Confusion around virtual meetings at school

The easing of sanitary measures causes confusion in schools. A directive sent to school service centers indicates that the governing boards (CÉ), which govern each of the public schools, must now meet face-to-face, after two years of virtual meetings due to the pandemic. The cabinet of the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, nevertheless confirmed to the To have to that ECs can decide whether to hold their meetings face-to-face or virtually.

“The CÉs have the autonomy to determine their mode of meeting”, indicates Florent Tanlet, press secretary to Minister Roberge. The ministry also intends to write to the school network to provide this clarification.

This question is creating waves in schools, where school board members had become accustomed to virtual meetings for two years.

In recent days, the Legault government has not renewed the ministerial decree which forced the EC to hold their meetings remotely since the start of the pandemic. As a result, EC meetings had to return to the presence, because “the Education Act (LIP) does not allow virtual EC meetings to be held,” wrote the Fédération des centers de services scolaire du Québec ( FCSSQ) to its members. The Federation has conducted a legal analysis on this issue, confirms spokesperson Caroline Lemieux.

Verification made, Minister Roberge believes that the law grants autonomy to ECs to decide whether to conduct their meetings face-to-face or remotely. Parents are satisfied with this update, which nevertheless comes after ten days of uncertainty in the school network.

“Remote school boards, it works! There are more participants. Everyone finds it easier. It’s handy not having to stay in school until 9 p.m.,” says Sylvain Martel, spokesperson for the Regroupement des Comités de Parents Autonomes du Québec.

If virtual meetings had been banned, he fears that several ECs could not have taken place, due to lack of quorum. A Laval school had to cancel a meeting of its CÉ on Tuesday evening because three of the five parent members were unwilling to attend in person. This confusion comes at a very bad time, because school boards these days have to decide on crucial decisions, such as the schools’ budget for the next school year.

Each public school has a school council made up of the school administration, parents, staff members, community representatives and students (for upper secondary). The CÉs “determine the main orientations of the school, which have direct impacts on the daily life of the students”, explains the website of the Ministry of Education.

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