," which is why Minister Becky Druhan has moved up the timelines in some areas.

In addition to consultations around the code of conduct, which are currently underway with School Advisory Councils, the department hopes to see "meaningful progress" in a few areas by September 2024.

LeRoux said the department wants to ensure people working on the front lines have a say in what supports are available in schools, have discussions around how to best use education assistants and clarify provincial direction around disciplinary action, including suspensions.

Ryan Lutes, president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union said he agrees with the findings outlined by the auditor general, adding that school violence is often "downplayed and minimized."

After the meeting, he told reporters that he's hopeful the department will make good on its commitments to addressing school violence, but based on previous track records, he is wary.

"I've seen issues come up and not get addressed. We've seen reports sit on the shelf and not get funded, but I was encouraged by some of the words coming out of the deputy," said Lutes.

CUPE not invited to the table 

In addition to LeRoux and Lutes, the chair of the Public School Administrators Association of Nova Scotia (PSAANS) was present as a witness in front of the committee; however, no one from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) was invited to the table.

At the beginning of the meeting, NDP MLA Lisa Lachance tabled a motion suggesting someone from CUPE, the union representing school support staff, be part of the discussion, but the motion failed.

Instead, several CUPE members sat in the audience for the duration of the two-hour meeting.

LeRoux assured the committee that all school staff will be consulted as the department works to address violence in schools, but Mary Fougere with CUPE believes support workers should have had a seat at the table on Wednesday.

"Violence disproportionately affects our members, teaching assistants included, so to not have had the opportunity to contribute to the discussion, I think, really impacts how the decisions are made to address it," said Fougere.

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