Session on boosting local engagement in public education well-attended

Local Journalism Initiative
·2 min read

PORT HAWKESBURY — An outreach initiative designed to improve public participation and engagement in school programming achieved both objectives at a recent meeting organized by the Strait Regional Centre for Education (SRCE), reports Executive Director Paul Landry.

Twenty-two parents, staff and community members attended an “engagement session” on April 2 at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre, prompted by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Education’s province-wide mandate – Increasing Local Voice in Education Policy & Decision Making – introduced late last year.

“People seemed to engage,” Landry said. “I thought all of the participants did a great job. They were engaged in the information session and in the feedback. We were quite pleased.”

The provincial mandate was implemented to address what recent surveys of school advisory councils, teachers, administrators, staff and parents identified as certain “challenges” hindering local involvement in public education.

According to the province’s Dec. 2023 summary report, these include school advisory councils (SACs) that feel they have no real influence or impact; and families that either are not aware of, or well-connected to, these community-based groups established to counsel school principals. Other problems involve recruitment for SACs, and a lack of diversity among their members.

At the meeting, Landry said, “We opened with a presentation on local voices. Then, we gave an overview of the SRCE’s schools, enrollment and system improvement plan. Each of our departments provided outlines of their responsibilities. We got into some of the initiatives we’ve been adopting around student well-being, student initiative and capital planning.”

Afterwards, participants were asked to conduct table discussions on the presentations.

“We asked them to consider three questions: What is the SRCE doing well; what can be improved; and what can we do to improve student well-being and initiative? We asked them to write down and provide their feedback. We also [indicated] that anyone who was unable to attend could provide [their thoughts] directly to us by email.”

Landry said the process is ongoing. “We’ll have one more session this [academic] year on May 7 at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre.”

SREC operates 20 schools in the counties of Antigonish, Guysborough, Inverness and Richmond, including: St. Mary’s Education Centre/Academy in Sherbrooke; Chedabucto Education Centre/Guysborough Academy in Guysborough; and Fanning Education Centre/Canso Academy in Canso.

Alec Bruce, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Guysborough Journal

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