Our Children’s Education – It’s About Time
This past Monday night, I experienced a strange sensation – I left one of my education board meetings feeling optimistic that things were finally turning around. To put this in its proper context, I should point out that I currently serve on two education board committees – the Governing Board for our school where we discuss and plan out the school’s operations (school budget, criteria for the principal, school allocation time for various subjects, etc) and the other as the school representative on one of the regional school board committees. I serve on these committees not because I’m hoping to one day enter the political arena, but because I’d rather be a player on the field trying to make a difference instead of just standing on the sidelines complaining about poor game plays. Sure, it can be frustrating at times to see how much inertia has to be overcome for progress to be made, but as I witnessed at Monday night’s meeting for the school board committee, it can happen and when it does, it’s quite elating.
I’m sure my fellow parents feel the same resignation over how our society seems to be continually disregarding the current state of our education system – from the limited resources provided to teachers to attend workshops/conferences to improve and build on their knowledge of teaching to the very building infrastructures wherein which our children are expected to learn. Although my kids are fortunate to attend a school that was recently rebuilt (they had an issue with mold several years ago that resulted in the school basically being torn down and rebuilt from scratch), several other schools in our system are in very poor shape and I can only imagine how that affects the school’s staff morale and subsequently the teaching environment for the children.
During our meeting last Monday, one of the school board Directors informed us about a new plan that our provincial government has implemented, which can be basically construed as a mea culpa in regards at least to the physical infrastructure of our education system. Essentially, the government has set forth a new 10-year infrastructural plan where all the schools in our school board will undergo massive renovation overhauls to not only stop building decay which comes with age, but additionally to bring these schools up to the most modern building standards. Indeed, it turns out that my old high school is one of the first to be tagged for these structural overhaul projects, with plans set for this summer to build a new library, cafeteria, and gymnasium (wow, I don’t think I’ll even recognize it anymore). I have to say it was nice to see one of the board Directors being as enthusiastic as we felt that finally, our taxpayer dollars were going back into the community and more importantly, to the benefit of our children. And with the latest federal budget having passed through the House of Commons with its focus on investing heavily in public infrastructure projects, it’s quite possible that even more resources could be put toward modernizing our schools, shortening the time it will take to give our children the best possible environment in which to learn.
Looking back at Monday’s meeting, I suspect that the positive momentum created by the Director’s report is what also fuelled an intense and passionate discussion among the various school representatives, myself included, regarding the time allocations given for such key areas as reading, writing, and math. Indeed, seeing an unanimous motion passed for further discussion at our next meeting of such issues made me feel like we may have finally turned the tide and started a return to focusing on specific issues pertaining to the education of our children as opposed to long-winded discussions revolving around more bureaucratic measures, such as the merits of joining a national organization representing school boards across the country.
My only desire in being apart of these committees is to ensure that all our children are provided with the best education under the best conditions. After this meeting, I feel like we finally may be doing just that.
Some other posts you may enjoy:
