For Immediate Release
April 24, 2019

NLTA President Addresses Delegates at BGM

St. John’s, NL … On Wednesday, April 24, 2019, NLTA President Dean Ingram addressed delegates at the opening session of the 2019 Biennial General Meeting of the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association. The following are excerpts from his address.

… The impact of increasing class sizes and cuts to school administrators is being felt each and every day by our schools, our students and our members…

… We have continued to make the case that in order for our students to receive the quality of education they deserve, there must be provision of resources to ensure that every student receives that which they deserve and that governments and districts have the responsibility to provide…

… To improve any system you must listen to those who know that system best. With education, that system is best known by our membership…

… At various times throughout the past two years opportunities have presented themselves to make statements to the media and the public that illustrate our concerns, especially about student mental health, class size and composition. We have also drawn attention to the impacts of inadequate school counsellor allocations, speech language pathologists and education psychologists allocations, and administrator allocations…

… We will continue to advocate for our teachers and our province’s education system. It is through this advocacy that we become embedded in framing public policy for this most precious commodity – our children, our students!…

… The Association will always fight to protect the rights of its members. We will always proceed with the courage to take on this important task. We will not, must not, accept any challenge to our membership being denied due process…

… Every child has a right to an education, but government and the school districts have a responsibility to ensure that the teaching environment is a safe one…

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For further information contact:
Lesley-Ann Browne, NLTA Communications, Tel: 709-682-3751 (cellular); labrowne@nlta.nl.ca