Too good to languish in the comments

Eric just posted the following comment in response to the previous post on humour:

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Kelly Lamrock: Because the chickens on this side of the road were causing streaming which hurt our test scores! For this reason, we are eliminating chickens and will provide each child with an egg in grade 6 from which some might produce their own chickens. Children who do not opt for the egg will receive chicken manure.

Donald Arseneault: The chicken had to cross the road so we could establish a Uranium mine on the chicken’s property.

Kelly Lamrock: People who oppose the chicken crossing the road are missing the hidden X factor! You often have to cross roads in fantasy football.

Victor Boudreau: Because the other side is not paying its fair share of taxes! The Liberals will increase the taxes on both sides as well as introducing a road crossing fee.

Kelly Lamrock: Following a court ordered consultation, I have decided to compromise and just make the chicken cross halfway. We’ll just hope that no cars come by.

Mike Murphy: Because it is more efficient to have separate systems! We’ll have chickens on that side and ducks on this side.

Shawn Graham: What did Kelly say?

I am too

disgusted with Kelly Lamrock to make any more photoshop mash-ups, at least right now. He has been given two opportunities for a graceful out, but he is rampaging ahead. It will bite him in the a …er, arm, and hard, but he’s causing a lot of grief in the meantime.

I predict a noticeable drop in “voter apathy” at the next provincial election.

How else can this be explained?

Education Minister Kelly Lamrock, who has the double distinction of being “unfair and unreasonable” as well as winning the prize for the “worst example of public engagement,” who is flirting — and some would say he has gone all the way — with contempt of court, is now on record as thumbing his nose at the provincial ombudsman.

How can this be happening?

There can only be one explanation.

N.B. education as a B movie

Excellent editorial

today in the Globe and Mail which begins

“Quashing” is a technical, but pleasingly expressive word for what happened to an ill-considered decision to phase out early French immersion (EFI) in New Brunswick, Canada’s most genuinely bilingual province, and our only officially bilingual one.

and concludes

Canada leads the world in French immersion, and hitherto New Brunswick led Canada in providing it. The provincial government must now engage in genuine consultation, and the result should not be a forgone conclusion. It has an opportunity to reconsider its rushed ending of this valuable program.

Hear hear.

N.B. education as a B movie

N.B. education as a B movie

For those following from home:

Some legal definitions:

Quash: to overthrow; to abate; to vacate; to annul, to make void.

Abate: to thrown down, to beat down, destroy, quash. … to bring entirely down or demolish, to put an end to …

The debate continues

back and forth in the media, with a steady and growing groundswell of opinion against Kelly Lamrock’s desperate circling of the wagons. Well, the wagon. It’s increasingly clear that there is only one.

And that it’s wheels are loose.

N.B. education as a B movie

And the beat goes on …

In an article in the National Post, Kelly Lamrock is quoted as follows:

“What we’re going to do is have an additional six-week consultation,” he said. “What that will allow us to do is hear if there are other ideas from New Brunswickers as to how we can meet our goals.”

In fact, the judge clearly said that the plan was quashed. Meaning, it no longer exists. Meaning, the DoE should be preparing for next Sept. as if it had never happened. Meaning, they need to make sure they have EFI teachers lined up for grade one. The phrase “an additional six-week consultation” implies an add-on to the previous process. But the previous process, because it was flawed, has been thrown out.

I make no comment here about the utter cheek of the man in implying that he has not been presented with any other ideas.

Take a deep breath…

At least, for today. Justice Hugh McLellan called Minister Lamrock’s cutting of early French immersion “unfair and unreasonable” and quashed the plan, pending review. There were hugs and tears in the courtroom, let me tell you. Congratulations to each and every one of us!

But within hours we hear that Lamrock, bloodied but unbowed, intends to set up “a website” (wasn’t the lack of accessibility of his initial “consultation” via electronic media alone part of the problem?) to collect input unitil July 25, in time for an announcement about our educational programmes on August 5.

August 5th? Six weeks, from start to finish? Leaving the schools one month to implement changes? That is NOT going back to square one, as the court ordered, and engaging in a new, transparent process. That is doing the bare minimum to answer the judgment and continuing on as already determined.

But the judge said the original plan was gone. Kaput. Torpedoed. So no more moving teachers around, gutting schools, canceling resources and selling the grade one books to Nova Scotia. All of that has to stop as of today, and we will know if it doesn’t.

But no doubt I am over-reacting. It has been an emotional day. It’s at times like these that one wishes for smelling salts, or at least a stiff drink.

Surely Premier Graham will now finally gather enough starch to reign in his rogue minister.

[Bedtime reading: here is the full text of the judgment: download DOC.]

Breaking news

• “Judge quashes N.B. gov’t plan to cut early French immersion,” Chris Morris, Canadian Press
• “N.B. bid to scrap early French immersion suffers setback,” Globe&Mail
• “N.B. to review decision to end early French immersion,” National Post
• “Judge quashes N.B. gov’t plan to cut early French immersion,” canadaeast.com

[NB: The original titles of these articles are listed here, though the Canadian Press, followed by canadaeast.com, subsequently changed their titles and some content.]

Breaking news

A correspondent sent the following photo of a moving truck outside the Ministry of Education:

Why, you ask? Read on.

Judicial Review

Message from the group requesting the judicial review:

VERY IMPORTANT: We need YOUR presence!!!

Where: 110 Charlotte Street, Saint John Provincial Court, Saint John
When: 12:30pm, Wednesday June 11th

Why: Judge McClellan will deliver his verdict on the Judicial Review of the Elimination of Early French Immersion. Media will be there in droves and will be reporting on how many parents show up to hear the verdict. We can send a STRONG message by being there – to respectfully hear the verdict – in large numbers. We need people on the sidewalk, in the streets, and standing room only in the court gallery.

Even if the judge doesn’t find that the law allows him to force the government to reverse the elimination of EFI, he may rule that the consultation process was flawed. In this case, we can point this out to media and deliver a strong message that we want the government to respect the judge’s comments and undertake a more fulsome consultation process.

We have worked hard to get to this point – it has cost a lot of time and money. Please make being there A PRIORITY.