HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government is ordering a school board to put an elementary school teacher on administrative leave while he tries to regain his job after he pleaded guilty to committing an indecent act.

Education Minister Ramona Jennex says she has directed the South Shore Regional School Board to put Peter Speight on administrative leave until the status of his teaching certificate is resolved.

The Education Department has applied for a judicial review into an arbitrator’s decision to return Speight’s teaching certificate, though a date for that hearing has not been set.

Jennex’s order comes a day after a number of outraged parents voiced their concerns about the possibility of Speight returning to his job at New Germany Elementary School.

Last month, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruled that Speight _ who pleaded guilty to publicly masturbating in the Halifax area in 2008 _ was unreasonably fired from his teaching position three years ago.

He was granted a conditional discharge.