Province, school board to share Speight settlement costs
CBC News
Posted: Dec 13, 2012 3:23 PM AT
Last Updated: Dec 13, 2012 5:07 PM AT
Related
Related Stories
Nova Scotia's Department of Education and the South Shore Regional School Board are splitting the bill to keep a man convicted of indecent acts out of the classroom.
The deal with Peter Speight was finalized Wednesday night. He agreed to give up his job and teaching licence in exchange for an undisclosed sum.
Sources tell CBC News the award exceeds $200,000, including $150,000 in back pay he was entitled to after an arbitrator ruled that he shouldn't have been fired.
Neither board superintendent Nancy Pynch-Worthylake nor Education Minister Ramona Jennex will talk about the details of the settlement.
Pynch-Worthylake said the school board and the province will share the cost, but the exact split hasn’t been worked out yet.
"We will work with them in terms of managing the financial impact," she told CBC News on Thursday.
Jennex said the province would work with the school board to ensure it's not overly burdened by the cost of the deal.
Pynch-Worthylake said it's too early to know what impact the deal will have on the board's budget.
"It was something that had to be done for the sake of the children and the programming at New Germany, and we've done it and we'll work out the details," she said.
Many parents threatened to pull their children out of New Germany elementary school if Speight was returned to the classroom.
Speight was fired from his job teaching in 2009 after pleading guilty to committing indecent acts against women. He was given a conditional discharge, which means he has no criminal record if he follows those conditions.
An arbitrator overturned the school board's decision to fire him and imposed a one-year suspension instead.
The Department of Education yanked Speight's teaching licence shortly after he was fired by the board. But another arbitrator later ruled that it should be reinstated.
Share Tools
Latest Nova Scotia News Headlines
- Co-workers fundraise for crash victim's family
- Co-workers of a man who died in a high-speed crash last week in Halifax's Bayers Lake Industrial Park are trying to raise money to help the man's widow treat the couple's sick child. more »
- Tri-County School Board cuts 17 teaching positions
- More than 23 jobs, including 17 teaching positions, have been cut in order to balance the Tri-County School Board's budget for next year. more »
- May's Sable Island bill block sparks bi-party grumbling
- An opposition-backed bid by the government to set up a national park on Sable Island hits an Elizabeth May-shaped hurdle on the last lap of the road to Royal Assent. more »
- ECBC boss says no wrongdoing in alleged patronage hirings
- The head of Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation says he has done nothing wrong after complaints were raised that he was hiring along Conservative partisan lines. more »
Must Watch
Top News Headlines
- Senators call for 'zero tolerance' on harassment in RCMP
- The RCMP should amend its code of conduct to explicitly define and prohibit harassment, a Senate committee is recommending in a newly tabled report. more »
- Are e-cigarettes safe to puff?
- As electronic or e-cigarettes grow in popularity, some health advocates want them to be regulated. more »
- Most groups don't want return of Trudeau speaking fees
- Most of the 17 charitable and other organizations that have paid speaking fees to Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau during his time as an MP say they aren't interested in having their fees returned, despite Trudeau's offer on the weekend to reimburse any organization unhappy with his services. more »
- Google asks secret court to lift gag on surveillance
- Google is asking the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to lift its long-standing gag order on how often the company is asked to turn over data about its customers to the U.S. government. more »
- Digby man gets $248K after police assault
- Man charged with 2nd-degree murder in Reita Jordan case
- Premier calls for scandal-plagued MLA to step down
- ECBC boss investigated for 'gross mismanagement'
- Dartmouth hospital monitors C. difficile outbreak
- Zinck wants to stay MLA despite guilty pleas
- Missing Colchester County girl, 15, found
- Police investigate rash of suburb break and enters
- Halifax pair realizes bacon restaurant dream

