Dunlop eyes back-to-basics' approach

As a former educator, minister says she relates to teachers' frustration with classroom cellphone use

- KRISTIN RUSHOWY

Ontario Education Minister Jill Dunlop, a former post-secondary minister, taught at Georgian College in Barrie before becoming an MPP. When it comes to the cellphone and vaping ban in schools, Dunlop said she wants teachers, educators and principals to know that "we have their back."

For teachers who struggle to get students off their cellphones and pay attention in class, Ontario’s new education minister has shared your pain.

Jill Dunlop — moved into the education portfolio almost two weeks ago after the surprise resignation of Todd Smith, who had just taken over from long-serving minister Stephen Lecce — will now oversee tough new provincial changes limiting cellphone use in schools, an issue she knows well.

“I’ve been an educator in the past — although it was in a college, I do have a sense of that time in the classroom with students, and it leads to the work that we’re doing on distractions in the classroom,” Dunlop said in an exclusive interview with the Star ahead of next week’s start of the school year.

“I’ve been in the classroom and I’ve experienced that from adults, so I can imagine how difficult it has been for teachers, for young students, dealing with those types of distractions.”

Dunlop, a former post-secondary minister, taught at Georgian College in Barrie before becoming an MPP. She’s also mother to three daughters who were educated in the public system, with her youngest just graduated from university.

“We all see it, too — I mean, sitting in the boardroom, you’ve got people on their cellphones not paying attention,” she told the Star, adding her own phone frequently buzzes with notifications as do those of her daughters.