{"id":99844,"date":"2025-12-02T10:08:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T15:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=99844"},"modified":"2025-12-02T10:08:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T15:08:33","slug":"province-takes-control-of-near-north-school-board-sparking-local-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/province-takes-control-of-near-north-school-board-sparking-local-backlash\/","title":{"rendered":"Province takes control of Near North school board, sparking local backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

By David Briggs, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, BayToday.ca The Ministry of Education assumed control of the Near North District School Board (NNDSB) earlier today, and union leader Rob Hammond has concerns, stating Minister Paul Calandra\u2019s decision amounts to \u201cA direct assault on our local democracy.\u201d Hammond is president of the Near North Teachers\u2019 Local, part of the Elementary Teachers\u2019 Federation of Ontario, and he sees today\u2019s decision as the tip of the spear, with more takeovers to come. For Hammond, the stakes are high. He predicts funding cuts to students with special needs and, eventually, the removal of all elected trustee positions. See: BREAKING: Province seizes control of troubled Near North District School Board With no trustees, local voices will be silenced, warned NNDSB trustee Ashley St. Pierre. As for… <\/p>\n

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By David Briggs, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, BayToday.ca The Ministry of Education assumed control of the Near North District School Board (NNDSB) earlier today, and union leader Rob Hammond has concerns, stating Minister Paul Calandra\u2019s decision amounts to \u201cA direct assault on our local democracy.\u201d Hammond is president of the Near North Teachers\u2019 Local, part of the Elementary Teachers\u2019 Federation of Ontario, and he sees today\u2019s decision as the tip of the spear, with more takeovers to come. For Hammond, the stakes are high. He predicts funding cuts to students with special needs and, eventually, the removal of all elected trustee positions. See: BREAKING: Province seizes control of troubled Near North District School Board With no trustees, local voices will be silenced, warned NNDSB trustee Ashley St. Pierre. As for... <\/p>\n

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Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nProvince takes control of Near North school board, sparking local backlash - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/province-takes-control-of-near-north-school-board-sparking-local-backlash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Province takes control of Near North school board, sparking local backlash - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By David Briggs, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, BayToday.ca The Ministry of Education assumed control of the Near North District School Board (NNDSB) earlier today, and union leader Rob Hammond has concerns, stating Minister Paul Calandra\u2019s decision amounts to \u201cA direct assault on our local democracy.\u201d Hammond is president of the Near North Teachers\u2019 Local, part of the Elementary Teachers\u2019 Federation of Ontario, and he sees today\u2019s decision as the tip of the spear, with more takeovers to come. For Hammond, the stakes are high. He predicts funding cuts to students with special needs and, eventually, the removal of all elected trustee positions. See: BREAKING: Province seizes control of troubled Near North District School Board With no trustees, local voices will be silenced, warned NNDSB trustee Ashley St. Pierre. As for\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/province-takes-control-of-near-north-school-board-sparking-local-backlash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-02T15:08:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/02\\\/province-takes-control-of-near-north-school-board-sparking-local-backlash\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/02\\\/province-takes-control-of-near-north-school-board-sparking-local-backlash\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Province takes control of Near North school board, sparking local backlash\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-02T15:08:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/02\\\/province-takes-control-of-near-north-school-board-sparking-local-backlash\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":532,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/02\\\/province-takes-control-of-near-north-school-board-sparking-local-backlash\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/02\\\/province-takes-control-of-near-north-school-board-sparking-local-backlash\\\/\",\"name\":\"Province takes control of Near North school board, sparking local backlash - 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