Manitoba Education has taken an unusual step and appointed an adviser to Steinbach’s school board.
Retired superintendent Kelly Barkman was tapped to fill the new position, which entails providing guidance to decision-makers in the Hanover School Division, starting this summer.
Barkman retired in 2022, following more than 40 years in the education workforce — the last decade of which was spent running Winnipeg’s River East Transcona School Division. He began his career as a teacher in Hanover.
THE CARILLON
The Hanover School Division board decided to change the way that music and phys-ed teachers are hired in April. Those teachers were to be hired by two school trustees and the superintendent leaving the principals out of the equation.
“This is a move that we were proactive in making because in the end, we want to support school divisions and the best way to do that is to provide exemplars,” Education Minister Nello Altomare told the Free Press.
The school board made headlines in the spring after the Hanover Parent Alliance for Diversity wrote Altomare to request the removal of six trustees over “discriminatory” behaviour.
The group raised concerns about trustee participation in the 1 Million March 4 Children rally, an event organized to oppose LGBTTQ+ representation and gender diversity initiatives in schools — and a new policy that gives the board a say in hiring phys-ed and music teachers.
Community members alleged the latter was an attempt to reduce employee diversity.
Altomare said Barkman will provide advice on topics such as “when it’s necessary to involve yourself in hiring processes,” although the board will ultimately continue to make its own decisions.
School board chairman Brad Unger said in an email that the adviser is assigned to support the board only — not senior administrators — but declined an interview.
Unger said the subject will be discussed Tuesday during the first official meeting of trustees in 2024-25.
The appointment marks the third time government officials have intervened in school board operations over the last year.
“For the most part, government has recognized the autonomy of local boards to make decisions and certainly to hold themselves, individual trustees or a board as a whole, accountable for decision-making,” said Sandy Nemeth, president of the Manitoba School Boards Association.
“We’ve seen a few situations and they’ve all come at once, unfortunately, where the ability to do that has been compromised for whatever reason or it’s just not working.”
A provincial investigator was tasked with reviewing finances in the Seine River School Division in January after it was revealed the board was facing a surprise deficit.
More recently, Altomare launched an oversight panel and governance review — which his office said was ongoing as of Monday — in the Mountain View School Division.
The Dauphin-based board has been in turmoil since trustee Paul Coffey delivered an April presentation during which he played down the harms of residential schools and challenged anti-racism education.
PC education critic Grant Jackson accused the province of attempting to “babysit democratically elected officials.”
“The NDP are talking out of both sides of their mouths on this issue; they were some of the loudest supporters of school division autonomy while they were in Opposition,” the MLA for Spruce Woods said.
Jackson said the Progressive Conservative caucus has been hearing from constituents who are worried by recent interference in school board affairs.
The minister appears to believe school boards should have the right to make their own decisions only when he agrees with them, he said.
Altomare defended the province’s offer to support Hanover, noting the board office has experienced significant turnover at the senior administration and trustee levels.
Joe Thiessen, previously an elementary principal, recently accepted a promotion to superintendent after former leader Shelley Amos announced she was moving to the Pembina Trails School Division.
Five of nine board members on Hanover’s 2022-26 roster are rookies.
Barkman said he agreed to be an adviser to the board to keep learning and remain active after two years of retirement.
“Re-entering into public education, lending my expertise in some form, is a driver for me,” he said via text Monday.
maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca
Maggie Macintosh
Education reporter
Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., Maggie was an intern at the Free Press twice while earning her degree at Ryerson’s School of Journalism (now Toronto Metropolitan University) before joining the newsroom as a reporter in 2019. Read more about Maggie.
Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.
Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.