Greetings from People for Education in Ontario

We're very pleased to join this community of practice! People for Education is an independent parent-led organization. For the last 12 years, we've been working to improve public education in Ontario's English, Catholic and French schools by doing research, providing clear, accessible information to the public, and by engaging people to become actively involved in education issues in their own community. To see more of we do, you can visit our website at www.peopleforeducation.com

In May/08, we released our Annual Report on Ontario Schools saying that across North America, education communities are coming to realize that schools are the ideal place to offer programs, supports, services and education that families, children and youth need. And it can be part of the solution to declining enrolment; we are looking for innovative ways to fill empty space in our schools to keep them viable. In our report, we asked for provincial leadership and policy that would provide structure and support for community schools, so that schools are integrated into municipal planning and services for children, youth and families are integrated across provincial Ministries. If you'd like to read the report, just click on this link to download a copy: http://www.peopleforeducation.com/reportonschools08

In Ontario, our organization is advocating for community schools in all communities. We were pleased that the Minister of Education stated recently that she has three current priorities: Equity, Poverty, and Declining Enrolment and she was hopeful that integration of services would help to address each of them. So we are hopeful!

We are planning to send two representatives to the CASE annual conference in Regina this fall. We look forward to meeting many of you then!


Greetings from Delphine Melchert – President of the Saskatchewan Community Schools Association

Hello to everyone who attended the April 20/21 Symposium on Disadvantaged Communities. I am so sorry that I was unable to attend. I was really looking forward to meeting everyone from across the Country with a mutual interest in healthy outcomes for communities. The SCSA is an organization representing 100 community schools across Saskatchewan. We have been in existence for 27 years and have seen the movement grow from a few designated schools to 100 just a few years ago. Community schools are funded through the Ministry of Education. We have just moved into the First Nations and Metis unit at the Ministry. Our funding is sent to school divisions under a dedicated funding line and goes directly to designated community schools to support the community school program that included the following:
- hiring of a community school coordinator for each designated community school
- hiring of educational associates (minimum of 2 per school)
- a universal healthy snack component for each school
- funds for the parent councils (now called school community councils)
- discretionary funds for operational/support for extra programming components

Each community school has a pre-kindergarten program with a teacher and early childhood assistant. This program has been so successful that the Ministry has expanded fully funded pre-k programs to a number of non-community schools and has just announced a further expansion in this new budget year.

A few years ago the Govt. commissioned a study called the “role of the school” study. The resulting “role of the school” report recommended that all schools in SK become SchoolsPlus adopting the same principles as community schools (the principles of community education) and work at increasing partnerships with parents/community members/groups/agencies, etc. as a means of increasing healthy/academic outcomes for students and their families.

CACE Update
We are also a member in the Canadian Association for Community Education. CACE is undergoing some renewal and will be holding an AGM and planning meetings as a pre-conference to our provincial Community Schools conference in Regina this fall. The CACE meetings will be on OCT 22 – the provincial conference in the 23 and 24th. These meetings will set the course for the future of this important organization. CACE represents all groups/organiazations/individuals/govts/ who share an interest in community education. We sponsor an annual conference, bring people together around issues/interests of our members and are associated with community education international organizations. Please see the conference announcement below.

Thank you so much for your interest in community education and I look forward to seeing everyone in Regina this fall.