July 23, 1997 (Education)
Government announces it will appeal Barry's Decision
Roger Grimes, Minister of Education, announced that Government will file a
notice of appeal of the recent decision of Mr. Justice Barry. While it
may not be possible to have the results of a successful appeal implemented
in time for September, it is nonetheless important to appeal the decision.
The decision of Mr. Justice
Barry has effectively placed the whole of the school system in the hands of
the two denominational representatives, Dr. Melvin Regular for the
Pentecostal Education Committee, and Dr. Bonaventure Fagan for the Catholic
Education Committee.
Further, the Government believes
Mr. Justice Barry's decision is wrong in a number of other aspects and
should not go unchallenged. The ten school boards, also respondents in
the case, have indicated that they will also be filing a notice of appeal.
Mr. Grimes indicated that the
immediate priority for Government now is to let students, parents and
teachers know which schools will be open in September and where students
will go and what teacher assignments will be. Mr. Grimes asked Dr.
Regular and Dr. Fagan to advise the school boards which schools they wished
to see reopened in line with
Justice Barry's decision. There has still been no indication as to
what they, the Roman Catholic and Pentecostal Denominational
representatives, want to do.
Mr. Grimes said, "we need
to get schools open for September and it is very frustrating to watch the
days tick by and still no notice to school boards as to what the
intentions of these two gentlemen may be. It is astonishing to see so
much power vested in the hands of two individuals. They are holding up
the whole system."
The government remains committed
to a high quality education system which meets the needs of our children.
That is the objective of education reform. The Government has
not been swayed from its commitment to reform. Mr. Grimes said,
"we are continuing to explore all of our options for the longer term
including a review of Term 17 to ensure that education reform
proceeds."
Contact: Carl Cooper, Director
of Communications, Department of Education, (709) 729-5040.
1997 07 23 11:00 a.m.
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