Agenda of the Association for the week of March 21, 2011. Monday: Montreal, Tuesday: Montreal, Wednesday: Montreal - QUESCREN meeting (research consortium), Thursday: Montreal - CSBA Congress 2012 Steering Committee/ADGESBQ, Friday: Montreal - ADGESBQ/LEARN Board/QESBA Board of Directors. Provincial Budget QESBA was represented by Vice-President Carolyn Curiale, Executive Director David Birnbaum, SWLSB Finance Director Livia Nassivera and Translator Luisa D’Andrea at the budget lock-up last week in Quebec City. QESBA released a statement immediately following the lock-up last Thursday offering cautious optimism for the education sector.The key figure for QESBA’s nine-member school boards is the 4.3 per-cent increase for a total of $330 million projected in system cost allocations to public education. The impact of this will only be clear after QESBA and Board Finance Directors analyse the budget parameters, forthcoming in the coming days. QESBA was looking for evidence in this budget that new funding for the Premier’s announced education initiatives would be provided – and on terms adequately flexible to allow English school boards to properly deliver programs adapted to our students’ particular needs. There appears to be some comfort on that score, on new funding of IT. The parameters and strategies for the linguistic exchange initiative, while funded in future years starting in 2012, remain far from clear, however.Professional Development Session From all accounts, the 91 participants in the first-ever QESBA “virtual” Professional Development Session were very pleased with the event. A lively discussion on community engagement was held throughout the day. QESBA will be sending out a “Survey Monkey” seeking formal feedback to all participants tomorrow, and we will have a full summary for the Board of Directors on Friday. Our thanks to hosts and technicians at all seven sites for facilitating the event. The Association has promised to deliver a written report summarizing the day’s deliberations. The QESBA Executive Committee, as the designating body coordinating the Community Engagement Action Plan, will be following up the findings.Symposium on French Immersion The Wallace Lambert Symposium on French Immersion was held last week at McGill University. The event was an initiative of the Association for Canadian Studies. QESBA President Debbie Horrocks delivered opening remarks on Friday, March 18, 2011. Ginette Sauvé-Frankel and Rosemary Murphy attended the event on behalf of the QESBA Executive Committee. Our particular thanks to RSB Consultant Jessica Saada (currently on loan to the MELS) and Lauren Hill Academy senior student Clara del Degan for contributing their remarks to two panels held during the conference.Bill 133 hearings QESBA received a last-minute convocation to hearings of the Commission de l’administration on March 29th on a draft law (Bill 133) presented by Treasury Board President Michelle Courchesne entitled, “Loi sur la gouvernance et la gestion des ressources informationnelles des organismes publics et des enterprises du gouvernement”. Our initial analysis and subsequent comments to a private briefing on the law last month expressed concern about a new level of bureaucracy and intrusion on school boards likely to be created should this law be adopted. A draft response is being promptly prepared for the hearings. Expected hearings on the Vérificateur général’s report on school board administration have been delayed for the moment. Finally, the VG’s report on school transportation is now scheduled for publication in the first week of April.MELS comité directeur sur la reddition des comptes et la planification stratégique The winter meeting of this senior committee took place in Quebec City last Friday. It was a first opportunity for the education sector to meet new Deputy Minister Louise Pagé, who was most cordial, direct and clearly results-oriented in her approach. The committee reviewed the previous day’s budget and followed up on a number of issues, including the partnership agreements and school management and educational success agreements, the Fall rencontre des partenaires on special needs as well as the newly-announced regional and “national” rencontres on vocational education and job-market needs. Discussions regarding the nature and numbers of school and school board participation in the voc-ed sessions are ongoing. QESBA is awaiting precisions on this matter. Regional sessions in April will be followed up by a two-day “rencontre nationale” on June 13th-14th.Visit to ETSB school by National Assembly President Our congratulations to Richmond School of the Eastern Townships School Board for hosting the Speaker of the National Assembly earlier today. Thanks to an intervention by QESBA, the Speaker has now made his first visit to an English public school as part of a long-standing program of school visits undertaken by the National Assembly. Eastern Townships School Board Chair Mike Murray, DG Chantal Beaulieu and Richmond School Principal Isabelle Beaulac welcomed Speaker Yvon Vallières. The real stars, from all reports, were the Secondary IV students, some 100 of them, who participated in a lengthy exchange, exclusively in French, with M. Vallières. The event will be featured in local media reports and in a follow-up news release from the National Assembly. |