The future restructuring of School Boards’ Council of Commissioners

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate diffusion

The future restructuring of School Boards’ Council of Commissioners

 MONTREAL, July 20, 2015 – On June 23, 2015, the English Parents’ Committee Association of Quebec (EPCA) met with the Minister of Education, François Blais, to explain its position on future changes to governance of Quebec’s school boards’ Council of Commissioners.

The guiding principle behind the proposed restructuring of what is now School Board Councils is to create a Council that has a majority of its seats occupied by parents. It is the EPCA’s contention that parents have only one agenda, quality education for their children, and as such are best suited to make decisions that impact the students.

The following points are included in our proposal :

1. All School Board Councils consist of a voting majority of parents
2. The Chairperson of these councils be a parent elected by the council
3. Two alternatives to the election of all council members that would replace the costly existing process
4. That no member of the council be nominated by any level of government, including municipal
5. That all members of the council undergo a mandatory training
6. That the terms of office for members be staggered to assure consistency during transition periods

Minister Blais was also reminded that the English school boards took nine of the 13 top graduating rates, including first place. It was suggested that the existing internal method of policy development through collaboration of teachers, principals, senior administrators and parents through standing committees be a model developed across the province as is the case for its member English school boards.

At that same meeting, the Minister was asked to consider that since 1990 the English community had led the way in integrating special need students without additional government funding. Given the annual rise in special need enrollment, the EPCA requests that additional financial support be provided in this sector.

Our organization intends to provide an information session on these and other topics in the later weeks of August 2015. At this session, parents from across the province will be present to answer questions on their local impact issues.

About the English Parents’ Committee Association (EPCA)

The English Parents’ Committee Association is a coalition of parents’ committees from English-language school boards across Quebec, representing nearly 85,000 students in the English language sector in the province. EPCA is the sole representative body of Quebec English parents’ interests to the Ministry of Éducation, Enseignement supérieur et Recherche. Through its member Parent Committees, the EPCA assists and supports parents by providing education and, when necessary, advocacy, on more regional matters. For more about the EPCA: https://epcaquebec.org/about-epca/.

For additional information and/or interviews: Angelo Grasso, Director General of the EPCA, (514) 778-3722 or director-general@epcaquebec.org.