Feedback from 2015 Semi-Annual Meeting

The Federation held our Semi-Annual Meeting at Three Oaks Senior High School on October 20, 2015. The meeting was attended by 48 members and 18 guests and, beyond the business meeting, the heart of the event was a series of three roundtable discussions: a dialogue with Hon. Hal Perry, Minister of Education, Early Learning and Culture and his Deputy Minister Susan Willis; a dialogue with Chair Osborne and trustees from the English Language School Board, and a conversation led by Katie MacDonald who works with Communications PEI on education-related communications.

Feedback

A feedback form was circulated with the meeting kits, and 41 members submitted feedback. A summary of the feedback received follows:

Registration

• very well organized
• prepared, good packages, receipts ready fast
• great job
• clear and straightforward
• no muss, no fuss; seamless
• well organized
• I was the first here and everything was ready
• fast!
• don’t know why we had to spend our fundraising money to attend
• great and on time
• name only on 1 of 2 lists
• thanks for your patience – we were late
• we were late- our bad

Business Meeting

• quick ☺
• no real discussions; didn’t feel any more informed really when it was over
• I would have liked a print out of important dates
• very clear, organized and efficient
• very brief
• fast
• nice and short ☺
• missed it

Round Table Discussions

• liked that we didn’t have to pick one over the other
• awesome to talk one on one to Trustees, Minister and other schools.  Nice to know we are all going through the same things
• awesome discussions
• very general; it would have been helpful if I had read the website first
• congratulations on pulling this together
• I feel the discussion with the Minister was excellent; trustees was confusing and I did not feel like we got a clear answer from them. Communication – I expected more direct parent communication
• it was very clarifying and informative to meet the different levels of education
• all sessions generated great questions and discussions. Communicating is very key to achieving
• possibly have the roles/ responsibilities pre-defined to enhance the conversations. Moderators to have ideas of things to discuss
• a few talking points would have started the conversation
• very informative
• really great opportunity to talk about what we do as Trustees, and try to clear up dome confusion over our roles versus the District Staff roles.
• needed some sample questions or some sort of guidelines to help discussions
• not enough time
• not a lot of guidance during the sessions
• excellent discussion, very enlightening
• great to hear other schools experiences and needs
• moderators could have pre-set conversation starters of group doesn’t have a definite direction
• unproductive
• very informative
• good opportunity to listen or ask questions
• very interesting, great moderators
• amazing how much discussion took place on all topics. Great topics
• longer with Minister and Trustees
• didn’t have enough to speak much; seems like we got started and had to finish
• were greatly moderated and timely

Suggestions

• Loved PETRA, would like to see more of this
• Great meeting, wish there were more time to talk
• good introduction’ not sure I understand better roles of Minister/DM and Trustees, still a lot of “not me – that’s them”
• I would like to break into groups around what the various H&S groups are dealing with – such as parent engagement ideas, playground fundraising, etc.
• when you do the round table, maybe give each candidate or invitee time to say a few words
• everything was very well planned
• loved having the opportunity to hear the Minister, Deputy Minister and Trustees speak
• being new to the Education System and Home and School, this was an extremely informative for me to learn more about the “ workings of the system”
• Always enjoy it
• It was great to be able to hear the Ministers and school board members speaking
• thanks for all the effort to organize
• Encourage Trustees to meet in similar Round Table discussion to talk about topics of concern to all stakeholders
• emails to registered participants with links to discussion documents beforehand might have been useful, e.g. link to trustee’s page explaining their roles. Contact information, roles/mandate for Deputy and Minister
• give more information to moderators to help them
• This was my first H&S experience and I loved it. Thanks
• What a wonderful meeting
• Great conversations. Interesting information
• No rolling around answers Mr. Minister
• 6:30 to allow easier travel
• Send out requests for round table discussions beforehand
• great first Semi-Annual
• tonight was good, learned a lot, opened a lot of doors
• I find the information very good
• This was a great experience. Very informative, we should do it more often
• Great interaction, loved the plenaries
• Appreciate the invite, a step in the right direction, connecting all the parties in Education. Loved the format, small groups, open dialogue – great job
• This was a good format, liked it
• we need to get more involvement