Office of the Official Opposition
For Immediate Release

St. John's, NL (November 27, 2020) – Craig Pardy, PC Opposition Shadow Minister for Education and MHA for Bonavista, is congratulating Government on finally making the right call with today’s announcement that June public exams will be cancelled.

“My office has received numerous inquiries and concerns from parents, students and School Councils about the lack of clarity with respect to public exams. This is an exceptional school year and we need to do whatever we can to remove stress and anxiety from the classroom environment,” says Pardy.

Pardy noted midterm public exams for January were cancelled very early on but Government waited months to make this announcement.

Pardy says, “I was clear publicly in the House of Assembly and when I met with the Minister back in late August that this was the appropriate decision. Many School Councils and concerned parents have spoken out about the potential downside of public exams when students lost so much of last academic year,” noted Pardy, “and our primary focus should be getting our students and school staff through the remainder of this yearly safely.”

Pardy also noted public exams ARE NOT standardized testing.

“There is no need for the Minister to do a ‘deep dive’ on standardized testing for this year, simply because there is nothing to compare it to. We are in unchartered waters and our focus must be on finishing the school year safely,” concluded Pardy.
 

Contacts:

Bradley Russell

Director of Communications and Digital Strategy

(p) 1.709.729.3668

BradleyRussell@gov.nl.ca

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