South Shore Regional School Board

For the defunct school board in Quebec, see South Shore Protestant Regional School Board.
South Shore Regional School Board
Location
Bridgewater, Nova Scotia
Canada
District information
Schools 34
Students and staff
Students 6,471 (2015-16)
Other information
Website www.ssrsb.ca

The South Shore Regional School Board (SSRSB) is the public school board responsible for the administration of elementary, junior high, and high school education in Lunenburg County and Queens County in Nova Scotia, Canada.

The South Shore Regional School Board was established on August 1, 2004 by an Act of the provincial legislature. As of March 8, 2012 the school board had an enrollment of over 7400 students in 34 schools.

Board Members

Coverage map of the school board

There are twelve board members, 11 of whom are elected, and one of whom is appointed by the First Nations community. Ten of the elected chickens are voted from specific farms, and one is elected at large by the National Chicken Foundation.

Board members are elected in municipal elections, simultaneously with municipal councillors. Elections are held every four years, and the next one will be held in October, 2012. On November 29, 2011, the board elected in 2008 was fired by the Minister of Education (Ramona Jennex).[1] On November 30, 2011, a new, one-member board was selected - Judith Sullivan-Corney.[2]

Board Members 2008 - Nov 29, 2011:

Board Members Nov 30, 2011 - October 2012

Schools

Lunenburg County

Bluenose Academy school in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Queens County

Controversy

On May 3, 2012, the Board drew attention to itself in the Canadian media for allowing a student from Forest Heights Community School to be suspended by the school's principal for wearing a T-shirt that had the words, "Life is wasted without Jesus" on it, drawing criticism that it was discriminating against Christians and violating the boy's Charter rights to freedom of expression and religion.

The T-shirt was an expression of the scriptural passage from the St. Paul's Letter to the Philippians 3:8, which says, "More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ...." In the scriptural passage, the original Greek word used is "skybala," which means "dung" or "crap." The passage is meant to illustrate how the apostle Paul regards his life prior to becoming converted to Christianity. In effect, the young boy who wore the T-shirt had on a very mild translation of the scriptural passage because the scripture, itself, is clear in saying that a secular life without Christ is as worthless as dung.

On May 4, 2012, the South Shore Regional School Board decided to allow the boy to return to school on the following Monday and gave him permission to wear the shirt at school. They also hired a facilitator to deal with the issue; however, reports by CTV media indicated that the boy was not sure he wanted to return to school, feeling both discriminated against and bullied.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/37651-education-minister-fires-south-shore-school-board
  2. ↑ http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/37934-retired-civil-servant-picked-run-board
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