Thoughts from the Initial Steering Committee

Tania Ovens from Summit was one of the teachers and the non-Alt. principal was a former teacher at Lady E. (who I vaguely remember but he was before my real time). Jennifer McKenzie and Lynn Scott were there and I thought Lynn was actually very insightful and helpful. She wants to ensure that the review is meaningful and gets at the tenets of the program. We mostly went through the survey. The biggest problems people had with it was that it was full of "motherhood and apple pie": Examples of activities that reflect cooperation and teamwork are listed below. Please indicate how often you observer each activity in your classroom (teachers)/school (principals/vice-principals): 1. parents, teachers and students are viewed, and act, as partners in education. 2. Participation, citizenship, and cooperative behaviour are encouraged. 3. There is an emphasis on shared goals and values among parents, teachers, and students. 4. There is a strong sense of teamwork within the school. 5. Other (specify): In your opinion, how important is cooperation and teamwork in your school: This was based on phrases pulled from the program brochure and documents. But what school doesn't like co-operation? And why is there nothing about rewards and non-competition? Lynn Scott suggested that the last question should ensure that it gets at the importance to the foundation of the program "In your opinion, how important is this core tenet to the culture, practice and approach to learning in your school". Or something like that. Similarly, under Multi-age groupings, there was no question about whether the groupings were on purpose and core to the philosophy of the school. Under Family and Community-Centred Environment, there was nothing about parental consultation (which put Lori in an awkward spot when she was asked about this, since the chair Jennifer Adams was the one who shut down the community-driven Alternative French last year). I had an issue with the fact that the survey did not get into any issues of why the alternative tenets are not being adhered to right now. I keep hammering away that we need to know what is hindering the program delivery before we can judge it. Some discussion about some anecdotal questions at the end along the lines of "Please identify any concerns that you have regarding the elementary program in which you currently work". Vague and not quantifiable. I did talk to the QA people putting the survey together and am going to get back to them with some possible questions, which I'm sure Jennifer Adams won't like. They are familiar with the Revitalization Report and are willing it use its findings, which I will make available to them. I got some of my question sheet answered. I'm going to send a full accounting out tomorrow with the updated draft survey once it is available. More later...