Serious Topics Need Engaged Parents
June 2025 PEI Home and School Federation news column David Schult The P.E.I. School Board of Trustees elections on Oct 17 present an important opportunity for concerned parents and community members to engage with candidates on critical issues.
Not just parents of school children can vote, but any Canadian citizen over 18 who has lived in P.E.I. for six months before the election can vote in person, by mail, or electronically.
Given the serious topics of child protection, COS-PEI, bullying, screen time, artificial intelligence, and overcrowding in schools and on buses, we have to get out and vote. In 2022, fewer than 2% of eligible voters, only 2000 out of 108,000, cast ballots. We have to do better.
The P.E.I. Home and School Federation will help with town halls and publishing candidate biographies on our website.
COS-PEI, the online 50-50 draw supporting local Home and Schools, partnered with the Community Foundation of PEI on May 13 to take on the operational role of handling the funds for the draw for participating local Home and Schools. Parents should ask their school administration about fund access frequency and the process to request funds. The P.E.I. Home and School Federation is not involved with COS-PEI, though we will provide best practice recommendations to our local chapters.
HEALTH PROMOTION
How healthy is your school? At your next local Home and School meeting, request an administrator to share the results of your school’s COMPASS survey. COMPASS is the world’s largest longitudinal school-based health promotion system, and its results can guide us to better decisions for what our schools and kids need to be healthy.
Over 7,800 students in grades 7-12 in 34 island schools participated this year. The provincial report is available online, but only your school administration has access to your school’s data.
Kudos to Green MLA Karla Bernard for spearheading an amendment to P.E.I.’s Education Act that now requires annual reports from each education authority to the Minister of Education including information on complaints of sexual misconduct under a sexual misconduct policy, the supports, services, and accommodation available to students, and initiatives and programs to promote students’ awareness of those supports and services.
Child Protection will be a key topic at the Home and School Federation’s semi-annual meeting this October.
Time for a Digital Detox? Jennifer Gill of Unplugged Canada P.E.I. reached 300 pledges of P.E.I. parents to delay smartphones until their children are 14. Visit the group on Facebook and join those other parents who can now say, “No, not all your classmates have cell phones.”
Put down your phone! Summer break is upon us soon. Encourage your kids to keep reading this summer. Talk to your school librarian and visit your local public library for lists of books and ideas to encourage your child to read over the school break.
Is your local Home and School ready for next year? Now’s the time for succession planning for local elections for your new executive. Be sure to invite all new parents entering your school next year. Contact the federation office at 902-620-3186 / ssmedleyjay@gov.pe.ca for guidance and support on how to hold your elections.
For more information, go to https://peihsf.ca, email peihsf@gov.pe.ca or call 902-620-3186.
David Schult, president of the P.E.I. Home and School Federation, lives in Charlottetown with his wife and two children, who attend UPEI and Colonel Gray Senior High School. Together we build better schools.