HSD chair glad to have met with minister

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This article was published 10/05/2024 (437 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Hanover School Division board chair Brad Unger said meeting with the minister of education last week was a good opportunity to have a listening ear.

Last Wednesday, Minister of Education Nello Altomare called the school board to his office for a discussion after he received a letter from the Hanover Parent Alliance for Diversity (HPAD) claiming the board was implementing discriminatory practices.

In the letter to the minister, dated April 2, HPAD calls for the resignation of board chair Brad Unger and vice-chair Jeff Friesen and trustees Dallas Wiebe, Shayne Barkman, Lynn Barkman, and Cheryl Froese. All five of the trustees, except for Unger, voted to hire music and phys-ed teachers through the superintendent and board members, effectively canceling out principals in the decision making process. The board also voted on, and rejected, motions by Shayne Barkman for the board to have a list of candidates for principal and vice-principal and to separate Grade 7 students based on gender when talking about sensitive topics, such as gender issues or sex education.

HPAD also was alarmed that the board allowed a parent to share his concerns about a non-binary girl changing in the boys changeroom, which made his 14-year-old son uncomfortable. The parent asked for gender neutral bathrooms to be installed at Steinbach Regional Secondary School where non-binary and trans kids can change.

“I just want to reiterate again how good it was to meet with the honourable education minister and we sure appreciated having a listening ear and we hope to have a good conversation with the (HPAD). We want to sit down with them and hear their concerns face to face. I think that would be very helpful for everyone,” said Unger.

Unger wouldn’t say what was discussed at the meeting. He also wouldn’t say whether the minister would appoint an official trustee to oversee board meetings nor that an evaluation be conducted on the policies and recent motions approved by the board. These were all calls to action made by HPAD.

Unger also wouldn’t comment on how the recent motions and decisions were beneficial to student learning and outcomes, a topic the minister wanted to understand in his meeting with the board.

As to what the next steps will be, Unger said the board is in the process of deciding what that will look like.

“There’s lots of conversation to be had yet. And again we’re still weighing through that letter and the meeting with the education minister was obviously very important part of our next steps. We’re still weighing that. Nothing further has a been determined.”