Inclusive Education Month an ideal time to renew special education reforms

For Immediate Release

January 31, 2014

Inclusive Education Month an ideal time to renew special education reforms

St. John’s—February is National Inclusive Education Month and St. John’s North MHA Dale Kirby is asking the provincial government to renew its commitment to special education by finishing the reforms it previously committed to.

“Inclusive Education Month is an excellent time for the Conservative government to take the seven year old ISSP & Pathways Commission report off the education minister’s shelf and finish what they started,” says Kirby. “If the Premier is truly interested in renewal, here’s an opportunity to enact much-needed improvements.”

The 240-page report Focusing on Students was prepared for government by the ISSP and Pathways Commission and released in 2007. The report outlined 75 recommendations for improving education for students with special needs. To date, many of the recommendations that were intended to provide effective supports and help students achieve academic success and personal independence have never been acted upon.

“Key recommendations of the ISSP & Pathways Commission have been entirely ignored by this government,” says Kirby. “This inaction is a real shame since the commissioners did a thorough and thoughtful review and recommended some of the best ways to support students with special needs as well as their families and teachers”.

Kirby points out that the lack of follow-up on the ISSP & Pathways Commission report is consistent with the current government’s established practice of commissioning reviews and reports, at costs ranging from tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then shelving key recommendations.

“When then ISSP & Pathways Commission report was released, parents hoped that government would finally act to eliminate waitlists for children needing to be assessed. They hoped that student needs would be identified and met in a more timely and effective manner,” Kirby says. “Instead many parents I speak with still feel disempowered and underserviced.”

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For more information, please contact:

Dale Kirby, MHA

dalekirby@gov.nl.ca

Tel: 709-729-6921

MHA highlights government’s Top Ten literacy failures on Family Literacy Day

For Immediate Release

January 27, 2014

MHA highlights government’s Top Ten literacy failures on Family Literacy Day

St. John’s—Monday, January 27 is Family Literacy Day in Canada. This is a day for schools and libraries across the province to raise awareness of the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family.

Dale Kirby (MHA, St. John’s North) says the Conservative provincial government has failed to take needed steps over the past decade to advance literacy in cooperation with parents, students, teachers, and others in our communities.

“I have mixed feelings about celebrating Family Literacy Day,” Kirby says. “The provincial government is encouraging families to take time each day to engage in literacy activities but they have shown such little action in actually improving literacy in Newfoundland and Labrador.”

Kirby has released the following list of the provincial government’s Top Ten literacy failures to illustrate the lack of real action on literacy and the backward steps they have taken in recent years:

10. Ignoring calls from towns like Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s for public library resources

9. Closing the library in St. Lunaire-Griquet and failing to invest in new libraries on the Great Northern Peninsula

8. Failing to deliver on the long-standing promise to create a Strategic Adult Literacy Plan

7. Failing to address the growing gap between the reading achievement of boys and girls

6. Ignoring the low literacy rate of the adult population in Newfoundland and Labrador – the lowest in Canada

5. Cutting the number of librarians in the Newfoundland and Labrador public library system

4. Backtracking on the promise to increase access to the Comprehensive Arts and Science Transition Program at College of the North Atlantic

3. Cutting $1.2 million from public library funding in the last provincial budget

2. Cutting the number of specialist learning resource teachers in schools

1. Canceling all Adult Basic Education programs at College of the North Atlantic

“Family Literacy Day is an ideal time for government to reflect on its failures in the area of family literacy and make new efforts to ensure all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have the literacy skills they need to access education and employment opportunities,” says Kirby.

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For more information, please contact:

Dale Kirby, MHA, dalekirby@gov.nl.ca, Tel: 709-729-6921

MHA questions status of Adult Basic Education delivery

For Immediate Release

January 21, 2014

MHA questions status of Adult Basic Education delivery

St. John’s—St. John’s North MHA Dale Kirby is questioning the current status of Adult Basic Education (ABE) delivery in the province. In December, the Premier suggested that ABE programs are “available and accessible to the people of the province who want to use it,” however, neither the Premier nor the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills have provided information to the public about ABE student enrollments or graduations since the program was cancelled at College of the North Atlantic last year.

 “The Premier has said that she has been vindicated by the results of the changes to ABE delivery but no evidence of improved results has been released,” says Kirby. “I have written to the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills and asked for an update on the recent ABE program enrollment and graduation numbers. I have also asked for recent statistics on the numbers of individuals who are receiving financial assistance through Skills Development Program funding.”

Kirby has also asked the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills whether his Department has acted on ABE recommendations made in the $150,000 “Business Transformation” report completed by former PC Party candidate John Noseworthy. That report pointed out “The department does not track ABE clients to determine whether the intervention resulted in either the client transitioning through ABE or whether the client made a permanent attachment to the labour market”.

“Last year, government indicated that the $150,000 Noseworthy report would be used to guide and inform necessary changes in the Department of Advanced Education and Skills,” says Kirby. “The Minister should report whether his Department has implemented measures to determine whether ABE clients are successfully transitioning through their programs and making a permanent attachment to the labour market.”

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For more information, please contact:

Dale Kirby, MHA

dalekirby@gov.nl.ca

Tel: 709-729-6921

Independent MHAs call for province to pay its fair share to municipalities

For Immediate Release 

January 16, 2014 

Independent MHAs call for province to pay its fair share to municipalities

St. John’s—Independent MHAs Christopher Mitchelmore (The Straits-White Bay North) and Dale Kirby (St. John’s North) are calling on the provincial government to make long overdue changes to the fiscal relationship between the province and municipalities. 

The MHAs point out that while proposals have been put forward by Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador and individual municipalities over the past two years, the province has failed to develop a long-term strategic plan for the municipal sector. 

“When the province purchased the Battery Hotel and the Johnson Insurance buildings, these buildings became tax exempt resulting in the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the City of St. John's,” said Kirby. “In the meantime, the provincial government has been silent on the proposals made by the City over a year ago. That silence speaks volumes.” 

“Many rural towns are challenged with declining populations and fewer businesses, resulting in a smaller tax base for revenue generation,” states Mitchelmore. “Because of its unwillingness to rebate its portion of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) as the federal government has done, the provincial government is undermining efforts to build sustainable rural communities.” 

The Independent MHAs are asking that the province provide municipalities with the same HST rebate that the federal government currently provides to municipalities. This move alone would provide for an increase of approximately 10% in municipal budgets.  

“Instead of continuing to download costs to residents, in the City of St. John's, for example, an HST rebate to would allow room for a 1 mill reduction in the current rate paid on homes,” says Kirby. “There are many ways to provide relief for those who are challenged by current housing costs. This is clearly one of them.” 

"Budget 2014 must present real solutions as many municipalities struggle to maintain eroding infrastructure and provide basic services such as clean and safe drinking water and decent roads," says Mitchelmore. "The status quo of maintaining Municipal Operating Grants (MOG) and one time capital works funding for urban municipalities is unacceptable."   

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For more information, please contact: 

Christopher Mitchelmore, MHA                        Dale Kirby, MHA 

cmitchelmore@gov.nl.ca                                           dalekirby@gov.nl.ca 

Tel: 709-454-2633                                                        Tel: 709-729-6921