New Partnership with CEA

The Board of Directors made a unanimous decision to partner with the Canadian Education Association in the publication of “Facts on Education”, articles that are circulated across the country to inform readers of recent evidence-based research that addresses issues that are of interest to the public.   Look for the first issue in September 2013.  We hope that we can participate in clarifying the issues that are of importance in the education today.

We are delighted to be working with the CEA on this publication and look forward to sharing in other new initiatives with them over the coming years.

A Year of Strategic Planning

When the CSBA congress in July 2012 was ended, CSBA had a new Managing Director, a new President and the knowledge that the many structural changes the Association had made over the past years required us to “regroup”, to redefine our priorities and especially, develop a road map that reflected what each province wanted from us in our role to affect change on behalf of their behalf.  After several meetings, workshops and much discussion, we reconfirmed our mission to support, advocate for, and promote publicly elected School Boards across the country and then worked out a 3-year plan on how we wanted to accomplish that over the coming years.  Our Core Issues for Advocacy include Aboriginal Education, 21^st Century Learning and our newest addition on our list of national concerns; Student Health and Wellness.  The 2013-2016 Strategic Plan, adopted at our March meeting is available at CSBA 2013-2016 Strategic Plan.

 Montreal, March 29, 2013 -  The Canadian School Boards Association is pleased to announce that at the Spring Board of Directors meeting, the members elected Michael McEvoy, of the British Columbia School Trustees Association as the new President of the CSBA.  Michael will assume office as of July 1, 2013 at the CSBA congress in Vancouver.

Michael has been an elected trustee for the past 11 years on the Greater Victoria Board of Education, including three years as Board Chair. He is nearing the end of his second year as President of the British Columbia School Trustees Association and has been a valuable contributor at the CSBA table for two years.

Growing up in Manitoba, earning a law degree from the University of Manitoba before moving to the west coast in the mid 1980’s.  He is presently Assistant Commissioner for the Office of the BC Commission Information and Privacy Commissioner of BC.  He is also very involved in his community including with the United Way, where he served as campaign Chair in 2009.  Michael is active, playing hockey with a bunch of old guys and cycling to work most every day.  His wife Judy is a school principal.  His two extraordinary daughters are in grade 12 and in third year of university, respectively.

Michael believes passionately that locally elected, accountable school boards underlie the strength of public education in Canada and that the CSBA, has an important role to play “connecting boards across our incredible country, which undoubtedly contributes to making our education system even stronger”.   

The CSBA delegates also elected Janet Foord of the Saskatchewan School Boards Association to serve as Vice President, alongside Mr. McEvoy.  We look forward to the dynamic leadership that these two valuable members will bring to the year ahead as the CSBA navigates the challenges and issues shared by boards across the country.

Over the past year, the CSBA has had the privilege of working with current President, Sandi Urban Hall of Saskatchewan and Vice President, Jacquie  Hansen of Alberta, whose leadership at the helm of the association during a challenging and extremely important developmental year was invaluable. We thank them both for their contributions and wish them luck in their future projects, which will no doubt, be many!

MONTREAL, JANUARY 9, 2013 - 

The full report, School Boards Matter; A Pan-Canadian Study of School District Governance   is available along with a CSBA Executive Summary and a list of other studies with complementary reading.

This important and timely study on school district governance, counters recent literature that has called school boards “wasteful hierarchies” and deals head on with political trends affecting public education across Canada.  At the heart of the study, the authors provide convincing evidence that in fact, effective and successful school boards do matter to the education of our children.

The authors draw a strong correlation between effective school boards and successful public school systems and state that “strong and effective boards are essential to maintaining a meaningful and sustainable public school system”.  They provide clear answers to the question “What are the attributes of effective school boards in Canada?”.

This study will be of particular interest to local school board trustees/commissioners across Canada, Provincial School Boards Associations and members of the CSBA Board of Directors.

CSBA President, Sandi Urban Hall welcomed the report and stated, “Boards of education use a wealth of research to strengthen their education practices and decisions. This report gives school boards data that will help strengthen school board governance and as a result, student success”.

For more information, contact the CSBA at valerie.mcleod@cdnsba.org.

The CSBA was pleased to be among witnesses called and were able to present several examples of work being done by school boards across Canada.  Present for the day were Sandi Urban Hall, President of CSBA and of the Saskatchewan School Boards Association at the time, David Birnbaum of the Quebec English School Boards Association and Dr. Wayne MacKay, who has done extensive research for the Nova Scotia School Boards Association.

The report,  Cyberbullying Hurts: Respect for Rights in the Digital Age was released this last month, calling for Canada “to meet its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, by taking necessary actions to protect children from all forms of physical and mental violence, including cyberbullying”.   The federal government intends to step in and coordinate an anti-bullying strategy with provincial and territorial counterparts.  The report demonstrates that focus is needed on prevention, through digital citizenship, information and education.  Promoting awareness and supporting initiatives that have proven effective are among the recommendations made, in addition to addressing the need for a national Children’s Commissioner to coordinate effective approaches.   Punitive legal sanctions, – a rising trend across the country – are continually proving less effective.  Said Senator Mobina Jaffer, chair of the committee. “It takes a whole community approach, the teaching of human rights and digital citizenship by parents, teachers, governments and by youth themselves to change online behavior”.  Canadian school boards are an integral part of that community.

In addition to the report, the Committee created a Guide for Youth and a Guide Parents, educational resource guides that offer responses that can help youth, parents, educators and others involved in cyberbullying at any level.  In both of these guides, there is a summary of the six recommendations from the committee also provided.

The report again is available at  Cyberbullying Hurts: Respect for Rights in the Digital Age and the guides for both youth and parents are available at:

Youth Guide:   http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/SEN/Committee/411/RIDR/DPK/01Dec12/youth-e.htm

Parents’ Guide:  http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/SEN/Committee/411/RIDR/DPK/01Dec12/parents-e.htm

MONTREAL, January 2013 –   It was with great sadness that the CSBA received the news from the family of Dr. Roy Wilson, that he passed away peacefully recently from cardio-respiratory issues in Medicine Hat, Alberta.  He was 74 years old.

Roy Wilson was the longest serving school board trustee in Medicine Hat, and the second longest serving trustee in the Province of Alberta.  First elected to the Board of Trustees of School District #76 in 1980, he served continuously from that date, acting as board chairman on three separate occasions.  He was, during the 1990’s, president of both the Alberta School Boards Association and the Canadian School Boards Association.  Dr. Wilson recently completed serving his second term as senator in the University of Alberta Senate.

Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Roy received his B.Ed, M.Ed and Ph.D from the University of Alberta.  His teaching career began in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 1960.  He would go on to teach at schools and colleges in Edmonton, Camrose, the Crowsnest Pass and Medicine Hat, retiring in 2003.

He taught over 5000 students in his tenure, and receiving many honours for his work, including the Alberta Home and School Association’s Presidents Award, the Medicine Hat College Academic Achievement Award, the Alberta Centennial Medal for his service to public education in Alberta, Medicine Hat College’s honourary applied baccalaureate degree and honourary life memberships in the Alberta School Boards Association and the Canadian School Boards Association.  Dr. Wilson also authored numerous articles on local and educational history and was involved in the production of several historical videos.

Active for many years in the local, provincial and national Canadian Music Festival movement, Dr. Wilson was also a long-time board member and past Chairman of the board of the Good Samaritan Society.  And while known throughout the province for his contributions as an educator,  trustee and volunteer, his first dedication was to his family.  He was a deeply devoted husband, father and grandfather.

Sandi Urban Hall, CSBA President, noted that “Roy’s contributions to education and to the Canadian School Boards was substantial and greatly appreciated.  He will be missed by all and his legacy will remain with us”.

The Canadian School Boards Association is excited to endorse “Shifting Minds: A 21st Century Vision of Public Education in Canada“.  Produced by C21 Canada following the C21 Summit in February of this year and released October 4, 2012, this document was developed by a group of fifty educational and business leaders with a view to providing our young people with a new set of modern competencies for success.  As an active participant in this prestigious group and as one of the founding members of C21, the CSBA is proud to be a part of this important initiative which will provide leadership and a much needed framework that will encourage reflection and inspiration for new, innovative and vitally important practises that will support successful student outcomes.

The document is available at “SHIFTING MINDS”

Listen in on a Webcast discussion between the Canadian Government and the United Nations on September 26 and 27, 2012 at www.unicef.ca/turnupthevolume.