Parenthése |

La voix des parents de Colombie-Britannique

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Partners Committee Update

e As anticipated, the  Part-
ee ners Committee model was
launched in the CSF (franco-
phone education authority) schools
in November 2008, during the annual
FPFCB convention. More than 125
people took part in the day-long work-
shop on the subject. Of these, nearly
half represented the CSF, teaching
and non-teaching staff, and school
administrators; the remainder consisted
of parents associations representatives
from the preschool and K-12 sectors. All
of the key players were therefore well
represented.

The meeting began with a discus-
sion of the Who and the What. Partici-
pants had an opportunity to become
familiar with the new CSF policy, which
outlines establishment and operational
procedures for a Partners Committee,
as well as the accompanying sup-
porting document. Resource persons
were on hand to answer questions and
get feedback from the audience.

During the second part of the meet-
ing, if was the participants who sef to
work on the How. They separated into
smaller groups and were asked to iden-
tify:

1. deciding factors that would ensure
the success of the partner commil-
tees;

2. resources needed fo support the
school communities; and

3. assets on which the school commun-
ities could rely to ensure the success
of their Partners Committee.

The discussions that took place dur-
ing the workshop were exiremely pro-
ductive. Participants’ many ideas and
comments have been compiled and
will be used to identify the needs of the
school communities and guide the de-
velopment of resources to meet those
needs. A summary of the day’s discus-

sions has already yielded a fair under-
standing of the key issues and factors
that will contribute to the success of
the Partners Committees. In brief:

4. Determining factors:

¢ Each and every individual must
have a common understanding
of the purpose and mandate of
the Partners Committees

* Commitment and active in-
volvement of all partners

*« Excellent communications be-
tween the Partners Committee
members and the people they
represent

5. Required resources:

e Training workshops

¢ Availability of models: agenda,
budget, consultation mechan-
isms, etc.

* Online access to resources

6. Assets:

« A common vision for the part-
ners, who share a common in-
terest, i.e. the well-being of the
children

By Marc Gignac, Interim Executive
Director of The Federation of Parents

Since the launch, many schools
have begun fo establish Partners Com-
mittees. The CSF task force set up to
steer implementation of the model has
reviewed the guide, basing its review
on feedback from the workshop. The
guide is at the printer’s now and will be
available soon. It will also be available
on the CSF website (www.csf.bc.ca).

The draft of an educational pro-
ject development template has also
been prepared. During its next meet-
ing, the task force will revise the draft
and plan for the development of other
resources fo properly support the ef-
forts of the Pariners Committees to fulfil
their mandate. The FPFCB is playing an
active role on the task force, seeing to
the parents’ interests and cooperating
to ensure that the Partners Committees
work as they should. The Federation
also wants to ensure that the momen-
tum generated during the convention
is maintained. It is therefore important
to ensure that the project continues
to move forward and that the school
communities are regularly informed of
latest developments.

More fo follow...