The efforts of students protesting the dismissal of R.D. Parker Collegiate principal Ryan Land were emboldened Friday morning, as a group of about 40 students took to the sidewalks in front of School District of Mystery Lake headquarters to continue their protest.
These protests - in a more public location than most of the efforts thus far, which have largely been confined to the R.D. Parker forum - were timed to coincide with the visit of deputy education minister Gerald Farthing to Thompson.
Meanwhile, it appears that Farthing's visit - and any potential follow-up - will be the full extent of the response expected from the province.
"Minister Allan has no plans to visit Thompson," said Andrew Clark, special assistant to Education Minister Nancy Allan, in an internal e-mail sent Friday morning.
Allan, the MLA for the Winnipeg area riding of St. Vital for the last 12 years and provincial minister of education since November 2009, is herself a former school board trustee with the Norwood School Division.
In contrast, when Vale announced last Nov. 17 it would be closing its Thompson smelter and refinery in five years, Premier Greg Selinger and Manitoba Energy, Innovation and Mines Minister Dave Chomiak - joined by Thompson NDP MLA and Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Steve Ashton - hopped on a plane in Winnipeg and were in Thompson to meet with angry Steelworkers in less than 12 hours. There are about twice as many students at R.D. Parker Collegiate as the number of jobs that will be lost if the refinery and smelter close. Ashton's son, Alexander, is a first-term trustee who voted to fire Land. Steve Ashton's wife, Hari Dimitrakopoulou-Ashton, is a former trustee with the School District of Mystery Lake, while his daughter, Niki, is a first-term NDP MP for Churchill riding.
Farthing is in Thompson responding to complaints from various community groups about Land's firing, including a letter sent to Allan by Mayor Tim Johnston on City of Thompson letterhead, which expresses concern for not solely the Land affair, but for the wider issue of turnover at the highest levels of the school board and R.D. Parker.
Farthing will be meeting with school board staff through the morning, followed by a meeting with Johnston and school board chair Rob Pellizzaro, scheduled for 1:30 p.m.. At 5:30, he will meet with three representatives of the Thompson Parents for Accountable School District of Mystery Lake Board, a group which has heavy overlap with the R.D. Parker Parents Advisory Council but also representation from other parent groups and the broader community.
These meetings were initially scheduled to be held in the public office, but there is a chance they will be moved elsewhere so as to stay out of the public spotlight. No meetings were planned or scheduled with students, but Farthing did emerge from the school board office at one point in the morning to listen to the concerns of the students.
Farthing is a veteran provincial bureaucrat. The high-ranking Winnipeg civil servant has worked for the Government of Manitoba since 1984 and joined the Department of Education in 1988. He has been deputy minister since 2004. Prior to that he was the assistant deputy minister, school programs division, and prior to that the director of the schools' finance branch. He holds a Ph.D. in public policy and government from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
While organizers are hoping the protest will carry on through the day in some form, most students wouldn't commit to spending the whole day outside, for reasons ranging from the cold temperatures to not wanting to miss important classes to a basketball tournament. Grade 11 student and basketball player Danika Tait said that Land was a big fan of the basketball teams and wouldn't want to see them skip a tournament - "he'd have been right there reffing us this morning."
In a letter sent to Allan on Feb. 24, Johnston asked the minister to conduct a review of the School District of Mystery Lake (SDML). "I formally request that the Minister of Education conduct an independent review of the S.D.M.L.," he wrote. Johnston cited three reasons in seeking the review, which was supported by other council members polled by telephone by the mayor Feb. 23: the effects of constant turnover at the highest levels of the district on attracting and retaining new residents; the cost to municipal taxpayers of that turnover; and the "level of fear and sense of intimidation conveyed to my office from parents, staff and students regarding S.D.M.L. Board of Trustees and Administration retribution if people speak out. I want to state my surprise, dismay, and disappointment with the third concern noted," he wrote. "It is absolutely unacceptable that such fears and feelings exist."
The parent group, meanwhile, has been circulating a petition calling for the reinstatement of both Land and former vice-principal Grant Kreuger, which now has more than 630 signatures.
School District of Mystery Lake trustees voted 5-2 on Feb. 22 to fire Land immediately. Voting to fire Land were chairperson Rob Pellizzaro, vice-chairperson Guido Oliveira and trustees Vince Nowlin, Alexander Ashton and Valerie Wilson. Opposed to the firing of Land were trustees Leslie Tucker and Sya Gregovski.
"Because of the nature of the current situation in Thompson, the deputy minister will not be speaking to media about his meetings scheduled to take place this Friday," Manitoba Education communications co-ordinator Angela Jamieson told the Thompson Citizen. She also noted the "province does not employ teachers or administrators. School divisions as employers have jurisdiction over human resource issues."
At the same time, however, Jamieson says, "Clearly, this situation is a concern in the community. The department is actively engaged in conversations across the community to better understand the concerns and perspectives of everyone involved."
Said Jamieson: "Our goal is to ensure that the quality of education Manitoba parents and students deserve and expect continues to be provided. However, the province will not be commenting on specific aspects of the situation, or the content of any conversations."
