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The 98-99 "back to school" is now behind
us, and, thanks to all the children
themselves, the trustees of the Conseil
scolaire francophone, the administrators,
teaching and support staff, Ministry of
education and school district staff and,
naturally, the parents, there were no major
foul-ups. | cannot but make a comparison
between what those of us who are
engaged in Francophone education in
British-Columbia do and what a sports
team does in order to win the... Stanley
Cup, for example.

Greetings to all

Accordingto the "Petit Robert" dictionnary,
a team is "a group of people united in a
common task". The key word is obviously
united. For us it means that where we
come from, our weaknesses and
strengths, the colour of our skin, our
customs, religion, general and specific
competences, the language of our
ancestors and our attitude toward life are
just so many more strengths from which
our team can benefit in order to reach its
goal. In other words each and everyone
of ushas somethingto offerand contribute,
in his or her own way and style and
according to his or her availability. Each
contribution, big or small and of any sort,
is important and moves us all forward.

The creation, for our youth, of an
environment that will foster a strong
cultural identity in order for them to
develop into full-fledged canadian
citizens, that is what our team must
accomplish in the next few years, if it is to
take home the "Cup". And, as it is for the
Canucks or the Canadiens, there is no
miracle and no magic wand. But there is
the "projet éducatif"! And, no, it is not a
magic wand! It is a recipe, though, the
ingredients of which are the participants’
choice according to their needs, but the
step by step procedure of which has to be
respected at the risk of seeing the "soufflé"
deflate when it comes out of the oven. It
is a process that has to be followed, hand
in hand with the partners, in
synchronization, without missing any
steps, without going too fast and making
sure, every step of the way, that all the

beige INFO-PARENTS COLOMBIE-BRITANNIQUE baitg

Président Daniel LeScieller

partners are at the same point at the
same time and that they are all going in
the same direction together, thatis toward
the desired goal.

It's a great challenge! But when we look
back, not even too far, it's pretty obvious
that great challenges heve never scared
us. On the contrary, they seem to give us
more "umph" and the results speak for
themselves.

Our own Conseil scolaire, slated for the
whole province as of July 99, one stand-
alone school (K-7) which belongs to us,
eight more to come shortly and even
more later, our own teachers, the first
steps toward a network of regional
secondary school, etc. In short, a system
that, more and more, is starting to look like
what we've been wishing for since 1978 !
That's reason to celebrate, | believe.

The parents are still avant-gardists as we
initiate the process of an educational
project. Remember Forum 97 on
partnership! That's where the participants
(200 teachers, youth, members of the
community, parents) realized, for the first
time, the urgent necessity to form a
partnership in education. That's where
the idea of the "projet éducatif" came up
for the first time in B.C. So parents are
right in the thick of things with partnership
and the "projet éducatif'. They have their
place.

For that matter, the Federation des
parents met with the Conseil scolaire, on
October 7th last to work together at
establishing mechanisms which will open
the way to parents participating fully in
the decisions on broad issues in
education, at the provincial level as well
as at the local level of each school. It is a
most important step and it will insure that
parents have a strong voice in the
decisions conceming their children. We
are, after all, according to the law of the
land, the first responsible for the education
of our children.

The "projet éducatif' also has a national

dimension, called the “projet éducatif
pancanadien". It was initiated and is
coordinated by the Commission
nationale des parents francophones
(CNPF), of which the Federation des
parents de Colombie-Britannique is a
member, and it regroups national
organizations concemed with education
in French in order to find the financial
means to offer the tools necessary to
the provincial parent organizations, so
that they, in tum, can support and help
in the "projet éducatif' initiatives of
parents in the partner groups at each of
the schools of their province. Definitely
a programme if there ever was one!

"Do more with less": the motto for the
endof the century. What the next century
holds for us is anybody's guess. But for
us at the Federation des parents, it
means that we have to look into a
restructuring of the operational part of
the organization. We can no longer
operate as we didin the past. Optimizing
resources while maintaining the level of
services to our members has become a
priority. The transition period we are
going through will stabilize, though, now
that we have hired the person who will
act as Chief executive officer of the
Federation. Martine St-Onge officially
took over the responsibilities of CEO on
October ‘st last. We are very happy to
welcome Martine and to see her take
charge. Those among you whowill come
to the Annual general assembly, on the
last week-end of November will be able
to meet herthere. Allofyou are welcome
to phone her at the office to get
acquainted or for any information.

Finaly, | wouldlike to take the opportunity
to declare that | consider that my work
as president is not finished. We have
begun to establish strong foundations
for partnership. The vision that inspires
us remains the same. My intention is to
continue to work at the provincial level
for the well-being of all. May we meet at
the AGA. Friendly salutations.

Daniel Le Scieller

-School : a world to build !