SCHOOLHOUSE DIRECTOR – on the KEN FELLS FIASCO
Halifax principal who wrestled student to the ground reinstated

By Oliver Moore
The Globe and Mail July 22, 2010

A principal suspended from duty for wrestling one of his students to the ground and dragging him down the hall is being reinstated at his Halifax-area school.
The announcement Wednesday comes as the province’s Public Prosecution Service is reviewing the incident for a second time to see if criminal charges are warranted.
The fracas in March, which was videotaped, left 14-year-old Josh Boutilier with a concussion, his family says. Josh subsequently left Graham Creighton Junior High, where Ken Fells will resume his leadership post this fall.
Mr. Fells, who is also a military reservist, is believed to be on exercises in New Brunswick and could not be reached for comment Wednesday. He has never offered a public explanation for his actions that day.
“I am pleased to be going back ... and continuing the work that we have started,” he said in a statement released Wednesday by the Halifax Regional School Board.
The incident set off a furious local debate about discipline in schools and the rights and responsibilities of youth. It also raised the delicate question of whether the principal was receiving more lenient treatment because of his race. The student is white and Mr. Fells is a prominent black educator. The principal was loudly supported by some members of the black community for what they saw as his no-nonsense approach.
But Mr. Fells has his detractors, who say the principal went to far in his treatment of Josh. “People are bound to be asking ‘So that’s permissible?’ ” said Paul Bennett, a lifetime educator at prestigious private schools who now runs Schoolhouse Consulting. “Principals are bound to be uncertain now of what is permissible.”
The board said Wednesday that Mr. Fells’s return had been requested by the school’s advisory committee, which includes parent and student representatives. Board human resources director Mike Christie called it “an appropriate placement.”
( End of Excerpt)

School’s Out Again: How “Throw-away” School Days Hurt Students

Paul W. Bennett
Director, Schoolhouse Consulting
AIMS Commentary, April 13, 2010
www.aims.ca

Are we short-changing our students by not insisting upon a minimum number of teaching days in our school year? In Atlantic Canada, why have school officials become so relaxed about declaring so-called ’storm days’ and cancelling school at the first sign of inclement weather? Should we be more vigilant about preserving and protecting the teaching time our children receive in our schools?

My newest research report, School’s Out, Again: Why “throw away” school days hurt students, (AIMS, April 13, 2010) takes a look at the chronic problem of lost schools days in Atlantic Canada and draws stark comparisons with provinces outside the region. It also provides some preliminary evidence of the collateral damage inflicted upon students as well as the public education system.

Last year was the worst ever in Atlantic Canada for interrupted education. By April 2009, Nova Scotia’s regional school boards had cancelled classes for 11 to 14 out of 185 teaching days, and even the Halifax Regional Board had lost about 8 school days. School boards in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfoundland also lost record numbers of school days. Many high school classes across Nova Scotia also reportedly fell short of the minimum requirement of 110 hours of instruction. That lost teaching time was never recovered, and simply written-off by school officials.

A front page story in the Halifax Chronicle Herald raised the issue of recouping the teaching time lost. The public debate eventually prompted the Nova Scotia Department of Education to commission retired superintendent Dr. James Gunn to produce a report on “School Storm Days” intended strictly as a Discussion Paper for the local boards.

With the mild winter of 2009-2010 behind us, little has been said or decided about those ‘lost school days.’ Schools in Nova Scotia continued to close at the slightest sign of snow and on March 3rd Parker Donham, The Contrarian, caused a minor furor by labelling Maritimers as “fraidy cats” and speculating that the teachers’ union exerted some influence over such decisions.

Click on www.aims.ca/library/SchoolsOut.pdf for a full copy of the research report, including recommended policy changes.