IN THE SCHOOL AND THE SCHOOL BOARD

PARENTS INVOLVED MORE THAN EVER!

Greater involvement helps your children

It’s normal for parents to want to be kept informed about what their children are learning and experiencing every day at school. Some parents even want to have a say in the decisions being made at school that affect their children. The Education Act, which was recently modified and which will be in effect for the 1998-99 school year, in fact offers parents many opportunities to play an active role in their children’s school, vocational education centre or school board.

IN SCHOOL OR IN THE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION CENTRE

The Governing Board of the School

Every school now has a Governing Board made up of an equal number of parents and school staff. Members of the community and students in the second cycle of secondary school may also attend, but do not have the right to vote. The Board, which is always presided over by a parent, is responsible for approving a number of issues including the development, implementation and evaluation of the school’s educational project, the approach for the implementation of the basic school regulation, the time allocation for each subject, the student supervision policy, the school budget and the use of premises. The Governing Board is necessarily consulted on other issues, including the choice of school textbooks and instructional materials, school closings, selection criteria for the appointment of the principal and the school’s confessional status.

The Governing Board of the Vocational Education Centre

The parents of students enrolled in a vocational education centre may sit on the centre’s Governing Board whose responsibilities are essentially the same as those of a school’s Governing Board. In a vocational education centre, the Board determines the centre’s policies and action plan, and evaluates them periodically.

Parent Participation Organization

Parents who wish to do so may also form a Parent Participation Organization in the school, whose aim is to promote parents’ participation in the development, implementation and periodical evaluation of the school’s educational project, and to encourage their participation in their child’s schooling. The Organization may be consulted by the parents’ representatives on the Governing Board or it may decide to advise them on any issue concerning the parents.

IN THE SCHOOL BOARD

Parents’ Committee

The Parents’ Committee in the School Board includes one representative from each school in its territory; they are parents who are already sitting on the school’s Governing Board. The Committee’s major role consists in representing the parents’ interests within the school board and it is asked to advise the school board on all issues relating to the school. In addition, the Parents’ Committee appoints two of its members to the Council of Commissioners.

Advisory Committee on Services for Handicapped Students and Students with Social Maladjustments or Learning Disabilities

The Committee’s major responsibility is to advise the school board on the services offered to these students, on the education plans designed for them and on the financial resources to be allocated to these services. It is composed mainly of parents of handicapped students or parents of students with social maladjustments or learning disabilities. It delegates one of its members to the Parents’ Committee.

Advisory Committee on Transportation

This advisory committee, one member of which is designated by the Parents’ Committee, is called upon to carry out tasks such as giving its point of view to the school board on the financing of school transportation, assigning contracts and bus routes.

TO REACH US THROUGHOUT QUÉBEC

• Regional offices of the Fédération
  
  
• Regional offices of the ministère de l'Éducation
  
  
• Services to the English-Speaking Community
  • FCPPQ:  (514) 873-9488
  • MEQ :      (514) 873-3339

ASSISTANCE FROM THE FÉDÉRATION

The Fédération des comités de parents represents Québec parents at all the major forums where their points of view must be heard. Those who wish to participate in the various committees described earlier may count on the Fédération’s moral and technical support in every region of Québec.

 Montréal

 Québec city

ASSISTANCE FROM THE MINISTÈRE DE L’ÉDUCATION

Parents who have access to the Internet will find extensive information regarding the education reform on the Ministère de l’Éducation’s web site. The address is as follows:

For further information, you may also contact the Ministère’s regional offices or the general information service at the following address:

 À Montréal

  À Québec

Pour obtenir l’édition française de ce dépliant, veuillez-vous adresser au ministère de l’Éducation, dont les coordonnées figurent plus haut.