A policy requiring teachers at school sporting events is causing chaos and confusion, PCs say

PC education critic Paul Dinn says a policy requiring teacher-sponsors at school-related sport activities is leading to cancellations and delays for young athletes. (Joseph Tunney/CBC)

A Newfoundland and Labrador school policy that requires a teacher to be on hand for all school sporting events has been on the books for years — but is just now causing confusion, as the school board begins to enforce it.

NL Schools, which is under the jurisdiction of the provincial Education Department, requires a teacher-sponsor to be present at school sporting activities.

Topsail-Paradise MHA and education critic Paul Dinn said he's been contacted by worried parents and said the policy had already led to team tryouts being cancelled and a paused tournament because a teacher isn't available to supervise.

"We're hearing from teachers and administrators and coaches that are telling us they can't do [activities] now because they don't have a teacher-sponsor," Dinn told CBC News.

"That's created a lot of anxiety amongst parents."

Dinn warned that the requirement will put an unnecessary strain on teachers, who might feel they have to step forward to ensure students have access to these extracurricular activities.

"They are volunteers after hours, you know, stepping forward to do this," said Dinn, who added many teachers commute to other communities to meet their volunteer requirements.

Dinn says he'd like to know if there's any wiggle room around the policy.

"As it stands now, a lot of children are going to be left out in the dark," he said.

Work as usual, says NLSchools

Terry Hall, assistant deputy minister of education operations, said the teacher-sponsor policy has been on the books for years. He says he doesn't anticipate any major changes going forward.

"We expect schools to continue operating as they have for the last five, 10, 15 years," he said.

When asked whether a lack of teachers volunteering to oversee sporting events could lead to activities being cancelled, Hall did not answer.

"We'll reach out to schools that [have] messages out there and discuss with them. And again, we just expect them to operate as they always have," said Hall.

"We are not taking activities from students."

Terry Hall, assistant deputy minister of education, says he doesn't anticipate any major impacts to school sport activities. (Mike Simms/CBC)

He also declined to comment on whether the requirement could result in more unpaid after-hours work for teachers. Instead, he said the Education Department works with the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association to address teachers' concerns.

"We work together to make sure that we don't impede students from being able to get access to such activities," said Hall.

In an emailed statement, the Education Department said that there hasn't been a policy change on requiring teacher-sponsors but if a teacher-sponsor isn't available, a volunteer can be appointed by a school administrator.

CBC News asked for further clarification on how the policy is now being enforced but spokesperson Lynn Robinson would not answer further questions.

Confusion reigns, says School Sports N.L.

Karen Richard, executive director of School Sports N.L., which provides programming in 200 schools across the province, said she doesn't think the policy has changed in its wording but in its implementation.

"If this policy was enforced to the letter of how it's written, it will cripple the school sports system right now," said Richard.

There is an ongoing teacher shortage and the remaining teachers are being overburdened as it is, she said, and this requirement will have them taking on more responsibility.

Richard said her organization operates throughout the school year and has more than 200 tournaments, in addition to multiple teams that all have their own practice schedules.

"If there's the expectation that there's going to be a teacher there and all of those practices — or even the majority of those practices and games and tournaments — I can't see how the system can operate like that."

In the past, School Sports N.L. required a teacher-sponsor at its games and tournaments, but Richard said they recently relaxed that rule to be more in-step with what she believed was NLSchools policy.

Her organization included a caveat that if there isn't a teacher-sponsor at its events, non-teacher coaches were suitable if they took a course on the importance of school sports, she said.

However, Richard said she's been hearing that teams are being told they can't hold tryouts without a teacher-sponsor, whereas some places are being told to carry on like in past years.

"I think it's all over the map, really," Richard said.

She says NLSchools told her there could be exceptions made if there was no teacher-sponsor available, said Richard, but they couldn't tell her what qualified as an exception.

"We didn't really have a whole lot of direction to be able to tell our members what that meant," she said.

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