Snow Day Call

On Valentine's Day 2014 the Eastern Townships School Board chose to keep its schools and centres open despite forecasts of a major storm with heavy snow and high wind. Along with other school boards in the area of southern Quebec it has been severly criticized in social and public media for this decision in light of the storm which dropped from 15 to 25 centimetres of snow on its territory accompanied by winds gusting to 60 km/hr. Roads were difficult and some busses and staff failed to reach school while others struggled in late. Tempers were frayed. Complaints poured into schools blaming them for putting children and personnel at risk. Broadcast media interviewed board personnel demanding justification. As chairman of the ETSB council of commissioners (trustees) I was consulted by administrators as events unfolded and endorsed their choices.

We made a mistake. We apologize to everyone who was inconvenienced, put at risk or who suffered unnecessary stress or fatigue. We made a tough call based on ambiguous information and it turned out wrong. In previous situations similar to this one we have been severely criticized for closing schools without sufficient justification.

It is never easy to close schools because it creates hardship for parents who must arrange for child care at the last possible minute. Some end up losing a day of pay staying home to care for their children. We never lightly impose that kind of hardship on parents despite the universal glee of students at the proclamation of a snow day. We are also conscious of the rapidity of snow clearing across our territory and the resilience of Quebecers accustomed to winter driving. We also know that weather forecasting is inexact, particularly as in this instance when the storm track shifted repeatedly, making it far from certain that our territory would be seriously impacted. In fact, our neighboring school boards to the west and north were only marginally impacted.

The process of declaring a snow day is also exhaustive. It begins with weather forecasts several days in advance. ETSB is fortunate to employ an administrator who is an enthusiast and who assumes the role of our early warning system by monitoring a number of weather models. We were alerted early in the week of an impending storm and followed the evolution closely. It was never clear just where it would strike our region and how severely. At 4:30 am on February 14th, current conditions and the latest forecasts were assessed by transport officials and senior administrators. Bus drivers arriving for work shortly after 5 am were polled for information on conditions, both weather and road. Even by 6 am when the first busses were warming up in preparation to roll out there was no snow falling and no indication of imminent severe conditions. Moreover the forecasts were unanimous that any storm would abate early in the afternoon, indicating that the return home would not be challenging. Administrators consulted with their counterparts at other boards sharing our territory who unanimously indicated their intention to remain open. Faced with that combination of input, the decision was taken to keep ETSB schools open and busses rolled.

By 8 am the blizzard struck with heavy snow. Wind did not become strong until later but already it was evident that the choice had been the wrong one. By that time busses were arriving at some schools and it would have been irresponsible to turn them around. Parents would already have left home secure in the knowledge that we were taking care of their children. Some students were kept home and some staff did not make it into school. Those who did rose magnificently to the challenge, assuming double workloads. Of course there was grumbling and irritation but it didn't prevent our personnel from providing a good day's education to those students who were present.

Happily the second part of the forecast proved accurate. The storm drew to a close in the afternoon although winds continued to whip the newly fallen snow around. Students were returned safely home and exhausted personnel left for a well-earned weekend of rest and recovery. I want to thank them all for their commitment and dedication. They certainly lived up to the high standards of ETSB educators. I want to extend a further note of personal apologies and support to school secretaries, some of whom suffered unjustified criticism and even verbal abuse from callers complaining about the board's decision to keep schools open. Secretaries are certainly not accountable for such decisions and it seems outrageous to me that anyone should subject them to abuse in such circumstances. They deserve our support, our sympathy and our appreciation for the role they play as the first and often most significant line of contact with parents and families of our students.

A final word for those often forgotten heroes of the road, our bus drivers. They are our ambassadors who take charge of children in the morning, the first school board representative parents and children see each day, and of course the last as well. They help us understand the vagaries of weather, supervise and discipline groups of children often as numerous as three or even four class groupings, and successfully deliver them over tough rural roads and crowded urban streets. Thank-you all.

Rethinking Education Policy in Quebec

Public education in Quebec has recently come under fresh attack by the Government, in the current instance for imposing significant tax increases on citizens in response to reductions in government funding. As frequently is the case the criticism is leveled at school boards and their elected commissioners. Demands are being made not merely for school boards to roll back or otherwise palliate the impact of tax increases already budgeted, but for solutions to be found within a matter of days.  Those demands reflect a profound lack of understanding on the part of the government of public education in general and of the functioning of school boards. School commissioners are being asked to cut administrative expenses, as if administration contributes nothing to the value or quality of education. That is far from the case. The demand is that budgets be compressed without reducing services to students as if school boards spend money on anything that does not serve students. No solution to this dilemma will be easy and decidedly no short-term solution exists.

Public commentary, whether by government, the media or irate taxpayers and parents ignores much of what is happening in education. Public schools grapple with constantly increasing demands for better performance, coupled with large new mandates that are often either unfunded or inadequately funded. One of the most  school property, but also virtually on social media anytime and anywhere. It is merely the latest of unrealistic burdens imposed on an already overburdened system. Schools must not only teach, but socialize, discipline and inspire students. Incredibly education has risen to the challenge and is succeeding beyond realistic expectation.

Media joyously report our misdeeds and shortcomings while governments complain that we consume too large a share of public expenditures. Media occasionally mention that education is important for future prosperity and trot out clichés like the mantra ‘education is the surest path out of poverty’. Then they proceed to treat education costs as expenses rather than investments in the future. They seldom mention that the Canadian and Quebec education systems rank among the best in the world, well ahead of the customary comparisons with United States, Britain, France and other leading developed countries. For consumers of much media reporting it seems that public education is hopelessly ineffective and inadequate. In fact our education system is being revolutionized thanks to the tireless dedication of teachers, professionals and administrators who implement change and the work of elected commissioners who challenge tradition and ensure that higher expectations are met.

The revolution now underway in education is so profound that lifelong educators struggle to understand it. Even more so, reporters and commentators in the media have difficulty grasping the direction, the depth and purpose of many changes they observe and the many more that occur unnoticed. Ultimately, politicians and government, preoccupied as they are with so many complex issues, can hardly be faulted for superficial assessments and simplistic approaches to meeting society’s educational needs. The ultimate question is seldom asked. It should be, “what kind of education system to you want?”

The purpose of education is seldom if ever clearly stated. That may be due to the different points of view. Parents want their children to be equipped for a successful life, but success is defined differently by most. Taxpayers want students prepared to become productive citizens, contributing to general prosperity and ensuring resources will be available to support retirees in comfort. Employers in both public and private spheres want employees fully equipped with the knowledge, skills and work ethic to perform the available jobs and ready to be retrained as required to keep pace with developing technology. Colleges and universities often seem to want students with study skills and aptitudes for esoteric thought, philosophical reflection and detached observation of humankind. Governments wish for successive generations of citizens who place the collective benefit, whether of concern for the environmental, preservation of heritage or participation in democratic processes ahead of individual and personal interests. What kind of education system to they want?

Society is changing at a pace never before seen. The explosion of knowledge, its ubiquitous availability, and the rapid appearance of whole new industries has made career planning extremely challenging. Not long ago, steel workers in Hamilton and auto assemblers in Oshawa and Mirabel were among the best paid most securely employed and pensioned workers in Canada. Now those plants are closed or sadly reduced, with tens of thousands of people required to find new jobs and work outside their fields. It isn’t only the rust belt industries that suffer traumatic changes. Ask former employees of once high-flying Nortel, Canada’s tech darling, or in the news currently, the 5,000 workers at Blackberry (Research in Motion) facing layoffs whether the crisis is due to old-style industries. Change is the new normal and education needs to change with it. Once again education is not given credit for what it is accomplishing.

Education is in the midst of a three-phase revolution that responds to external changes and tries to satisfy many of the evolving demands placed upon it. This revolution is apparent mainly to those inside the field. It began with the first availability of affordable personal computers in the 1990s and really got underway at the beginning of this century, after most current students were born. It has caused great stress and angst among educators with heated debates continuing to this day over which if any of the changes is appropriate or desirable. Progress is uneven but here is a general outline of what is happening in education.

The first phase of the revolution is changing the emphasis on student learning. Most of today’s parents were educated focusing on lower-level intellectual tasks (factual recall, regurgitation). That satisfied the needs of society at the time and we still hear appeals for a return to rote learning and the three Rs.  Modern society requires students more often engaging in tasks of greater cognitive complexity such as creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration and effective communication. Practices and habits die hard, and often teachers and parents resist the change because it feels so unfamiliar and seems so far outside their comfort zone. However education continues to evolve in this direction because the world of work and play in the future requires higher order thinking skills for success.

The second element of the revolution in education is changing classrooms from analog to digital so that they more closely resemble the world outside school. We inherited classrooms largely based on pens/pencils, paper, notebooks, ring binders and printed textbooks. Starting fifteen or twenty years ago we introduced digital tools in a naïve way simply placing computers in classrooms and hoping they would inspire change. When that didn’t produce results we became more realistic and began retraining teachers, along with giving students their own computers and open connectivity. Our goal is to change classrooms into local and global learning spaces that are deeply and richly technology infused. It involves teachers and other educators to completely transform what and how they teach.

The third phase of the revolution is the most challenging because it is so alien to traditional thinking. We are changing learning from teacher-directed to student-directed. Educators are often reluctant to give up control of classrooms and offer students more input. However the trend is toward learning environments that enable greater student ownership and control of what, how, when, where, who with and why they learn. Many professional educators don’t yet fully comprehend anytime anywhere learning or the implications of constant connectivity, ubiquitous information access or peer assessment. It requires student support and understanding to smooth the path in a way that does not threaten the authority or contribution of teachers.

With so much profound change underway, and so little understanding in the public sphere it is not surprising that unwarranted criticisms are plentiful. There are no easy solutions and no instantaneous ones. We are dealing with the welfare of our future generations, and we need to act both only responsibly and inventively. We are also responsible for the livelihoods of the thousands of committed educators who have security of employment, collectively negotiated rights and a key role in student development to fill. Everyone wants the best possible outcomes even when they can’t always agree on what those outcomes should be. However creating and maintaining a high-performing education system while respecting limits on resources goes far beyond simple budget manipulations. It takes time and innovation to restructure an entire system. It takes thinking about how to accomplish goals in ways that are not only different from the past, but far more efficient. We have to give up tradition and some degree of comfort to venture into the scary future. That revolution is underway but like anything worthwhile it takes time to achieve. Aborting it by applying short-term thinking to generational issues can only end badly.

Catching up to today

Michael Murray (@MikeMurray6)

Chairman, Eastern Townships School Board

Report to the Council of Commissioners

August 27, 2013

CATCHING UP TO TODAY

Once again we are beginning a new school year with all the promise and excitement that involves. ETSB is great place to work and wonderful place for students to achieve all they are capable of. We are a professional learning community that understands that support staff, professionals and commissioners are as much educators and ambassadors as teachers and administrators. Together we undertake the challenge of constantly improving the education of our students.

Last week, Scott McLeod (@mcleod) blogged a thoughtful article about managing change in education. He pointed out that few of us have the luxury of starting fresh even though each September seems to offer renewal. Instead we are “stuck with legacy structures, policies, facilities, personnel and mindsets” that make change difficult and slow. He compared the task of improving education to building the plane while flying in it. I was struck by the analogy, since few among us would dare to try the literal experience, yet we are reinventing education as we go. We don’t really have a choice given the rapid changes in society that require a different approach to develop different skill sets in students than were desirable in earlier generations. We are now asked to foster such high-order intellectual skills as collaboration, innovation, curiosity, critical thinking, application of knowledge and effective communication. We need to adapt and respond or become irrelevant.

 ETSB has been a leader in Quebec, one of the most consistently determined in implementing the reformed constructivist curriculum, the first to implement system wide one-to-one computers, proactive about installing interactive electronic whiteboards in classrooms and implementing new pedagogical philosophies  such as early intervention and individualized instruction. We have become recognized as a model for other school boards in Quebec (Minister of Education, Treasury Board) and beyond (OECD, World Bank, Thierry Karsenti of U de M). Some doubters and reluctant participants remain among our colleagues as in every organization. I would urge everyone in our professional learning community to rise to the challenge of building our new educational craft as we go, not simply riding along, but contributing new ideas, innovations and sharing best practices. We all want the best for our students and I believe we share the attitude that those students deserve nothing less than the best.

Among the practices I personally recommend is following leading educators on Twitter. Not only should every educator be on Twitter absorbing the information available; we should all contribute when we have an idea or insight. Twitter is also great for sharing ideas we come across to help colleagues discover them too. I sincerely hope that every teacher, professional, support staffer, administrator and commissioner has a Twitter account and follows a selection of contributors in education. The access to stimulating ideas is unparalleled. I can strongly recommend following Scott McLeod (@mcleod), Richard Byrne (@rmbyrne) and Alec Couros (@courosa) as a beginning for those still unfamiliar with Twitter. The ideas and resources they share on education are stimulating and informative. You will discover others as you survey your Twitter feed. It takes only a few minutes. I can also modestly add that I also contribute occasionally (@MikeMurray6)

I hope that every educator either blogs or will begin to blog in order to share thoughts, innovations and resources at greater length than a Tweet allows. That may be a second step for those new to social media. Educators also need to use the potential of videoconferencing using their laptops and software like Google hangout and Skype to extend the boundaries of their personal learning circles beyond the walls of their school to include colleagues not only elsewhere in the board, but those in other organizations who are facing similar challenges and opportunities. This is particularly essential for us in ETSB since the distances and time for travel between schools to say nothing of getting to meetings in other districts are so significant. If we can eliminate the travel we will have far more time for productive discussions and exchanges of ideas and resources. Yes, I agree that person-to-person meetings are more satisfying, but when we factor in the loss of time in travel, just think of how much more meaningful discussion, debate, exchange and learning can occur by meeting virtually.

So far I have mentioned only educators since students are already far ahead of most of us in adapting to the new environment. We need not only to catch up but also to adapt to take advantage of the potential that digital citizenship creates. As an educational system we need to support their acquired habits, providing reliable high-speed access in all our schools, personal e-mail and Twitter accounts for every student, and encourage them to use Twitter and other social media to exchange, learn, and communicate both in school and outside. We must never lose sight of the reality that much learning occurs outside the classroom but we should try to incorporate that learning into our pedagogy. Students should begin to blog early in their careers in order to write authentic material for real audiences, and to treat the Internet as a place to create and contribute rather than simply search and absorb.

Many students have screens of their own including cell phones, iPods, tablet computers and laptops. We need to incorporate those devices into our pedagogical practice in class. Keep in mind that a student with a cell phone or iPad can photograph a board full of notes in a second, and with a click, share those notes with classmates. They no longer consider a Power Point presentation a sophisticated use of technology, while teachers who play a video clip in class do nothing they cannot do on their own screens. Teachers would do better to provide a link in advance and lead a discussion on the meaning. The pace of their lives is far faster than in previous generations, and they have unlimited access to information and instantaneous communications. Our challenge is to make use of all that to attract and hold their interest through applications of the information, to teach collaboration, problem solving, critical thinking and communication skills while stimulating curiosity, imagination and innovation. It is a huge challenge and yet an inspiring one. Together we can build the plane while flying in it.  Oh yes, and one final thought. Change is here to stay and seems to be accelerating so we find ourselves in a situation like Alice in Wonderland, where we must run as fast as we can just to stay in the same place, and much faster than that to get anywhere else. Welcome to our (slightly scary) new year.

Reinventing the wheel

Last night I was privileged to attend the first TEDx in French held in Quebec. It was organized by Pierre Poulin, a teacher at Ecole Wilfred-Bastien in Saint-Leonard. Pierre and his team merit applause and recognition for their initiative in organizing the event which is part of a worldwide series of conferences bringing together people from Technology, Entertainment and Design. The theme of this TEDx was technology integration in education. Notable speakers included Ronald Canuel, executive director of the Canadian Education Association and educators Francois Burdon and Francois Rivest as well as a number of students describing their vision of a modern education and school. Despite technical glitches it was an excellent effort and thoroughly enjoyable. Recordings of the presentations will soon be available on U-Tube

However I got the impression that the speakers were preaching to the converted. The audience was primarily composed of educators already using or committed to technology as a pedagogical tool. It was discouraging to hear the same arguments in favor of integrating technology into the classroom that have been advanced for the last decade. One speaker cited research from Keri Karsenti dated 2003 ignoring more recent and more significant published research based on experiences in Quebec published in 2011. Only one speaker referenced the project of board-wide technology integration launched in 2003 by the Eastern Townships School board. The lack of awareness of progress elsewhere emphasized the need for educators and education to learn what we teach to preschoolers and kindergarten students - the value and benefits of sharing. Earnest dedicated educators discover for themselves the wonders of integrating technology into pedagogy, but too often those discoveries remail confined to a single classroom or, at best, a pilot school. Growing evidence clearly shows that ubiquitous access to information and the capacity to create content on the Internet is transformational in education. Nobody contests the phenomenon of increasing disengagement among students whose universe is largely digital except in schools where the content and techniques of learning are closer to the 19th than the 21st century. It is sad that highly motivated innovative teachers and educators must devote so much energy to developing and testing practices that have already been tested and consolidated elsewhere. We need those energies devoted to exploring even better pedagogical practices and integrating the array of newly available technologies. Most speakers were focused on the beginning stages of integration, rather than pushing the frontiers toward e-textbooks, new inexpensive apps available for i-pads and smart phones, or how to make use of pocket computing devices already owned and used by students (smartphones, i-pods, flip-video cameras). The pioneers need to begin experimenting with three-dimensional printers, text-to-speech, and virtual schools.

It is time to break down the barriers. We need to recognize that the world has changed. Education is playing "catch-up". We don't even need to like it but we absolutely must acknowledge it. Unless and until we learn to address students in the way that their perceptions understand and in the way that they learn, education will continue to fail far too many. The desperate need is to make education relevant to students who will be in the workforce well into the second half of this century. They will be using technology not yet invented to meet needs not yet identified and we need to equip them with the skills and attitudes to do that. We can't afford to let 20% drop out of school, many because of boredom. We can't afford to graduate students who are not committed to lifelong learning.

I salute the educators who spoke at the TEDx and those who gave up an evening of precious leisure to attend. We need to do much more to exchange experiences and consolidate progress. It was a great first step that needs to be replicated everywhere. We need to stop reinventing the wheel!

Time to change gears

I read with eager anticipation the transcript of the major interview on CBC given by the newly elected President of QESBA, David D’Aoust, and the newly elected vice-President, Frank Verillo. Fresh from their campaigns and electoral victory, I expected the new leaders of English Education in Quebec would be brimming with new ideas, enthusiastically promoting their priority issues and rebutting vigorously the slanders and misinterpretations of the critics. Sadly, as I read all the way to the end I was unable to identify a single fresh idea, much less a forceful declaration of purpose and benefits that demonstrate beyond any doubt the value of publicly elected school boards and their vital contribution to education. Despite a valiant effort they fell into the same trap that has mired our thinking for too long. The critical error was to accept the opposition’s premise that elected school commissions are the same thing as the administrative level called school boards Why defend the whole school board when what matters is the elected school commissioners

The value of school boards does not reside in their equitable distribution of scarce resources, or their efficient handling of such mundane necessities as recruiting, evaluating and mentoring personnel, dealing with parent complaints or balancing budgets. Any reasonably competent bureaucracy can perform all of those functions. In fact, permanent board-level staff performs the administration of school boards and the board bureaucracy achieves the often-cited efficiencies. The value of publicly elected school commissioners is not even overseeing the performance of personnel or centralizing certain administrative functions, although that might justify maintaining this level of administrative organization without elected councils.

Our arguments need to become far more focused and less defensive. Make each school independent? What folly! Imagine how it would surely develop if these misguided reformers were granted their wish. How long would it take for the principals, already complaining of overwork, to discover they need in each school a human resources director, responsible for recruiting teachers and support staff, evaluating their performance, organizing training and negotiating local agreements for working conditions. How long before the principal would demand a director of finance to manage budgets, allocate scarce resources and monitor expenses? How long before even the smallest school would require an assistant principal to manage all the administrative functions and other administrators while the principal attends meetings with ministry personnel, meets with other principals to discuss programs and performs his local duties as the public face of education. At that stage more employees would be necessary to provide pedagogical leadership, negotiate for professional services and so on. We haven’t even touched on the complexities of school bus transportation that would be fragmented.

It goes without saying that each new position at school would rapidly become a department, with secretaries, deputies and coordinators. Clearly there would soon be far more bureaucracy and administrative cost in the schools than now exists in school boards, while the ministry, faced with dealing with thousands of separate and distinct entities, would find the need to increase its personnel with a corresponding ballooning of its budget. And none of this would provide a single iota of benefit to the students. Consequently school boards are essential levels of administration simply to avoid incurring higher costs. Why aren’t our leaders treating such fatuous ideas as school independence with the mockery and ridicule they so richly deserve even if those ideas have nothing to do with the real function and purpose of elected commissioners?

Moreover I thought Julian Feldman raised the most telling argument against independent schools when he pointed out how ineffective governing boards actually are, and how little they can do to reflect parent priorities. A handful (or fewer) of parents devoting two or three hours per month can hardly be expected to oversee a full-time principal who has the luxury of conferring in advance with school council to agree on orientations and policy. It is simply a formula for unfettered independence by principals to build their own empires. Private schools can manage because parents who pay thousands of dollars (in addition to the government funding) have far more incentive to pay attention to how budgets are spent. Let’s stop sounding defensive over the status quo and start dismantling the silly proposals for reform.

Locally elected school commissions are change agents and sources of innovation, or at least they should be. Educators, by their very purpose of transmitting to future generations the values and knowledge of earlier generations are traditionalists. Most take comfort from routine, managing classes as they have long been managed, teaching literacy, mathematics, history and science while inculcating social values, behavioral norms and life skills. As a profession they perceive change as occurring slowly, evolving gradually as society moves along a smooth path toward the future. It is well established that in education it requires a generation to accomplish significant change. Just look at education faculties in the universities, the places where young committed individuals are prepared for careers in education by professors and instructors who are of an earlier generation, often never having worked outside education, attached to their habits and reinforced in traditional values by those twin obstacles to change: tenure and academic independence. Left to educators, schools would still be places where students go to watch teachers perform. All forms of electronic communications would be banned from classrooms, homework could never be submitted digitally via the Internet, and editing would be done on paper where each change is evident and visible. Some would still insist on teaching calligraphy so that personal letters and business communications could be attractive as well as functional.

Nor are bureaucrats often agents of change. Their world is circumscribed by rules, regulations, laws and the ministers who may change roles without warning and who are subject to replacement at every general election. Bureaucrats apply rules, but seldom innovate or depart from well-beaten paths.

That leaves elected school commissions, composed of individuals interested enough to commit years of their lives to the benefit of others, often subjected to criticism from all sides and misunderstood by both parents and professional educators alike. They are the main hope for innovation and modernization of schools and of education. Commissioners come from outside education; often bringing understanding of how rapidly and radically society is changing, exposed to the frustrations of their own children or grandchildren, adopting new technology. Even as adults they have little choice about living with rapid intrusive and uncomfortable transformations, whether using debit cards and automated teller machines in their personal lives or to remain productive in a changing workplace. They see the younger generations reflexively turn to Wikipedia or the internet for answers to any and all questions, playing interactive games with competitors around the world, living in a social milieu defined by Facebook and Twitter. They can understand how inadequate traditional approaches to education have become as this social and technological revolution sweeps ahead. They can advocate for introduction of new approaches, allocate budgets to encourage localized innovation, foster educational skills by recognizing and celebrating outstanding educators. It is their strength that they are not from education. It is the key to their objective, critical but sympathetic assessment of the need for change, and their independence makes it possible for them to promote and lead change. Good professional educators will respond to effective leadership and well-designed, well-managed innovation. They too are there for the students.

Elected school commissioners need forceful representation and imaginative leadership from our public spokespeople. We need to promote the real functions of publicly elected school boards both to the public at large and to our political masters. Commissioners need to be seen to take charge of their boards and drive innovation and development. They need to demand information and shine bright lights into dark corners to ensure the best possible services to students. They need to demand accountability for the quality and improvement of those services. The ministers of education and their advisors while seeking change cannot make it happen. They are too remote and their solutions tend to be parametric. Elected school commissioners, close to schools yet outside education can and must be flexible, imaginative, daring and supportive of local initiatives while insisting on sharing best practices. We are essential if Quebec is to continue to rank among the top five education systems in the world. Let’s stop pussyfooting around!

New orientations

Over the last few weeks I have been campaigning for the position of President of the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA). Yesterday at the annual meeting David D’Aoust was elected to that position. However the experience sharpened many of my thoughts about how best to promote English education in Quebec, how to strengthen our political clout, and how best to support member-boards in their continuing efforts to improve results. Those who attended the Friday evening debates heard a number of proposals and suggestions, but not all commissioners were present, and the debate proceeded swiftly. In the interests of conserving some ideas for future consideration I have decided to blog about those that struck me most forcefully. Blogging is new to me so please pardon any blunders.

Our attitude toward the minister of education Line Beauchamp is one area that should be reconsidered. Whether we like it or not, she is our best ally and we should begin treating her and the ministry with respect. This doesn’t mean that we should meekly endorse every idea or accept every decision from the ministry. However we should stop presuming that the government has a hidden agenda to destroy or demolish education, or in particular English education. We, the English school boards are simply not that important in the grand scheme of things.

That may be a bitter pill to swallow for some, and perhaps a stunning denial to others, but if we examine our relative size and impact objectively it becomes impossible to conclude other than that we are a marginal and minor part of education in Quebec. The minister and her predecessors as far back as when Francois Legault was minister of education have repeatedly told us that we are performing at a high level and are the model that the whole Quebec education system should adopt. Why is it so hard to believe our partner and so easy to attack every decision made for the majority. Our problem is not the minister but the bureaucracy that prefers to apply policy uniformly rather than make the effort to individualize and modify. Our other challenge, not an enemy but a reality, is the political climate that makes it impossible for any government or minister to publicly declare the English system to be superior and to suggest that French school boards and schools should emulate us.

Politics has conspired to make the PLQ even more our friend and supporter. When every other political party and movement has adopted school board abolition as a policy, the PLQ has no choice but to endorse school board survival. It must be seen to differ from the opposition parties. That carries it own risks. If the PLQ is defeated by a party dedicated to abolition of school boards, the risks to our structures soar. However abolition is not inevitable even then. Many of us recall the Liberal party of Canada under Jean Chretien campaigning ferociously on the promise to abolish the GST, only to ignore that promise once elected. Earlier, the Trudeau Liberals won an election by promising to eliminate a fuel tax, only to increase it afterward. We need to become far more realistic about what actually threatens us and what can safely be relegated to a minor concern. That said, we should be strengthening our lines of communication with opposition parties and with Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) in every riding. Collectively we serve all 105 Quebec ridings and between elections we have the opportunity to communicate to local representatives how we contribute to the local economy and to regional prosperity.

Education has become the focus of much attention because success of future generations, of our economy, of our culture and society has become associated with education. The shift to a knowledge economy requires workers with high skills, knowledge and adaptability to change, and we are expected to educate to a high standard. At the same time demographics indicates that there will be fewer workers to support the aging population and we want all of them to be qualified, to be employed, to be productive so that retired boomers can live the life of leisure and comfort that we have been expecting. Together education and health consume close to three-quarters of government expenditures. It is inevitable that they should become the target of budget cuts, the focus of effort to improve services and efficiency and the subject of public debate.

We are victims of our own strategies and tactics. We appeal ceaselessly for more resources. We cite cases of urgent need to serve students whose needs are evident. We claim the system is crushed and incapable of responding. In so doing we portray a broken inadequate education system. How idiotic! International testing shows that Canada has the best education results of the G20 and ranks in the top 5 worldwide, outperformed only by such special cases as Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and the like.  We need to trumpet our excellence, not decry our failings. We need to advocate for more resources based on continuing to improve an excellent system rather than to repair a broken one. We need to use the independent comparisons by such credible bodies as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to support our case and refute the slanders and misinformation that alone support political appeals for reform. Unless we make this change in our public declarations we are helping our enemies.

To make any real progress in the political sphere we need to work far more closely with French school boards and their Federation (FCSQ). At the local level we find many successful cooperative activities. Why not association to federation? We have nothing to fear and neither do they? Politically, our objectives are practically identical. Mutual positions will ensure that we speak with a single voice to the government and to the public. Instead of weakening each other we will benefit from the strength of unity in seeking to do the best for every student in Quebec. Our differences are not with the FCSQ but with those who propose the wholesale demolition of our successful and high-performing system.

More later

Michael Murray, Chairman

Eastern Townships School Board