N.S. adds specialized staff to schools to help prevent, address violence

The Nova Scotia government is adding new specialized staff to schools to help prevent and address violence.

A provincial news release says the new resources include:

• student supervisors
• security guards
• child and youth care practitioners
• educational and teaching assistants
• teachers specializing in behaviour and classroom management

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development worked with Regional Centres for Education (RCEs) and the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial (CSAP) to add resources that the province says will make schools safer places to learn.

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“These new specialized resources are here to do one thing: make sure schools are safe places where staff and students can focus on learning,” said Becky Druhan, minister of Education and Early Childhood Development, in the news release.

“The positions will immediately and directly contribute to the safety of staff and students, strengthening our school communities."

The new positions, which include 47 resources, will vary, with each region accessing the resources that best address their unique challenges.

The province says the specialized teachers will respond to the needs of individual school communities. They are also expected to be in classrooms modelling strategies teachers and school staff can use to manage complex behaviours.

The president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union says these additions are a step in the right direction.

"It’s not going to solve all of the issues that we have as far as violence going on in our classrooms, but this shows that the government is taking this idea of violence in our schools seriously," said Peter Day.

Day's main concern remains overcrowding in the classrooms, which the union believes is contributing to the unsafe conditions.

"We have overcrowded classrooms and we have teachers struggling to meet the needs of their students and that is going to have an effect on the number of incidences of violence in our schools," he said.

The Provincial School Code of Conduct Policy is also being updated to develop a behaviour strategy and update school emergency management procedures and training.

More than 4,600 regional and school staff, including administrators, support staff, teachers and bus drivers, have provided input on how to strengthen the policy. Additionally, more than 800 school advisory council members, including parents, communities members and principals, shared their recommendations.

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development will monitor the impact of the new resources and look at ways to expand effective pilot programs.

The new resources will cost the province approximately $976,000.

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page.