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Liberal Opposition Critic for Education and MHA for the District
of Port De Grave, Roland Butler, says staff reductions slated
for the School for the Deaf are based on money saving motives
and are not in the best interest of the students nor the staff.
The Liberal MHA was reacting to the news yesterday that the
provincial government plans to cut 28 jobs at the Newfoundland
School for the Deaf. The minister of education asserts that the
full range of services will be guaranteed, notwithstanding that
only six staff will now be assuming these duties.
"The minister isn’t living in reality if she thinks that a
half dozen staff can now provide the same level of service to
students that previously took 34 support staff to handle,"
states Butler. "This so-called guarantee comes from a minister
whose department only claimed a few weeks ago that nothing could
be further from the truth, in response to my asking her to
verify if the school was closing. Well, a 75 per cent reduction
in staff is not far from a closure by any standard.
"This is clearly a decision that is driven by the almighty
dollar and for the minister to try and sell this as a new
staffing model is a desperate public relations attempt. The
minister must also be taken to task for the way that this
decision was announced without properly informing the staff, and
according to NAPE, many of these staff members are on holidays
and will likely hear of this downsizing through the media.
"This is the same government who campaigned only a few short
years ago on the promise not to engage in "selling and telling"
exercises, but pledged to consult and inform those affected by
government decisions." Butler points out that this same
uncompassionate approach was used by government just last month
when the relocation of the marine services sector to Lewisporte
was announced through the media by the MHA and not by the
minister of transportation.
"These ongoing decisions are either politically or monetary
driven and they are coming from an arrogant government which has
lost all sense of accountability to the people for the promises
they made."
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