School food youth forums coming over next six weeks

Federation hosts successful semi-annual meeting and information exchange

The P.E.I. Home and School Federation held its semi-annual meeting and information exchange on Tuesday, Oct. 23, at Central Queens Elementary School in Hunter River. The event was attended by 45 local home and school parents, teachers and administrators.

Students from East Wilshire and Kinkora schools, Jordan Brown, minister of education, early learning and culture, Susan Willis, deputy minister, and Parker Grimmer and Dale Sabean, of the Public Schools Branch participated in the Home and School Exchange World Cafe.

The cafe format engaged delegates to provide feedback on key questions of importance to the federation. The questions posed included: What are the hot topic items for your local Home and School? What are your biggest challenges in navigating the P.E.I. school system? How can PEIHSF continue to support school communities?

All discussions are being compiled into a summary report and working document for the federation.

Delegates donated food items, which were dispersed to regional food banks, as well as book or game resources, which were exchanged with each other or brought back to their respective school libraries.

School food youth forums, funded by Health and Wellness, are being organized by Morgan Palmer. Kinkora Regional High School, East Wiltshire Intermediate School and Montague Regional High School will host forums over the next six weeks with students planning and leading discussions on school food. Students will be invited to comment on school cafeteria food and other aspects to school food. The federation is looking forward to reporting on the feedback from these sessions.

Cannabis is of interest to school communities since the legalization of marijuana last month. Parent information sessions are happening in families of schools. The federation office is circulating and posting related resource links being provided by federal and provincial government to its membership and posting online at: peihsf.ca.

A public survey is being conducted as part of an external review of the provincial government’s student assessment program. RMJ Assessment from Ontario is conducting this review. The federation participated in an interview urges all school communities to fill out the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/rmjassessmentEN

School bus safety is a key concern of the federation with current policies supporting a variety of safety issues. A letter was forwarded to the education minister with policy that includes a request to reinstate two license plates on vehicles in P.E.I., which may work to help identify vehicles passing school buses. This federation policy was passed in 2002.

For more information on information on the P.E.I. Home and School Federation, contact the office at peihsf@edu.pe.ca or 902620-3186/1-800-916-0664.

Cory Thomas, president of the P.E.I. Home and School Federation, lives in Summerside with his wife and two children, who both attend Elm Street Elementary School. His column appears in The Guardian during the school year on the first Thursday of the month. He welcomes comments from readers and information for the column. He can be reached at peihsf@edu.pe.ca or 902-620-3186.