Community members are in an uproar after restorative justice officials kept them out of a meeting with a former teacher. Roughly 125 parents attended last night's meeting at New Germany Elementary to question Peter Speight, while almost 30 people waited outside the school gym. Families are concerned because the Bridgewater native is on the verge of being reinstated as a teacher after pleading guilty to sex offences that occurred in the Halifax-area in 2008. Speight was given a conditional discharge and later fired by the South Shore Regional School Board. However, an arbitrator deemed Speight was unreasonably 'let go' - a ruling later upheld in Nova Scotia Supreme Court. Jamie Brewer's child attends the elementary school. She is surprised Speight is so close to getting his job back.
Meanwhile, Jolene Emino Mailman has a step-grandchild in the school. She questions the whole process.
Dozens of parents are threatening to transfer their children to different schools if the former Grade 3 teacher returns to the classroom. The Department of Education has filed for a judicial review of an arbitrator's decision to reinstate his teaching certificate. No date has been set for the hearing. The meeting was briefly interrupted when an individual stormed into the closed door meeting. Police escorted the man out of the school without incident.
