New school boards ready for September

A tremendous amount of hard work has been going on behind the scenes in recent months, to ensure a smooth transition in the school board consolidation process. Other than the name change, students and parents likely will not notice any difference when schools open on September 8, under the direction of the new boards.

John Ottenheimer, Minister of Education, is very pleased with the progress of existing boards, district staff, and interim committees have all been focused on ensuring a successful transition to the new board structure. "The professional staff at school board offices are committed to the education and development of our children. They have been diligently preparing for the new school year, as they do every year, ensuring everything is in place when schools open their doors to welcome children back for another year of learning," said the minister.

Existing boards and staff will be in place until August 31. As of September 1, there will be only five school districts, down from the 11 which have been in place since 1996. Former boards, mostly representing the island portion of the province, will be consolidated into the Eastern, Central and Western boards, with the Labrador and Francophone boards remaining unchanged.

"Many people have been busy during the past several months to establish the new structure. Transitional committees were established in April, with these committees to become the new school boards as of September 1, 2004. I have been speaking with the directors for the three new districts and all have expressed they are confident that the smooth transition anticipated will be a reality," said the minister. "As students throughout Newfoundland and Labrador return to classrooms to begin the 2004-05 school year, they look forward to new experiences and opportunities, with very little evidence of a changed administrative and governance structure. I would like to thank all those, particularly school board staff, outgoing board members and transitional committees for their commitment in achieving this seamless transition."

The structural change is a result of a shrinking student population, and the recognition that there needed to be a corresponding adjustment to administration levels. In 1971-72 there were approximately 163,000 students in our schools. Today there are 50 per cent fewer students with a continued reduction projected for at least another 10 years. Since education reform in 1996-97, the number of schools has declined 29 per cent (from 432 to 305 schools), the number of students has declined by 23 per cent.

The headquarters for each new district, in St. John's, Gander and Corner Brook, will have the offices of the director of education and assistant directors of programs, personnel and finance. Each of the new districts will also have regional education centres, located where there were previously board offices, which will have a senior administrator, program specialists, student support services, itinerant teachers, and student transportation and maintenance services.

Media contact: Lynn Salter, Communications, (709) 729-0048

2004 08 27                                      10:50 a.m.