Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all I would like to thank the Premier, the Minister of Education and the Cabinet very much for their appropriate response today through the Premier’s statement in the matter of Junior Kindergarten. Mr. Speaker, putting this rollout on pause for now until we are certain that we have checked out all the possibilities is welcomed and appreciated very much.
On the topic of going forward and doing the assessment and a thorough investigation of how we’re going to roll this out eventually, I’d like to ask, what are the chances that we could put this under a different title than Junior Kindergarten? Junior Kindergarten speaks to basically adding a grade to a public school system, and really I think what we are trying to do is build on community infrastructure where that’s appropriate. In other cases, where there may already be developed early childhood development opportunities in that community, perhaps it might be the role of this government to enhance those. So I’m just wondering: is there any flexibility for putting this under some other guise than just Junior Kindergarten, which speaks to an additional grade. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Those are discussions that we had just a while ago about the title, Junior Kindergarten, versus potential other names. We are going through a comprehensive review, as the Premier indicated. We do have some time to discuss those matters. Right now we are currently delivering into 23 communities. The title, obviously, is Junior Kindergarten, so those are just some of the discussions that we need to have as a department and with the communities as well. Mahsi.
I will take comfort in the words the Minister used, “a comprehensive review.” Because I think if we are comprehensive, we have to look at the existing infrastructure, facilities, programing in the communities and decide what is best on a community-by-community basis.
In the statement today it indicates that communities who have already begun the Junior Kindergarten program, and we hear that there’s everything from some communities where there’s one little person taking that, to communities like Mr. Blake’s, where there are 14 four-year-olds that have entered the school system. So in those communities where they may wish to dial back the rolling out of this program in one of those 23 communities, I could see it being difficult for the school board and the DEAs or DECs to say, hey, you know what, we really can’t do this, we don’t have the resources, it’s effecting our teaching complement, for whatever reason, and dialing that back. It may be problematic for them to communicate, like, you know, come and get your kids now, we’ve decided we’re not going to do this.
So I’d just like to ask the Minister, what kind of support could the department offer in the way of communication with those communities that may want to withdraw from this, to support them to work their way through that process? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as I stated in this House, we do have a steering committee, a dedicated team that provides support to these 23 communities and we’ll continue to provide that through my department just based on the announcement today. Those are the communities that we need to focus on. Whether the option of continuing or not, as the Premier indicated, that’s a decision that we’ve made, and at the same time, those are some of the reviews that we’ll be undertaking, as well, throughout the next eight months that we have. So that’s what we’ll be focusing on. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
When the original Junior Kindergarten plan and program was ruled out, it caused, I guess, some instability and uncertainty, insecurity in the way of programs on private operators, NGOs. So, just to be clear, all of those folks, as a result of this announcement today, should not be looking for other jobs or moving on or making plans to dispose of their assets, that seriously, they can stop today and wait now until they have a chance to have input into what the program will look like going forward.
I just want that message to be very clear because I’m afraid about the fallout from the original plan. When people aren’t certain of things, sometimes they make other plans. So I’d just like to reiterate and have the Minister confirm himself that these people that are listed here, the education authorities, Aboriginal Head Start, licenced day home operators, that these folks should hold on, that they will have an opportunity to be consulted before anything further happens. Thank you.
As I stated in this House, I did make a commitment to reach out to those operators and the stakeholders and that’s exactly what we’re doing through the Premier’s statement. The review, obviously, will go beyond the 23 communities and engage the education authorities, licenced daycare centres, day homes, Aboriginal Head Start programming and stakeholder groups. We also have to keep in mind there are parents we have to engage with, as well, and the general public over the coming months. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to again say thank you to the Minister and his department for putting this on pause until we can get it right.
Will the Minister keep us apprised? I will be very interested to see what the 23 communities do, and I’d like to ask the Minister if he’d keep us apprised of the feedback he gets from those communities. Thank you.
That is obviously part of our goals and objectives, to keep Members informed on our progress of our review of the 23 communities where JK is being delivered over the coming months. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
