Quebec calls for student commissioners

BY MARC LALONDE

The Chronicle

A new law being tabled by the provincial government that will allow a student to sit on the board’s council of commissioners was met with mixed reactions from some Lester B. Pearson School Board officials, who say the board’s students’ committee is handling things just fine, thanks.

“I think it would be very difficult for a student to participate fully as an elected member of the council of commissioners because of the way the law is worded,� said Pearson chairman Marcus Tabachnick.

Bill 32, tabled recently by the provincial government, would see a seat on every public school board’s council of commissioners reserved for an elected student representative. Tabachnick suggested the workload of a commissioner might be a little much, even for a bright and motivated high-school senior.

“They can’t attend in-camera sessions where we deal with contracts, personnel issues because the law says that they would not be allowed to participate, and a commitment of two or three nights a week might be a lot for a teenager, and our meetings often go until after midnight, which wouldn’t give them enough sleep for school the next day. I think it’s a good idea, but we already have a mechanism wherein students can participate in consultations and have a voice and that’s through our Central Students’ Committee,� he said.

The Central Students Committee, incepted in 2002, has been working on behalf of students ever since. This year’s president is Macdonald High School student Robert Lynch and the vice-president is St. Thomas High School student Hannah Quinn.

Former Lakeshore School Board director general and current Pearson commissioner John Killingbeck told

The Chronicle he’s in favour of the idea of increasing student democracy but

questioned the government’s method of doing it.

“I’m positive about the idea, but it seems the government haven’t quite worked out all the modalities. It’s one thing to encourage student input in the decision-making process but there are things that have to be worked out. We’ve had student involvement in every consultation in the form of the central students’ committee and at the governing-board level, student participation has really matured. I think if young people who are interested in governance, we’ll have more people taking an interest in how schools operate,� he said.

It hasn’t become clear if students would be paid a stipend for their time; Board members receive about $6,000 a year.