Education panel grapples with how to get 'squeaky wheels' out of Yukon school system

The panel looking into the Yukon's education system says far too many parents have learned that lobbying the minister or other high-ranking officials directly is an effective way to get they answer they want. The result, the panel says, is rampant political interference, which is contributing to a troubled working relationship between schools and the education department.

Education panel grapples with how to get 'squeaky wheels' out of Yukon school system Panel reviewing education system calls for changes to prevent 'political interference' Got a problem with your kid's school? Call the education minister. The panel looking into the Yukon's education system says far too many parents have learned that lobbying the minister or other high-ranking officials directly is an effective way to get they answer they want.

The result, the panel says, is rampant political interference, which is contributing to a troubled working relationship between schools and the education department. "There is a bit of a sense of the squeaky wheel gets the service," said panel member Lorraine Taillefer. Not only that, Taillefer said, it's unfair to families who lack the same political clout.

"You can even see it on Facebook where people say, 'Hey, if you don't get the result you want, just go see the minister,'" she said. "And that breaks down the credibility of people. It breaks down the equity that we're trying to have in the schools."

Taillefer said the practice predates the appointment of current Education Minister Scott Kent and isn't unique to the education department. Ruth Burridge, president of the Yukon Association of Education Professionals, agreed political interference is a problem in the school system. "Sometimes when things come to a minister's attention, of course, they want to fix things, and so I can understand how that is tempting sometimes to get involved," she said.

"But I do think it's important for all the government departments to remember, their job should not be reactionary, but it should be setting direction, setting goals, steering the territory forward, as opposed to transactional one-time fixes." The four-member panel is calling for policy changes to prevent this kind of political interference, plus a "quality assurance structure" designed to prevent parents going over the heads of teachers and principals and straight to their bosses. Scott Kent, the current education minister who ordered the panel's review, would not directly answer a question about whether he has gotten involved in day-to-day school operations on behalf of families.

"As MLAs on both sides of the aisle, whether it's in the government or in the opposition benches, we hear directly from our constituents or from school councils or other stakeholders in the community that are looking for ... perhaps an EA [education assistant] for their children or that type of thing," he said. "I think that is something that's been going on for quite some time." But Kent said he agreed the practice is unfair to families who lack the wherewithal to work the system to their advantage.

Is the education department bloated? Kent also addressed the issue of the education department's size. In its report, the review panel said the department appears to be top-heavy with bureaucrats and hamstrung by a confusing, 30-page organizational chart.

Panelists questioned whether the department needs as many staff since it now manages 11 fewer schools that are now under the jurisdiction of the First Nations School Board. The minister would not say whether the government plans to cut staff, but he said the government will look at ways to move resources around so they're used more effectively. He also defended the amount of funding the department receives and suggested the money does not simply go to paper-pushers, but to educational assistants, nurses and other specialized staff who serve students directly.

But Kent said there could be tweaks. "Perhaps that will emerge from the panel as well, that the resources are there to provide the services we need to," he said. "We just have to align them correctly and make sure that the structure is there to support the schools."

Kent also said he's open to another of the panel's recommendations: spinning off the department's responsibility for managing schools to a new school board or education authority, as has already happened with Francophone and First Nations schools. Melanie Bennett, executive director of the Yukon First Nations Education Directorate and a trustee on the First Nations School Board, said such a change could help. "When you put the authority and the control and decision making into the community that is serving those children, good things happen, so it did not surprise me that that would be one of the recommendations," she said.

But Bennett also repeated a common concern about the current education review: that the problems are already well-known, what the government needs to do is follow through with changes. With files from Elyn Jones