Public Education in Edmonton

Moderated discussions, surveys, pictures and online discussions are being used to inform the creation of a 10-year strategic plan that will guide decisions about services that contribute to the health, safety and well-being of Edmontonians. The project team says: “This is your opportunity to help shape the long term plan for people services that contribute to our quality of life.”

“Accepting his 2008 TED Prize, author Dave Eggers asks the TED community to personally, creatively engage with local public schools.” He says: “There is something about the kids finishing their homework in a given day… They go home. They are finished. They don’t stall. They don’t do their homework in front of the TV.… They go home. Enjoy their family. Enjoy their hobbies. Get outside. Play. And that makes a happy family. A bunch of happy families in a neighbourhood makes a happy community. A bunch of happy communities tied together is a happy city. The key to it all is homework, right?”

“Why do our cash-strapped school boards and provincial government continue to pay repeatedly for the same resources, either for the physical copies or through licensing?” (Edmonton Journal; October 21, 2009)

“Boys left behind by Toronto's public schools are about to feel a firm force pulling them forward…”

“It is astonishing to me that a minister of the crown would take time in the middle of the night to reply personally to an impertinent question posed by an ordinary citizen. Yet Minister Hancock did, and this is the stuff of real democracy.”

In a concluding session Deputy Education Minister Keray Henke said that our system of Education has served our past very well. But then asked “is it what our students want?”

Day Two featured two more excellent speakers, Dr. Jennifer James and Dr. Mark Milliron.

The “Inspiring Education” fall forum has begun in Edmonton, AB. There are approximately 900 people in attendance. Daniel Pink was the keynote speaker. His answer to the question “what will an educated Albertan be like in the year 2029?” is that “an educated Albertan will not be doing routine work.”

Free learning fun. The president of the New York Public Library says: “As young people become used to reading virtually everything online that is going to propel a change in terms of readership of e-books rather than readership of physical books.”

No new motions. One request for information by a trustee.

Land for 18 school sites has been given back to the city by the EPSB.

The website of one school board in Alberta says that their administration prepares a series of Accountability Reports for the Trustees according to a predetermined annual schedule. They further say: “Trustees use this information to approve/ amend/ delete a series of Governance Implications." They conclude: “The Governance Implications are a powerful tool for Boards to direct administration to plan and budget for specific priorities."

The Province (09/10/10) reports: “The Vancouver School Board has decided against installing hand sanitizers in schools.”

CBC reports “Calgary school libraries to embrace iPod”