As you know, the potential of a new Education Act to positively impact the education “we” provide to our students is something near and dear to my heart. 

 Over the last several years, it has been my great privilege to participate in the Inspiring Education and Setting the Direction for Special Education dialogues, to contribute to Board discussions both around our Edmonton Public Schools table as well as with other boards across the province, and to host two community conversations in southwest Edmonton on the Act.  I very much appreciate, too, the time and energy by community members to wrestle with the principles found in Bill 18 and the practicality of living up to them. 

 The discussion continues on Saturday, November 26, in Edmonton, courtesy of the new Minister of Education … and you are invited! 

Parents, students and teachers are especially encouraged to attend, and you are invited to RSVP as soon as you can. Space is limited.  . 

 The consultations will be exploring four themes:

1.      Making schools safe and welcoming

2.      Making learning relevant for all students

3.      Keeping students engaged in learning

4.      Setting students up for success in life

To register, visit:  http://ideas.education.alberta.ca/engage/current-initiatives/education-act-getting-it-right

 For those unable to attend, there will be an online opportunity to submit your views but that is not available just yet. I will keep you posted.

 For additional background on the work to date on the Education Act, please visit http://catherineripley.ca/education-act/

 Hope to see you there!  Please let me know if you will be able to attend and I will keep an eye out for you.

So begins a summary report on the meeting mentioned above.  The substance of the report is a series of questions and comments raised by participants as they reflected on three parts of the new Act (as based on a draft framework document circulated in October 2010). Specifically, the group looked at statements found within the proposed Preamble, Governance and Roles, and Financial Responsibility sections.

Overall questions and comments were:

“How does the new legislation differ from the current School Act?  What was the vision before?  What are the barriers to making all of this a reality?

“There appear to be lots of responsibilities, but no evidence of any resources.  Will this Act continue to add more responsibility to the public school system (special needs, medical issues, family issues) without the supports in place?  We need more money and access to other support systems instead of trying to provide all the services. Teachers cannot be social workers, nurses, psychiatrists, etc., but need quick and easy access to those professionals to provide the best help to the students.

“Is the Government rushing the Act?   Suggestion for the Minister:  Introduce the Bill in February/March 2011. Let it die and allow for more consultation and public input on the actual legislation.  Re-introduce a new revised Bill in Fall 2011. ”

But there were many more!  I encourage you to read the full report — Questions on the New Education Act FINAL — and more importantly, to be on the lookout for this new piece of legislation when it is introduced ino the Legislature.

Will the new Act allow us to “transform education” so it meets the needs of our 21st century children and communities?   What do you think?

I will keep you posted on the new Act as it is introduced in the Leg.   Stay tuned!

In the interim, if you are interested in hosting your own conversation on this fundamentally important piece of legislation, you are welcome to use my PowerPoint presentation as a jumping off place. Let’s Talk the New Education Act FINAL Glad to chat more!

Please come out and join the conversation about the new Education Act legislation expected to be introduced in the Winter Session of the legislature @ DS Mackenzie Junior High Library  (40 Ave and 106 Street).  Please RSVP by Wednesday, January 12 to Catherine.Ripley@epsb.ca or 780-887-1002.

In the Winter 2011 session, it is expected that The Honourable Dave Hancock, Minister of Education, will introduce a new Education Act into the Legislature. This is a major piece of legislation. The last time the School Act was reviewed and changed was about 20 years ago… so let’s talk about what appears to be coming.    What major changes are in store?  Will they support our children and youth in becoming the best they can be?  Will it help or hinder school boards in providing the best possible education for all students?  In 2009 (and reaffirmed in 2010) a group of Ward H residents determined that strengthening families, providing innovative citizenship education, and improving communication were three main ways “the village that it takes to raise a child” could achieve the ideal schools and communities we envisioned for 2030.  Will this new legislation provide a framework for that to happen? 

 In 2010, after attending two forums and sending my daughter and husband to one that I could not attend, plus following the media coverage on “the education election,” I am wondering where the discussion is on education itself.  There has been a lot of discussion around community and what public schools do for the community or don’t do.  But where is the discussion about what trustee candidates and citizens envision for our children in terms of enhancing their learning and their success in school? What do “we” think about what our children are learning in their classrooms and how they are learning?  Will the children in Edmonton Public Schools graduate ready to be flexible, creative, and good citizens? Will they be able to  think critically and communicate?  These are all crucial skills, I believe, for the 21^st century no matter what occupation a person ends up in.  Do you agree?  What policy changes do we need to make (if any)?  What priorities does the new Board need to set? Let’s talk about this.  

 Where is the discussion about our high school completion rate?  How can “we” (staff, parents, students, community, other elected officials) move forward on increasing our high school completion rate from about 67% after three years (about 75% after 5 years) to 100%?  Too many kids are going missing from our education system.  What is being done to increase student engagement? What more needs to be done? What policies and budget allocations will support this?  Let’s talk about this. 

 Where is the discussion about how we sustain and support our staff so they are the very best they can be for the children in our classrooms?  What are the stumbling blocks for staff in working toward ensuring that every single child in a school is connected and engaged so that we can achieve a 100% high school completion rate? How can we provide timely and nimble support to staff in effectively and willingly helping FMNI children, special needs kids, ESL children and their families, gifted & talented children, kids who don’t see math & science & social studies as relevant to their futures, etc. Let’s talk about this.

The world has never been changing so quickly, Alberta is in the midst of the makings of a brand-new Education Act, finances are tight … how will “we” support and nurture our children and our public schools in the most effective way possible?  What are the top three educational improvements we need to be focusing on to ensure every child who walks through the door crosses the stage with a high school diploma?  Are our dollars focused here?  Do we have the right measures in place to truly understand how our schools are doing and how well-prepared students are for their futures?  What are the ideas of the community on this? What are the ideas of the staff?  Let’s talk about this.

Of course, the discussion doesn’t end on Election Day.  Your thoughts are always welcomed here, on Facebook or by email or phone.

RE: Collaboration.  I totally agree that the whole community needs to be involved and active in public education, and we need to collaborate to maximize our respective strengths.  Truly, “it takes a village to raise a child.”   Collaboration takes lots of time, particularly up front, and time for all stakeholders is a precious commodity.  Collaboration needs to be supported through appropriate resourcing. Sometimes, though, we just need to get on with the job at hand.   

RE: Shared Governance. I also have a concern with “shared governance” if it comes with only the principle of shared decision making on paper and not the corresponding shared responsibility for the outcomes.  We need to be careful that we don’t end up in in a situation where everyone is responsible and yet no-one is ultimately responsible. Our children and their future are too important.  We ALL have a responsibilty toward our children/our future… I agree with that.  Practically, school boards have been the governing body “where the buck stops” in terms of public education…   Boards are a small enough working group where final decisions can be made effectively, and they are close enough to the local realities to reflect the local community in their decisions, and ultimately, they are the “public” voice in public education. If boards are well-connected to their communities, communicate well about upcoming decisions, and are open to hearing from the community, school boards are a very effective way of carrying out the business of public educcation. And if they are not doing this effectively, the community will let them know next election.

RE: appointments. I have a concern about appointments if you think this is the answer to “ensuring” a certain community is represented.  Who will make the appointments?  Which groups get an appointed representative… ?  The democratic process means elected reps should be responsive to their entire community (those who elected them, those who opposed them, those who did not vote) — what will be the acocuntability of appointed reps?  To the person who appointed them?  What other “out of the box” ideas are there for ensuring all voices from all communities are heard in the decision-making process?  Is it called public engagement?

I encourage everyone to visit the Inspiring Action Engage page and fill our your own transformation guide.  http://engage.education.alberta.ca/inspiring-action/become-involved/

Also some other ideas on governance … 

Edmonton Public Schools submission to the Minister with respect to School Act review

Comment from Public School Boards Association of Alberta on “Provincial governments or Local Communities: Where does school board accountability really lie?”

Some Thoughts on School Board Governance by Ken Chapman  (and be sure to read all the comments that people have made on Mr. Chapman’s blog entry)

Cheers.

The response, titled Inspiring Action, lays out a series of possible areas of change the Government is considering in its new Education Act. If you visit this page, you will also discover that the Minister is inviting further feedback through a series of topic-specific modules. For example, the first module is on Parental and Community Engagement. A new online module for discussion will be launched every two to three weeks until early October on the webpage mentioned above (and/or you can sign up for updates to alert you to the launch of the new module). (See dates below.)

The feedback received on these modules will directly influence the new Education Act that the Minister hopes to introduce in the Winter Session of the Legislature, so I encourage everyone to contribute your thoughts as the various modules are posted.

Parental and Community Engagement Module
I have gone through the first module and questions revolve around the role of school councils, ideal level of governance for school councils, what school boards and schools should be doing to support parental engagement, whether there should be a provincial parent advisory council, what school boards and schools should be doing to support community engagement in schools, what community engagement might look like, schools as community centres, etc.

Check it out! If you have more than half an hour (which is what it took me to go through the module), you may wish to read what about 40 people in SW Edmonton said about supporting students, teachers, schools back in March 2008 at my first broad community meeting as a preface to responding.

Also, consider: How does parental and community engagement contribute to Strengthening Families and Enhancing Innovative Citizenship Education – two of the key areas another group of community members have suggested as critical to achieve the schools and communities we want in 2030?