The Governing Boards - Looking Back on the First Year of Operation

One of the goals of the Ministère in launching the current reform was to give educational institutions greater autonomy in certain areas. To this end, new structures were created to set guidelines for the institutions as they exercise this autonomy. These new structures, called governing boards, are made up of at most 20 members whose ultimate goal in working together is to help students achieve academic success. The governing board has decision-making power in several matters related to the educational project and the policy directions of the school. Each board member represents a particular group (parents, school staff, the community, etc.). In schools, an equal number of parents and school staff members sit on the governing board and are entitled to vote; community representatives and student representatives (students in Cycle Two or the final two years of secondary school) may take part in board meetings but are not entitled to vote. School governing boards are chaired by a parent.