Winter 2016: Canadian School Boards Association President' Bulletin

Some of the highlights from the meeting were: 

Communications: 

• The CSBA newsletter is published following each board of directors meeting to keep Canadian trustees abreast of what is happening at the association and across the country and to help boards across jurisdictions connect.
• Follow us on Twitter (@cdnsba), where you will receive notifications of events that may be of interest to you in your role as trustee, some of which may have a national impact.
• On our website, you can find a "Cross Canada Snapshot" with up to date news from each province.
• There are several articles we want to make you aware of which highlight what is taking place across the country. One is an article published by CEA in Education Canada on collaboration between the Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative, Saskatchewan School Boards Association and other partners that has seen tremendous success in entrepreneurship programming in First Nations communities. OPSBA will publish an article in the January issue of Education Today that looks into government efforts to reduce the role of school boards.
• This edition of our newsletter highlights a BC model of community collaboration that has resulted in partnership from different sectors providing original solutions that keep children and their families at the centre. 
  We are in the process of writing a letter in support of Corinne's Quest for changes to section 43 of the Criminal Code pertaining to corporal punishment. 

Governance: A Governance Committee was established in the spring to ensure the Association is operating efficiently. With the change in faces at our board table over the past 2 years, from both retirements and changing of the guard, both the corporate memory and good governance practices need to be addressed. The committee's mandate is to ensure that the necessary policies and or practice for the association are in place. 

We are building a reference binder that will serve all board members and allow for better communication and understanding. We are also reviewing jurisdictional membership at the association and how we can work towards better representation from across the country. The review is based on the following: 

• Not every jurisdiction or provincial school board association in Canada is represented
• There are provincial associations interested in joining
• Each jurisdiction is unique in its membership. Some member associations represent a cross-section of Boards including public, English and French language boards as well as Catholic boards. In other jurisdictions each of these have separate associations.
• The Association's Constitution allows for multiple associations from a Province, however we need to ensure we can provide services for additional members.
• A committee was formed to examine some of these issues and to bring recommendation(s) to the Board of Directors by the end of January.

Indigenous Education: We are developing an advocacy campaign for equitable funding for education in indigenous communities. We are also developing strategies that will address the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations regarding education that we, as boards can control or impact. With the intention of providing information on Indigenous Education programs to all trustees, we have been working on a cross county portrait of successful practices taking place across the country, be they board, community or ministry initiatives. We are successfully lobbying for more communication across institutions with Council of Ministers of Education, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), Assembly of First Nations and National Truth and Reconciliation Commission (NTRC). This is so we can work to support changes in curriculum where Indiginous history, culture and perspectives are part of the education of every Canadian child.