SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT

Provincial Parent Board Silenced

It seems that by speaking out the Provincial Parent Board has lost its voice.  This is no case of laryngitis either—the vocal chords have been permanently cut.

Moira MacDonald reports in today’s Toronto Sun that Education Minister Kathleen Wynne has decided to dismantle the Board by September of this year.

Seems that several PPB members had criticized the ministry and minister because they felt they were being hamstrung by bureaucratic blockades preventing them from representing parents’ voices in the province.  So much for allowing parental engagement. 

It’s already a shame that school councils, which began with such hope and promise, have lost their lustre.  School councils’ main purpose was to monitor student achievement and to allow parents to advise on issues affecting their children’s education. Most now have fundraising as their main purpose.  This latest move to stifle parents smacks of censorship and control. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

MacDonald writes:  “We should also wonder what this means about the government’s commitment to letting parents truly have a voice. If the system can’t handle skilled, opinionated parents at the highest levels, what are the chances for those up against an obstinate school principal who’s out of the media spotlight.”

We should wonder indeed.  We should also wonder why the only voice the minister seems to listen to is her “Partnership Roundtable”—a group made up of the usual stakeholders of teachers’ unions, school board associations, principal’s associations, and other organizations supportive of the current government.  Remember what happened to the School Finder Website the day after she met with the Partnership’s vocal oppostion to the comparison feature? ‘Nuf said.

MacDonald’s article ends with this question: “How many times will government ask parents the same questions and get the same answers before parents see their ideas transformed into real change?”

SQE has the easy answer: break the monopoly and let parents choose their schools!