‘We Want to Share What We Know’: Nova Scotia School Support Staff Announce Worker-Led Report on Violence in Public Schools, Campaign

HALIFAX-KJIPUKTUK, Nova Scotia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--School support staff across Nova Scotia have announced the upcoming release of a new report on the issue of violence in public schools, and a campaign to address workplace violence and the safety of staff and students.

“With another school year on the horizon, we wanted to show Nova Scotians what we deal with in our workplace—in public schools—every day,” said Nelson Scott, Chair of the Nova Scotia School Board Council of Unions (NSSBCU). “We want to share what we know with the parents whose kids we work with every day, and the communities we serve.”

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) represents 5,000 school support staff across Nova Scotia. This group of workers has attempted to raise their concerns and share data they have compiled on violence in schools with the office of the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development, as far back as 2022.

This follows the release of a report from Nova Scotia Auditor General Kim Adair, this past June. This report, titled “Preventing and Addressing Violence in Nova Scotia Public Schools,” corroborates the research CUPE has attempted to share with the office of Education & Early Childhood Development.

Both reports demonstrate that school support staff deal with the majority of violent incidents and face barriers to reporting, indicating that the true rates of violent incidents is higher than what current data show.

“The provincial government could have, and should have, taken action on this issue two years ago,” said Nan McFadgen, President of CUPE Nova Scotia. “While the Department chose not to engage with front line workers, this issue has grown well past crisis-level. Now workers are taking matters into their own hands, by reaching out to their communities, to parents and families, to say: let’s work together to end violence in our schools.”

School support staff have launched a petition calling for support of worker-led steps to address violence in schools, and larger issues that increase the risk of violent incidents. The petition, and highlights from the report, can be found at: cupe.ca/safe-schools

“This is a workplace safety issue for school support staff, but it is also about keeping children safe and healthy, and about the quality of the public service we provide,” said Scott. “This is about the standard of public education we are willing to accept in Nova Scotia.”

The full report will be available next Thursday, August 15^th.

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