Fix our nova scotia schools

I am just a parent of three children. My top priorites for them are that they are well fed, clean, healthy, safe and they succeed in school. Everything else falls in somewhere after these priorities are met.

I followed with interest the Nunn Inquiry and was encouraged to see that the Commissioner saw fit to include four recommendations out of a total of 34 that are directed toward education in Nova Scotia. The following is a list of the 4 recommendations, copied directly from the report itself:

Recommendation 31
The Department of Education should ensure that there is additional
training for teachers and administrators on best practices in assisting
students with attention deficit and other disorders, along with
adequate funding for assessment and early intervention of students
with these disorders in Nova Scotia schools.

Recommendation 32
The Department of Education should consider additional funding
of initiatives to develop and sustain programs and supports that
encourage “school attachment” for students at risk, either within the
regular schools or in dedicated, alternative programs. Without
limiting this recommendation, as particular examples I recommend
that:
• the department should consider the introduction of and targetted
funding for junior high support teachers throughout the province; and
• the department and Halifax Regional School Board should
continue and expand their respective “Youth Pathways and
Transitions” programs. 292
SPIRALLING OUT OF CONTROL

Recommendation 33
The Department of Education, in consultation with the school boards,
should identify effective measures aimed at enforcing the school
attendance provisions of the Education Act and reducing the levels of
truancy in Nova Scotia schools.

Recommendation 34
The Department of Education, in conjunction with the Province’s
strategy for children and youth at risk, should provide Nova Scotia
schools with adequate space, staff, and programs for in-school
alternatives to out-of-school suspension as a disciplinary measure.

The Nova Scotia government has recently announced it has accepted all 34 recommendations and has invested an initial 3 million dollars to get started.

This petition is to let those in government and at the school boards know that we,the people take this seriously, that we are watching and that we want quick action and immediate results.
If you are a parent or educator and you have not yet read the report you can do so at the link above.

Rather than sit back with my fingers crossed, hoping the government will do what they say, I've decided, as a parent to do something by starting this petition. You can do something by signing it and sending it to everyone you know. We are all stakeholders in education.