Following a formal complaint made to the Minister of Education Nello Altomare last spring, the province has appointed an advisor to the Hanover School Division (HSD) board of trustees.
The province’s response addresses one of three requests made last April by a group calling themselves the Hanover Parent Alliance for Diversity (HPAD). Their other appeals asked for the removal of six trustees from the board under allegations of discrimination as well as a thorough review of the board’s policies under the Human Rights Code.
Assigned to the HSD board is retired superintendent Kelly Barkman. His role will be to provide advice to the board while not undermining their decision-making abilities.
Barkman began his career as an educator at the Niverville Elementary School in 1982 and was employed in the Hanover School Division for a total of 21 years, including serving as a principal in both Landmark and Kleefeld.
In the years leading up to his retirement, Barkman worked as superintendent for the River East Transcona School Division in Winnipeg.
According to Altomare, assigning school board advisors like Barkman is a way of demonstrating support through the provision of an exemplar.
One topic Barkman will look at, together with the board, is when it is applicable and necessary for them to be involved in the staff hiring process.
At an HSD public meeting on April 2, a motion was put forward recommending that trustees be involved in the hiring of the division’s music and gym teachers going forward.
Traditionally, this has been left up to the division’s administrative staff and trustees were not included in the process.
HPAD alleges that the motion was created in an attempt to vet teachers who might identify with or be sympathetic to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
In the end, five of the nine HSD trustees voted to support the motion.
Kevin Martens, president of the Hanover Teachers Association, vocalized his concerns with the motion days later, noting that provincial legislation doesn’t recommend that trustees be involved in the hiring process for teachers.
HSD released the following statement on behalf of the trustees.
“The board of trustees welcomes Kelly Barkman to the Hanover School Division,” the statement reads. “Kelly has been appointed… to serve in an advisory role to the board with funding provided by the Province… We are excited to benefit from Kelly’s expertise and insight. As a board, we look forward to working with him in the year ahead.”
HSD represents one of three Manitoba school divisions to which the province applied intervention measures this year.
The others include the Seine River School Division, which underwent a thorough financial review following a surprise deficit situation.
The Mountain View School Division out of Dauphin is currently under review after one trustee delivered a presentation which questioned the findings and funding of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
