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| August 30, 2010 | | | BACK TO SCHOOL!!!
QESBA Schedule for the Week of August 30, 2010 Monday, August 30, 2010: - Montreal – Tuesday, August 31, 2010: - Montreal – Meeting with QESBA auditors Wednesday, September 1, 2010: - Montreal – Thursday, September 2, 2010: - Montreal – Professional Development Committee Friday, September 3, 2010: - Montreal – School Reopening QESBA has circulated to the network and on the website a school reopening message from President Debbie Horrocks. The piece ran in last week’s Gazette as well, and was submitted to major weekly regional media. In addition to expressing our wishes for every success to staff, commissioners and students, QESBA focuses on a few of the key issues heading into a new school year, including the future of curriculum reform, the Fall “rencontre”, implementation of the new collective agreements and high school success. Rencontre nationale QESBA is planning to meet informally in the coming weeks with other English-sector education partners to discuss common concerns and ideas for presentation to the Fall “rencontre nationale”. No further details to those reported in last week’s message have been forthcoming from the Ministry at this time. School taxes QESBA Vice-President Carolyn Curiale was interviewed by CJAD last Thursday regarding the school tax issue. Spearheaded by SWLSB, this issue is now on the public agenda. Five English boards have one or more French boards on the same territory charging preferential tax rates, leaving our Boards in the unfair position of appearing to “over-charge their ratepayers. In reality, current rules, of course, leave each board with no flexibility in setting its tax rate. QESBA will be bringing the matter to the attention of the Minister and the MELS bureaucracy. The problem has resulted in some citizens moving from the English school tax role to the French one. Retreat of the Chairs and Vice-Chairs Pursuant to a MELS grant under the recent administrative agreements, QESBA plans to host Chairs and Vice-Chairs on Leadership development retreat in the Montreal area on November 5th and 6th. It will immediately follow the Fall PD-AGM and QESBA Board meeting. The PD Committee, chaired by Frank Di Bello, will be meeting later this week to plan the PD session. Bill 103 hearings QESBA has been invited to present its brief on the opening day of hearings of the Commission de la Culture et de l’Éducation on draft Bill 103. LBPSB will appear on the 13th of September and EMSB is expected to appear the following week. QESBA has already circulated its brief to the network. Should you wish to see a copy, please contact the office. In the coming days, QESBA should receive a first draft of a small Bill-103-related research project, completed with support from the Federal Language Rights Support Panel. Meeting with Ontario Education ADM Director of Labour Relations and CPNCA President Ben Huot was asked to meet with the Ontario Assistant Deputy Minister of Education to describe our negotiating structures and protocols in Quebec. Ontario is interested in learning about what works and doesn’t in our province. During the visit, Ben also explored with our counterparts at the Ontario Public School Boards Association a portal they have developed linking all Ontario school boards on a shared site featuring best negotiating practices and local negotiations agreements. We will explore implementing a similar model here. Audited Statements Fuller Landau, the accounting firm that is responsible for auditing QESBA’s financials, will review a draft of the audited statements with QESBA tomorrow. The statements, as always, will then be brought forward to the Finance Committee, Executive Committee and Board of Directors Meeting, on September 10, 2010. Senior partner Gilles Marleau will then be present to discuss the audited statements before sending them out to the general membership for consultation. | | |
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