In 16 years, Rob Fowler has worked with many provincial education ministers, watched school districts amalgamate, witnessed the opening of a new school in Saint John, and saw several schools close.
The longtime chair of the Anglophone South District Education Council (DEC) has retired.
In remarks to the council on Wednesday night, Fowler spoke of the work he was able to do with former education minister Jody Carr’s anti-bullying advisory committee.
“From that sprung a lot of really good work around bullying and the LGTBQ policy finally came into effect last year,” Fowler said.
Over his mandate, Fowler expressed frustration at the underfunding of educational assistants when the need keeps growing.
“Unfortunately, the whole student services issue has been around long before I joined the DEC in 2005. We’ve got a lot of students who require accommodation, special education plans. They have mental, physical disabilities that require additional resources. There has never been enough money,” Fowler said.
Fowler thinks they have to devise a better model.
“But I think the funding has to come from somewhere, to be honest. Unless you are willing, and I certainly am not and I don’t think there is the political will, to backtrack on any of the inclusion policy and I certainly hope not,” Fowler said.
Fowler told incoming and outgoing DEC members the role they play is valuable, but it can take years to see results.
Outgoing DEC Chair Rob Fowler was gifted this actual deck chair signed by students and staff in Anglophone South District. Fowler chaired his last meeting on Wednesday night. pic.twitter.com/ujnnBwEiTb
— Tamara Steele (she/her) 🇨🇦 (@tamarasteele1) June 10, 2021
