{"id":1267,"date":"2014-02-26T15:54:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-26T15:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rf.podcastfixit.com\/index.php\/2014\/02\/26\/courchesne-promotes-school-board\/"},"modified":"2015-06-01T19:41:18","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T19:41:18","slug":"courchesne-promotes-school-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/02\/26\/courchesne-promotes-school-board\/","title":{"rendered":"Courchesne promotes school board elections"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, you want to be a school commissioner? <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

By Rhonda Massad<\/b>
\nwith files from Robert Frank<\/b>
\nwww.thesuburban.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Former Liberal Education Minister Michelle Courchesne visited Lester B. Pearson School Board headquarters in Dorval, Feb 22, to hype school board elections that will be held across the province, Nov. 2. <\/p>\n

Courchesne spoke to more than 30 participants there and more elsewhere in the province via webcast, during a seminar organized by Quebec English School Board Association (QESBA) president David D\u2019Aoust. The objective was to encourage prospective candidates to run, and explain how to campaign for the many elected positions that will be up for grabs this fall. <\/p>\n

Though her political days are behind her, Courchesne\u2019s message was simple: She warned that if voters fail to exercise their democratic duty to elect the people who run our school boards, they risk handing over the future of our schools to unelected civil servants unacquainted with their children\u2019s and communities\u2019 needs. <\/p>\n

Abysmal voter turnout in previous school board elections alarmed Courchesne, who dwelt upon how to increase the level of participation was a critical issue.<\/p>\n

Only 7.2 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot in French school board elections in 2007\u2014the last time they went to the polls. That was 11 per cent fewer than the 8.1 per cent who went to the polls in 2003. <\/p>\n

In contrast, voter participation rose more than 14 per cent at English school boards to 16.7 per cent. Though more than double their French counterparts, it still meant that five out of six English voters didn\u2019t bother. <\/p>\n

The turnout was so bad that while Courchesne was education minister, she got the Quebec legislature to pass a law postponing the next round of school board elections, which were due in 2011. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was directly responsible for the delay in the elections by extending the mandate because I felt it was important to take the time to get it right,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

One direct result of her work is that the school board chair must, henceforth, be elected by all eligible voters, rather than selected by the handful of commissioners whom they elect. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis will ensure accountability,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

French-by-default <\/b><\/p>\n

The main concern voiced by participants was that Quebec automatically places citizens on the French school voters list by default, after when the youngest child in a household completes school or at the age of eighteen. <\/p>\n

Many voters don\u2019t realize that if they were without children in school during the last seven years, they were automatically transferred to the French voters list for the last election. <\/p>\n

The French-default also means that the same electors must pay their school taxes to the local French school board. <\/p>\n

Seminar organizers also noted issues like maiden names and hyphenated names continue to be an issue with Elections Quebec. They underscored that taxpayers\u2019 names must be identical to the ones that appear on the electoral list when applying to support the board of their choice. In order for an elector to be transferred to another board a notice of choice must be completed. <\/p>\n

QEBSA is prepared to answer questions regarding the electoral list that are sent by electronic mail to: qesba@qesba.qc.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A video webcast of the Feb. 22 seminar is available on the LBPSB web site.<\/p>\n

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\n“This time, it’s important to get school board elections right,” said former Education Minister Mich\u00e8le Courchesne, during a seminar for prospective candidates in Dorval, Feb. 22.<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n(Photo \u00a9 Rhonda Massad)<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, you want to be a school commissioner? By Rhonda Massad with files from Robert Frank www.thesuburban.com Former Liberal Education Minister Michelle Courchesne visited Lester B. Pearson School Board headquarters in Dorval, Feb 22, to hype school board elections that will be held across the province, Nov. 2. Courchesne spoke to more than 30 participants<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCourchesne promotes school board elections - Newscoverage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/02\/26\/courchesne-promotes-school-board\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Courchesne promotes school board elections - Newscoverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So, you want to be a school commissioner? By Rhonda Massad with files from Robert Frank www.thesuburban.com Former Liberal Education Minister Michelle Courchesne visited Lester B. Pearson School Board headquarters in Dorval, Feb 22, to hype school board elections that will be held across the province, Nov. 2. 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