Preparations well underway for next month’s AGM

March is a busy month for home and school associations, as it’s the month where resolutions that will be voted on at our annual general meeting are discussed and voted on at local meetings across the province.

This year there are nine resolutions, on topics including character development programs, transportation and weather issues, communication and animals in schools policies, the location of alternate education sites, enrichment programs, the Students Achieve system and the establishment of a provincial school lunch program.

Every member home and school association has been mailed a copy of these resolutions, and they are also available online at https://peihsf.ca/agm/resolutions. Each association is eligible to send up to 5 voting delegates to the PEI Home and School Federation Annual General Meeting on April 11, and at that meeting each resolution will be read, discussed, any amendments considered, and then voted on.

Delegates at the meeting are there to represent the parents, guardians, teachers, administrators and staff at their schools, and so it’s important that resolutions are also discussed and voted on at March home and school meetings: these discussions are vital to ensuring that resolutions are well-considered.

Resolutions that are passed at the Annual General Meeting are forwarded on to the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, the English Language School Board, and other parties for action and response: they are the fundamental education policymaking tool in the province, and so a powerful way for home and school members to improve public education.

March is also the month to register for the April 11 Annual General Meeting. Member schools are encouraged to send as many delegates as possible, and although there’s a limit of 5 voting delegates, there’s no limit to the number of attendees per school otherwise, and the more parents, guardians, teachers, administrators and staff attending the meeting, the richer the meeting will be.

To ensure the widest possibility for participation, member associations are encouraged to cover the registration fee, travel costs, accommodations costs (if required), and childcare expenses of delegates from their school.

In addition to the business meeting of the Federation and the consideration of the resolutions, there will also be an opportunity at the annual meeting for small group discussions about current issues in education with other members and with our partners in the education system, and three afternoon workshops (on Progress Monitoring, the Graduation Planner, and on breakfast and lunch programs and food policy).

At the first Annual General Meeting of the PEI Home and School Federation in 1953, Mr. G.F. Bruce, President of the National Federation of Home and Schools, began his talk by saying “We are too materialistic; let us measure our success in life not by what we get out of it but what we put into it.”

March and April present home and school members with ample opportunity to do just that.