| September 26, 2011 | | | Agenda of the Association for the week of September 26, 2011.
Monday: Montreal
Tuesday: Montreal - Persévérance scolaire news conference launch: 2e rencontres interrégionales sur la persévérance et la réussite scolaires
Wednesday: Montreal - Community Resource Committee (CLC initiative)
Thursday: Montreal
Friday: Montreal
Persévérance scolaire
QESBA President Debbie Horrocks will be at the head table tomorrow for a news conference launching 2e rencontres interrégionales sur la persévérance et la réussite scolaires. She will deliver brief remarks, along with conference co-Chairs L. Jacques Ménard, and Michel Perron, FCSQ President Josée Bouchard and Réussite Réussir(R2) Founder Richard Desjardins. R2 was created after the first rencontre convened by M. Ménard in late 2008.
PLQ members convention
The PLQ will hold a members’ convention at the end of October under four main themes, one of which will be children and education. Among the resolutions to be brought forward are calling for more school autonomy, preferential school funding based on standardized Ministry exam results and further cuts to school board budgets. QESBA President Debbie Horrocks has completed a few media interventions on this dossier. It should be noted that these resolutions, while indicative of the governing party’s orientations, do not necessarily bind the government to particular action.
QESBA to be awarded a CACE Bravo Award
We are pleased to announce that the Canadian Association for Communicators in Education (CACE) has retained QESBA’s 2011 Go Publique promotional campaign as a recipient of the Bravo award. The Bravos were developed to honor projects that demonstrate excellence in research, planning, execution and evaluation in education communications. The centerpiece of the campaign was, of course, the Annakin Slayd go publique video. QESBA will receive the award during the annual CACE conference to be held this upcoming weekend in Halifax.
Additional one-time budget compressions
Our member school boards are now working up the numbers regarding implementation of further budget compressions set by the MELS earlier this month.
The cuts, requiring further compressions in the order of $6 million for the nine English boards, are supposed to be assumed fully within the 2010-2011 financial year. Each boards’ Finance personnel is advised to closely scrutinize the formula for recording these compressions to ensure that the cut is properly proportional to the relative size of that board. QESBA has noted publicly that any cuts to school board budgets necessarily have impact on services offered. That said, the English network has made a commitment to collaborate on this dossier.
Bishops University President to moderate QESBA Presidential candidates' debate
Michael Goldbloom, President of Bishops University, has kindly agreed to act as moderator for the debate of QESBA presidential candidates. The declared candidates for President are, to date, Carolyn Curiale, David D’Aoust and Michael Murray. There are no declared candidates yet for the position of Vice-President. Nominations close on Oct. 7th.
Professional Development Session - AGM
The network received program and registration information for the QESBA Fall PD and Annual General Meeting last week. It is hoped that all boards will attend in good numbers. The number of hotel reservations to date is very promising. The plenary session, as announced, will feature Peel District School Board Director of Communications Brian Woodland. His session will segue into three “best practices” on recruitment, pedagogy and politics, featuring Lester B. Pearson, Riverside and New Frontiers School Boards.
QESBA Nominations Committee and e-voting
Personalized letters to every elected and parent commissioner are being mailed today and tomorrow outlining the procedures for electronic voting for the President and Vice-President. This, for the first time ever, will allow any commissioners unable to attend the PD-AGM in Sherbrooke on October 28-29, to securely cast their vote by e-mail and in full confidentiality.
Audited Statements
The QESBA Finance, Executive Committees and the Board of Directors received the audited financial statements on September 9, 2011 for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. The statements will now go out in the Annual General Meeting e-mailing that will go out by September 28, 2011 to all Commissioners along with the AGM document handbook. The QESBA budget for the current year was also approved for recommendation to the AGM.
"Food for thought"
"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you."
— B. B. King | | |
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| | Monday Message for June 28, 2011 | | | | Monday - Montreal – Table provincial de concertation sur la violence, les jeunes et le milieu scolaireTuesday - Montreal - Wednesday - Montreal – Thursday - Montreal - Friday - Montreal – Canada Day Monday MessageThe Monday Message will be on hiatus until August 22, 2011. Have a wonderful summer break! CSBA Steering CommitteeSteering Committee co-Chairs Carolyn Curiale and Frank di Bello convened a second meeting of QESBA’s Steering Committee for the Canadian School Boards Association Congress 2012 in Montreal last Wednesday. The committee reviewed plans to date for the event, July 5-7th, 2012 at the Hôtel Fairmont-Château Frontenac. Early scoop: one of Canada’s most prominent national broadcasters, Mark Kelley, is confirmed as the host of a still-to-be-developed national forum of students. Other program plans are well in the works. Other members of the committee are Debbie Horrocks, Moira Bell, John Ryan, Rosemary Murphy, Ginette Sauvé-Frankel and Steve Bletas. The committee is staffed by David Birnbaum and Kim Hamilton. CSBA Managing Director Andrea Prupas also sits on Steering. Its members will join others in the QESBA-member Board delegation in scouting out good ideas at next week’s CSBA Congress 2011 in Ottawa. QESBA offers its moral support for Terry Fox commemorationQESBA has offered its logistical and moral support to a parents’ delegation from Roslyn School of the EMSB that has begun a nation-wide effort to have Parliament approve a national day in commemoration of Terry Fox. Roslyn parent Christine Cardinal has initiated the idea, in honor not only of the national icon but also to mark the amazing contribution of Roslyn Caretaker Eddy Nolan to the organization of 30 years of local Terry Fox marathons. Nolan recently learned that he has cancer. The Roslyn parents are soliciting support from MPs of all parties, and hope to involve students in petition-writing to support the creation of a national Terry Fox Day. QESBA will invite member boards to consider offering their active support. MELS Administrative grantsQESBA is once again collaborating at fiscal year’s end with MELS SCAAAPN and ADGESBQ in serving as fiduciary partner for a second round of MELS administrative grants that will finance additional pedagogical and complementary projects aligned with the partnership and school management success plans. QESBA will likely receive support for a similar complementary measure involving the preparation and professional development of Commissioners and their Councils in adapting to the new accountability régime involved in these post-Bill 88 procedures. Annual General Meeting/Professional Development Session – SAVE THE DATE Please note that the QESBA AGM/PD will be held on the weekend of October 28 and 29, 2011. The regular rotation of sites to host has Eastern Townships School Board is our Fall hosts. A search is now underway to confirm the exact location. | | |
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| | January 20, 2011 | | | Agenda of the Association for the week of January 10, 2011Monday: MontrealSub-Committee meeting of the Communications Committee to examine final details of the upcoming GoPublique launch and campaign. Tuesday: MontrealConference call of the Board Chairs to discuss the joint meeting with the Minister of Education, Recreation and Sports scheduled for January 24, 2011/QCGN Working Group on Institutional Vitality Research ProjectWednesday: MontrealThursday: MontrealFriday: Montreal
Meeting with the MinisterPreparations are continuing for a meeting with Education Minister Line Beauchamp, to be held with QESBA and the Board Chairs in Montreal on Monday, January 24th, 2011. The Executive Committee has held a discussion on the matter and tomorrow, the Board Chairs will participate with the President, Vice-President and Executive Director in a conference call on the matter. It is expected that the key subjects for discussion with the Minister will include the future of school boards, issues of English Board funding and autonomy and key pedagogical and complementary service questions for our nine member boards. Vocational education authorizationsAssistant Deputy Minister Mimi Pontbriand has written to QESBA and affected Boards confirming some long-awaited authorizations for vocational education programs. The authorizations include permanent ones in Computing Support ant Eastern Shores, Carpentry at Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Masonry:Bricklaying at Riverside and Plumbing and Heating and General Building Maintenance at Lester B. Pearson; provisional authorizations for Secretarial Studies, Legal and Medical at SWLSB and Pharmacy Technical Assistance at RSB. Mme Pontbriand also outlined a plan to merge MELS-network bureaucratic committees on Adult Ed and Vocational Education. The English Language Vocational Education Committee has conditionally endorsed the change, with assurances that the DGs and QESBA are represented on the new body. GoPubliqueMember Board Chairs have been invited to the scheduled launch of the Phase II QESBA Go Publique! Campaign, to be held at the Rialto Theatre in Mile-End. The theatre has graciously allowed use of its premises at no charge. The launch will feature a big-screen unveiling of a video featuring Quebec pop/rap icon Annakin Slade with an original song about the benefits of our education system. Along with that will be a PubliSac launch of a two-sided pamphlet underlining what our system has to offer to targeted homes across Quebec. QESBA is now in negotiations with a number of television outlets and cinema chains to solicit free public-service spots, featuring an abridged version of the video. H1N1A letter late last month from ADM Manuelle Oudar has, unfortunately, rejected compensatory funding to school boards to offset substantial costs incurred in addressing last year’s H1N1 crisis. A number of our member boards and French boards had publicly called for such compensation. Our boards were lauded for the timely and effective work in facilitating vaccinations and addressing personal leave issues for affected employees. The ADM’s letter does leave the door slightly ajar for transportation costs, noting that member boards should report exceptional costs associated with this matter, and that some fiscal year-end reconciliation might still be possible. National Assembly Speakers’ TourAt the initiative of QESBA, National Assembly Speaker Yvon Vallières has made an addition to his exclusive list of French-school educational visits, organized for Quebec high schools this year. The program was the subject of coverage in Le Soleil earlier this year. The Speaker is expected to visit Richmond High School in his home riding in the Eastern Townships next month. QESBA will work to make sure that, henceforth, English public schools are routinely included in the Speaker’s annual itinerary. The visits involve an informal discussion with school and student leadership, followed by a more formal session with various grade levels participating. CSBA NewsThe Canadian School Boards Association will hold its winter meetings in Toronto in mid-February to coincide a first-ever formal opportunity to present to the Council of Ministers of Education – Canada. The CSBA Board will hold a by-phone meeting next week to begin planning the CMEC presentation. This is a significant opening, given that Canada’s Education Ministers clearly and regularly compare notes on their plans and approaches to public education financing, governance and curriculum. This will be an interesting chance to sensitize the collective group to pertinent school board issues. Long-form CensusQESBA is in good company in its vocal opposition to the elimination of Canada’s long-form census by the Harper government. Some 448 associations, universities, NGOs and community groups oppose the move and 11 support it, according to “Census Watch”, an on-line research coalition. The coalition believes all levels of Canadian governments should make civic information and data accessible at no cost in open formats to their citizens. Deadlines for reversal of the decision have, sadly, pretty much passed. | | |
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| | December 20, 2010 | | | QESBA Schedule for the Week of December 20, 2010 Monday, December 20, 2010: Montreal
Tuesday, December 21, 2010: Montreal - Go Publique
Wednesday, December 22, 2010: Montreal
Thrusday, December 23, 2010: Montreal - Closed
Friday, December 24, 2010: Montreal - Closed
Happy HolidaysThe QESBA Board of Directors and Staff wish you all a wonderful Holiday Season. QESBA Holiday Schedule and hiatus of the Monday MessageThe QESBA offices will be closed from Thursday, December 23, 2010 and will re-open on Thursday, January 6, 2011. The Monday Message will be on Hiatus until Monday, January 10, 2011. ADVISORY BOARD ON ENGLISH EDUCATION
QESBA was represented last week at a meeting of the English Advisory Board by President Debbie Horrocks, Executive Director David Birnbaum and Director of Communications and Special Projects Kim Hamilton to discuss school board governance, the future of school boards and the dossiers surrounding the topic. While the Minister has yet to confirm any timetable or process for school elections, the Advisory Board is eager to develop its own arguments for an eventual written advisory that it will submit to the Minister on this subject. It was a lively and wide-ranging two-hour exchange. ABEE Chair Kate Lemaistre thanked QESBA for participating. GO PUBLIQUEQESBA is currently preparing the complementary materials to accompany the lynchpin of Phase II of its “go publique” campaign – a promotional video to be launched on January 24th, likely at the Rialto Theatre in Mile-End, Montreal. The Board Chairs have been invited to be part of the launch. Those materials are expected to include Website support, a mass-distribution pamphlet and some support advertising in regional and urban newspapers. The initiative is being overseen by the newly-named QESBA Communications Committee, chaired by Steve Bletas.
ENGLISH EDUCATION RESEARCH CONSORTIUMExecutive Director David Birnbaum and Senior Policy Advisor Lucie La Ferrière met last week with Noel Burke, Concordia Principal of Extended Learning, and Lorraine O’Donnell, Coordinator-Researcher of the Quebec English-Speaking Communities Research Network, to begin explorations on the possibility of creating an English education consortium. The strategy would be to initiate and complete research that more directly responds to the identified needs of school boards and other stakeholders. A draft proposal is being prepared, and consultations with network partners, including the MELS, will be undertaken before any further steps are taken.
Comité MELS-réseau sur les ressources financières et matériellesThis senior MELS-network committee on school board financing might have found the optimum solution to a difficult problem that school boards had no part in creating: the integration of school board accounts into the general government ledgers, based on new GAPP rules. These changes would require financial reports at the end of the government’s fiscal year on March 31st as well as the currently-required accounts at the end of our fiscal year on June 30th. School boards will retain their single June 30th year-closing, with quarterly reports serving as the basis for a March 31st report at the end of the 3rd quarter. There are indications that Quebec’s Comptroller-General will accept this solution. There are, of course, many details still to be analyzed and addressed by the committee, where QESBA and ADGESBQ are both represented. | | |
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