Resolutions presented at AGM
The P.E.I. Home and School Federation’s 71st annual general meeting and conference: Building Healthy Foundations for Every Child, was held Saturday April 13th in Charlottetown.
More than 100 attendees, representing 35 local Home and School Associations, were joined by guests, including P.E.I. Lt.-Gov. Antoinette Perry, Education and Early Years Minister Natalie Jameson, Erin McGrath Gaudet, deputy minister of education and early years, Tracy Beaulieu, director of the Public Schools Branch, Andy Doran, president of the P.E.I. Teachers’ Federation, Heather Mullen MacLaren, chair of the board of trustees, as well as board trustees and four students.
The AGM featured discussion around issues in Island education, overall student well-being, the Inclusion Report Summary, provincial results of the COMPASS Health Survey, suicide prevention, youth sports nutrition, the Fundations literacy program, and the role of the educational assistant. AGM summary notes will be posted on the PEIHSF website, https://peihsf.ca/.
Local Home and School Associations presented five resolutions: regulating the temperature of P.E.I. schools, expanding inclement weather closure and delay policies to include extreme heat; investigating the effectiveness of vaping detectors in Island consolidated, intermediate and high schools; developing policy on screen use guidelines in primary and elementary classrooms and revisiting the inclusion of kindergarten in split grades. All resolutions were passed by majority vote. Responses to these resolutions will be posted on the PEIHSF website as they are received.
The federation welcomed new president Shannon Bruyneel and the incoming board for the 2024-2026 term. New board members are Mary Macdonald-Pickering (Kinkora family of schools), Stephanie Chaloner (Colonel Gray family of schools) and Sylvie De Sousa (Montague family of schools). Any candidates interested in filling the vacant board director positions for the Charlottetown Rural, Morell, Bluefield and Souris families of schools are invited to contact the P.E.I. Home and School Federation office.
RaeAnne Arsenault from St. Louis Elementary was awarded the Steve McQuaid Volunteer of the Year Award.
At the Provincial Science Fair, the P.E.I. Home and School Federation presented specialty awards to Mariella Walsh from West Royalty elementary for her “Which Environment Affects Your Memory the Most?” project and Charlotte Beatty from Donagh Regional School, for her project, “Hey Mold? Whatcha Eatin?”.
Nominations for PEIHSF’s school bus driver of the year are due May 10 – a chance to recognize someone who goes above and beyond in a school community.
The PSB Review of Schools Report for the Charlottetown Family of Schools (Colonel Gray and Charlottetown Rural families) is at https://psb.edu.pe.ca/news-updates.
Upcoming meeting dates of the PSB board of trustees will be posted at https://psb.edu.pe.ca/board-meetings-and-minutes.
The Department of Education and Early Years released the 2024-2025 School Calendar on April 17. The calendar can be found on the Department’s website at https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/information/education-and-early-years/2024-2025-school-calendar.
The 2023-2024 COMPASS Health Survey was completed in the fall by more than 8,300 Graded 7-12 students across 35 P.E.I. Schools. Results are available on the Live Well PEI website at https://www.livewellpei.ca/compass-project-0.
As many local Home and School associations turn their attention to year-end activities, members are encouraged to ensure their new executive teams are in place for the next school year. The PEIHSF can assist locals with this planning.
The new P.E.I. Home and School Federation board wishes all students, families and school staff a safe and productive “home stretch” of the school year.
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Shannon Bruyneel, president of the P.E.I. Home and School Federation, lives in Charlottetown, with her husband and three children, who attend West Kent Elementary School and Queen Charlotte Intermediate School. A Home and School column appears in The Guardian during the school year on the first Friday of the month. For questions about this column or to find out more about the work of the P.E.I. Home and School Federation, contact peihsf@gov.pe.ca or 902-620-3186/1-800-916-0664.