Drinking & Driving duo: departing EMSB Director General Antonio Lacroce & Teacher's Union Prez Ruth Rosenfield
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While the Auditor General, Sheila Fraser, wants to look into the millions of dollars in expenses Canada’s MPs receive every year, the public is no closer in knowing the exact amounts that School Board commissioners make in total. General basic amounts have been issued by Chairmans of various School Boards but in the “other” category, very little is known. With taxpayers wanting to know more and more where their tax money goes, we challenge the school boards to post on their websites the amount of money each each one of their commissioners make in TOTAL. Including: Basic salary, stipends for committee work, travelling benefits, hotel accommodations, conventions etc. Which school board will be “the first” School Board in Quebec, Canada, or the world to disclose the total amount their commissioners get in terms of total compensation? Send out a press release or better yet for those School Boards who like to be first in everything, post the data on your website? Some School Boards have taken other suggestions from ACDSA like live webcasts of Council Meetings, here is another opportunity to show that you are the number one board in public fund use and transparency. Please find below the artcle “Auditor General wants to look at MPs’ expenses” as published on Sympatico/MSN News Auditor General wants to look at MPs’ expenses Canada’s 308 MPs received about $127 million in expenses last year but there are no public details into exactly how that money was spent. Some $700,000 of that money is simply classified under “other.” The expenses are approved by an all-party committee, the Board of Internal Economy, and then audited by a private accounting firm. Fraser began talks with the House of Commons and the Senate about MPs’ spending earlier this year, before the massive British MP spending scandal that destroyed dozens of political careers. Liberal MP Mauril Belanger, who sits on the Board of Internal Economy, told CTV News that “there are no scandals like you have seen brewing in England” hidden from the public. Belanger says there are strict spending rules and safeguards for MPs’ spending. “The rules are set, the expenditures must be within those rules, and if they’re not, they’re not reimbursed,” he said. But Kevin Gaudet, one of Canada’s top tax watchdogs, says that Ottawa’s self-regulation isn’t enough. “I don’t see how the spending of taxpayers’ money is a private parliamentary issue,” the federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation told CTV News. “Quite simply put, it’s taxpayers who ought to be able to judge for themselves whether they get value for that money.” Gaudet points to the Toronto City Council’s protocol as proof that politicians’ spending can be transparent. Toronto councillors list every cent expensed to the taxpayers and provide public receipts online. Liberal Marlene Jennings is one of a handful of MPs who has allowed her expenses to go public. “I have no problem whatsoever with those audits being made public so people actually see how the money is spent,” she told CTV News. About $26 million of the expense spending is for 64 free return airline tickets each MP has annually for travel between their riding and Ottawa, or other spots in the country. Spouses and dependents also have access to those flights. Other major expenses are staff and rent. On top of their $157,738 salary, MPs have a $25,500 annual expense allowance, which can be partially assigned to home costs if they have a secondary residence in Ottawa. With a report from CTV’s Chief Parliamentary Correspondent Craig Oliver and files from The Canadian Press Ron Patterson The suggestion that Quebec has no game plan for dropouts in Quebec ignores the bigger picture. The respective governments of Quebec since the late 1970s have had many plans for education in this province. Starting with disallowing French and English students the right to choose the language in which they are taught, these plans when analyzed as one meld together nicely. The latest, known simply as “the Reform,” pretends to address the dropout rate in Quebec. In its early stages, this plan was called Success For All, a title that made its goal obvious. As it grew, initial documents philosophically suggested that this reform was meant as a guide for all schools, subject to local adjustments within schools with their own game plan. Since then, the Reform has morphed into a bureaucratic nightmare that dictates the content and teaching time of all courses across Quebec, cuts back on time for high-level mathematics and science courses, extends the teaching of Quebec history to two years instead of one (skewering any chance to implement comprehensive world history courses), dictates the hours spent on physical education, the arts, and religious (or ethical) instruction, and leaves less time for electives specific to individual schools’ goals. That the Reform aggressively targets English private schools and their highly successful programs seems interesting, given that the dropout rate for these schools is less than one per cent. Schools that do not comply risk losing funding, which would necessitate charging more for tuition, which would diminish enrolments in these highly successful schools because many could not afford the higher tuition. A real plan for education in Quebec would include the following: A one-year education program that would allow university graduates to become teachers, thereby eliminating the teacher shortage. (Currently, students can get a bachelor of education, but the knowledge required to master a field of study requires another degree, and the years needed for both degrees discourages many from entering an underpaid field). A one-year training program for would-be administrators instead of the current trial-by-error method of promotion. A mentoring system that allows older teachers to guide younger teachers, addressing the need for rejuvenation and tapping the experience of teachers nearing retirement. The freedom within schools to teach their local programs as long as they succeed at government exams (which should be few and far between since they cost more than they are worth in the long run). Self-governing schools free from school boards currently staffed largely by non-teachers. A self-governing mechanism within teacher unions similar to that of lawyers and doctors. Extra-curricular sport, art, and life-skill programs, run by teachers, that create school environments conducive to educating the whole child. Salaries for teachers commensurate with the extra hours that good teachers put into their work. Mandatory sabbaticals requiring teachers to pursue and share educational enrichment . The money for these programs would be found by eliminating school-board and consultant salaries and huge government departments dedicated to implementing the Reform. Further financing could come from eliminating funding for private schools, thus encouraging parents to send their children to public schools. Unfortunately, a few problems make this funding change unlikely: The government actually saves money by funding private schools because public-school students cost more per capita. Many of the typical private-school parents, appeased by being able to enrol in private school, would now be more involved in public-school matters and more likely to put pressure on schools for change. Most of those who pull the strings in government send their children to private schools, having gone there themselves. So the real education plan for Quebec and its dropouts is to underfund, overmanage, and dictate with a design toward discouraging those who are successful while ignoring those in need. Sounds like a plan that will at best foster mediocrity and at worst create an apathetic, undereducated, and polarized society. Perhaps that is indeed the long-range plan. Ron Patterson is a retired teacher. © The Gazette (Montreal) 2009
Loi 104 – décision imminente sur l’accès à l’école anglaise
Les écoles publiques anglophones sont des alliées et non des adversaires
Le gouvernement québécois actuel, comme ses prédécesseurs, sera une fois de plus confronté à son obligation primordiale de protéger et promouvoir le caractère français du Québec tout en respectant ses obligations légales et morales face aux minorités anglophones de la province. Cette réalité sera mise à l’épreuve alors que la Cour suprême du Canada rendra sa décision sur la légalité du projet de loi 104. Cette loi, en vigueur depuis 2002 soit 25 ans après l’adoption de la Charte de la langue française du Québec en 1977, élimine le droit de passer d’une école privée non subventionnée de langue anglaise du Québec au système scolaire public anglophone. La question va droit au cœur de la situation des communautés linguistiques minoritaires du Québec alors qu’elles aspirent à coexister et contribuer dans une société majoritairement francophone. La réponse se trouvera dans la réaction du gouvernement face à la décision future. L’Association des commissions scolaires anglophones du Québec (ACSAQ) est intervenue devant la Cour suprême du Canada en décembre dernier afin d’argumenter l’inconstitutionnalité de la loi 104 dans le but d’assurer la survie à long terme du système scolaire public anglophone au Québec. Nous demeurons optimistes que le projet de loi 104 sera déclaré inopérant. S’il ne l’est pas, l’avenir du réseau des écoles publiques anglaises pourrait être irrémédiablement compromis. Si la loi est invalidée, nous nous attendons à ce que le gouvernement agisse rapidement et de plein gré pour mettre en œuvre la décision. L’ACSAQ a insisté devant le tribunal, et nous le répétons ici, sur le fait qu’il est possible pour le gouvernement du Québec de faire preuve de leadership, de vision et de responsabilité en profitant de cette occasion pour établir un équilibre entre les obligations mentionnées ci-dessus. Cela permettrait au gouvernement de convenir que le réseau des écoles publiques anglophones du Québec est un allié, et non un adversaire, dans la quête pour une langue française solidement enracinée au Québec. Voilà la réalité des écoles anglaises publiques au Québec aujourd’hui. Notre rôle fondamental de maintenir une présence robuste et collaborative de la communauté anglophone au Québec n’est égalé que par notre détermination à voir nos diplômés nous quitter équipés d’une bonne maîtrise du français. Depuis plus d’une génération, les commissions scolaires anglophones du Québec élaborent et implantent des programmes de français langue seconde qui dépassent grandement les exigences du programme éducatif du Québec. Nos écoles sont à l’origine du modèle d’immersion en français maintenant utilisé partout dans le monde. Les élèves qui franchissent nos portes ne contournent aucunement la politique linguistique du Québec. Au contraire, ils en respectent l’essence même. Si en tant qu’institution essentielle à l’enseignement public anglais nous voulons sincèrement contribuer à l’avenir du Québec, alors Québec doit sincèrement contribuer à l’avenir d’une telle institution. Les enjeux linguistiques ne sont jamais faciles à résoudre, particulièrement au Québec. Par contre, les solutions sont parfois plus simples que l’on pourrait croire. Selon l’ACSAQ, l’invalidation du projet de loi 104 permettrait à quelque 500 élèves de fréquenter les écoles publiques anglaises annuellement. Ce nombre est extrêmement important pour un système scolaire où le taux d’inscription souffre d’une baisse chronique, le taux de natalité est déficient comparativement au milieu francophone, et où la migration de la population se poursuit. Toute proportion gardée, la perte de ces élèves aurait un impact plus modeste dans le système francophone. Les compromis entraînent toujours certains sacrifices, mais lorsqu’ils fonctionnent bien, ils réconcilient deux points de vue légitimes de façon mutuellement avantageuse. Nous sommes face à un tel compromis. Inévitablement, il sera proposé que le gouvernement édicte une nouvelle loi pour contourner la décision du tribunal. Il sera aussi répété que toute concession faite à l’accès aux écoles anglaises menace automatiquement la langue française avec le même refrain : attention, c’est un premier pas vers le démantèlement de la Charte de la langue française. L’ACSAQ espère entendre la Cour réfuter ce genre d’arguments comme nous le faisons, et nous osons espérer que l’opinion du public suivra cette tendance. Au fil des ans, les premiers ministres et les ministres de l’éducation se sont succédés en nous affirmant que le système scolaire public anglophone est un élément institutionnel vital de la société québécoise. L’ACSAQ demande maintenant que ces paroles évoquant l’inclusion, la sincérité et l’équité se traduisent en gestes concrets. En appliquant la décision éventuelle de la Cour déclarant inopérante la loi 104, le gouvernement enverra non seulement un signal clair et net exprimant une confiance en l’avenir du Québec, mais aussi un message grandement apprécié confirmant que notre rôle y est important. Debbie Horrocks est la présidente de l’Association des commissions scolaires anglophones du Québec.
Council resolution severs board’s hopespar Kristina Edson Premiere Edition Deal dead for St. Lazare school site Council resolution severs board’s hopes The Lester B. Pearson School Board will not be able to build its new $8.4 million English elementary school on a parcel of land situated on St. Angélique between du Domaine and Pine-Ridge streets.
During a continuation Tuesday of this month’s earlier municipal council meeting, councillors unanimously adopted a resolution prohibiting the building of a school on what is known as St. Lazare lot number 3 499 985.
Local developers Michael Laventure and Ivor McLeod had offered the land site for the school for $1. But in order for the project to have gone forward the land would have needed to be rezoned to have an institutional designation. The land, which the town says is zoned equestrian, sits in the middle of well established St. Lazare horse and farmette country and the project faced stiff opposition from local equestrian enthusiasts. School board not informed
When reached for comment about the decision, Lester B. Pearson School Board Chairman Marcus Tabachnick, who had not yet learned of the resolution, expressed dismay at a lack of communication between the town and the board which oversees four other schools in St. Lazare. “The town did not bother to inform us (of the resolution),” Tabachnick said. “It’s more than a little disappointing that they did it that way… It would be nice if they’ve taken a decision about our school board that they would inform us first.” While acknowledging that “council is entitled to adopt whatever resolution they want,” Tabachnick said he was told there may be another parcel of land available in St. Lazare. Mayor Paul Carzoli and Martin Nadon, interim St. Lazare General Manager, “hinted” their might be another parcel of land when meeting with the school board last week. According to Nadon, the resolution was passed this week primarily to reassure residents living near the land site. “The deal is dead,” he said. “We will not change the zoning so there will be no possibility of school in that zone.” Nadon added that council will meet later this month to review other possible land sites. The board announced funding for the school last September, but has since been unable to secure a 25,000 square-meter large site. Towns, including Vaudreuil-Dorion and Pincourt, have offered land to the board, but all sites have thus far been deemed inappropriate for various reasons. par Stéphane Fortier La premiere edition
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