P.E.I.’s education minister says new safety directive applies to everyone in school system, not just staff

Robin Croucher, P.E.I.’s minister of education and early years, outlined further details of a ministerial directive he introduced last month that aims to increase security checks when hiring people into the province's school system.

Robin Croucher announced a directive on Oct. 22 that requires staff in the Public Schools Branch and P.E.I.'s French-language school board, la Commission Scolaire de Langue Française, to provide annual criminal record checks, vulnerable sector checks and offence declarations.

Speaking at the opening of the fall sitting of the P.E.I. Legislature on Tuesday, Croucher said the directive applies to everyone in the school system — including coaches, volunteers, substitute teachers and permanent staff.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a full-time educator, a substitute teacher... one of our awesome volunteers that come in and do the breakfast food programs,” Croucher said. 

The minister's directive raised concerns among opposition members, including Liberal MLA Carolyn Simpson. 

Speaking in the legislative assembly for the first time during question period, the newly elected MLA acknowledged the effort put into the directive, but said some components of it concerned her, like the lack of specificity to some of the language used. 

“Terms like employees and personnel are used repeatedly, yet under the definition section of the directive, these terms are not defined,” Simpson said during question period.

She said language used in P.E.I.'s Education Act is very intentional in the definitions of people who would be employed by the school authorities, and the language used in the directive makes it unclear who the new policies will apply to.

“Why was such imprecise and inconsistent language used in the school safety directive, and how can Islanders have confidence that it will be enforced adequately when it does come, when it doesn’t define who it covers?” Simpson asked Croucher.

Croucher responded that the ministerial directive “speaks to each and every staff member in our system.”

The directive aims to bring in more stringent checks during the hiring process to curb any bad actors from being hired into the Island’s school system.

It comes after former substitute teacher Matthew Alan Craswell pleaded guilty in April to sexually touching an elementary school student in a classroom. Craswell has also been charged with one count of sexual interference, which is the sexual touching of a person under the age of 16, in connection with another alleged incident at a second Island school.

Speaking with reporters after question period, Croucher said one of the things he’s most proud of within the directive is required background checks for staff who worked elsewhere and are returning to P.E.I.'s school system.

“Whether you’re gone for two weeks or two months or two years, when you come back into the system you’re required to have criminal records checks, vulnerable sector checks, self declarations, very extensive background checks and reference checks,” he said.