Teachers' union, education minister worry far-right targeting N.L. schools

Both the province's education minister and the teachers' union are worried about far-right ideologues targeting schools, and attacking teachers both in person and online, after a series of incidents across the province.

Most recently, within the last week a group of adults — including the parents of students — entered both Holy Trinity High School in Torbay, and Carbonear Collegiate to angrily confront staff.

In videos posted on social media by some of the parents and students in Carbonear, members of the group — who had gathered inside the building — can be seen shouting accusations at two school administrators, including claims staff had been looking at students who were using the washroom.

They said the protest was because of their concerns teachers are going "into the bathrooms and peeking up and over the stalls and between the cracks of the stall."

In separate social media posts, other parents and students said staff were monitoring the bathrooms for people smoking or vaping.

Police intervened at the Carbonear Collegiate incident, removing the parents from the school.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association says teachers are doing their job, and part of that includes supervising students.

And the union's president says similar incidents have happened across the province, leaving school staff feeling harassed.

"Schools have become battlegrounds, it seems, not just physically but also virtually," NLTA president Trent Langdon told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show. "It's time for this to come to an end. Enough is enough."

One of the protesters in the Carbonear Collegiate incident was Shane Sweeney, one of two people charged with criminal harassment and causing a disturbance after leading a "surprise convoy" protest outside Premier Andrew Furey's home on July 9, 2023.  The crown in the case decided to drop the charges in exchange for a peace bond requiring Sweeney to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.

"We are being invaded by a far-right agenda, many times attacking diversity and acceptance and respect in our schools," said Langdon.

It's a sentiment echoed by the province's education minister, who said she's aware of the incidents that have happened over the last few weeks.

"If we continue this assault on our institutions then what's to keep us from spiraling into anarchy," said Education Minister Krista Lynn Howell.

On March 5, NLSchools sent a letter to parents, calling those recent incidents "concerning."