A school backtracks
A school in the Lower Laurentians that, like a school in Quebec City, had made the decision to mark Parents' Day rather than Mother's and Fathers' Day is doing an about-face after the controversy raised by this change. However, teachers testify that if they change their way of doing things, it is sometimes simply to protect students.
On Wednesday, an email sent by a school of the Centre de services scolaire de la Rivière-du-Nord (CSSRDN) to inform that Parents' Day would replace Mother's and Father's Day this year circulated extensively. It was relayed on Twitter by the leader
of the Conservative Party of Quebec, Éric Duhaime.
A few hours later, the service center confirmed to La Presse that the school administration "will put the two holidays back on its calendar."
In a media scrum, Education Minister Bernard Drainville wrongly claimed that it was a decision of the school service centre, but the spokesperson for the CSSRDN, Nadyne Brochu, says that it is the decision of a single school
and that the "reaction of parents leads to this retraction".
Tuesday, it is a school in Quebec City that was put under the magnifying glass on social networks. Second-grade teachers had felt that "considering the heterogeneity of the families" of their students, it was better to highlight Parents' Day rather than Mother's and Father's Day.
The Centre de services scolaire de la Capitale said that "some students in their classes do not have a mother or father or are in foster care" and that this is what motivated the teachers to make such a decision.
It was added, it was added, that this was a "benevolent intention".
Bernard Drainville believes that "it is normal for teachers to be sensitive to the needs of these children,
to find the right speech, to find the right way."
The president of the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) deplores that this case makes so much noise.
"Let's take an example: a year when we know that in the classroom, a child is grieving the loss of one of his parents, we will govern differently than another year. We will do the same if we have a child in the classroom with a serious illness. We will have a sensitivity that we will have less the following year, "says Mélanie Hubert.
In any case, she adds, the professional autonomy of teachers allows them not to use this theme "which is by no means on the agenda".
On teachers' Facebook groups, the subject is divisive, but several teachers report situations that call for delicacy.
"I have a student whose father committed suicide last month... Is it necessary to turn the iron in the wound
by imposing a card writing or a DIY [...]? " asks a teacher.
Others simply say that if they do not celebrate these holidays, it is because at the end of the year, the school calendar is busy. One teacher writes that she "sometimes wasted two or three teaching periods" to get crafts done.
On Wednesday, an email sent by a school of the Centre de services scolaire de la Rivière-du-Nord (CSSRDN) to inform that Parents' Day would replace Mother's and Father's Day this year circulated extensively. It was relayed on Twitter by the leader
of the Conservative Party of Quebec, Éric Duhaime.
A few hours later, the service center confirmed to La Presse that the school administration "will put the two holidays back on its calendar."
In a media scrum, Education Minister Bernard Drainville wrongly claimed that it was a decision of the school service centre, but the spokesperson for the CSSRDN, Nadyne Brochu, says that it is the decision of a single school
and that the "reaction of parents leads to this retraction".
Tuesday, it is a school in Quebec City that was put under the magnifying glass on social networks. Second-grade teachers had felt that "considering the heterogeneity of the families" of their students, it was better to highlight Parents' Day rather than Mother's and Father's Day.
The Centre de services scolaire de la Capitale said that "some students in their classes do not have a mother or father or are in foster care" and that this is what motivated the teachers to make such a decision.
It was added, it was added, that this was a "benevolent intention".
Bernard Drainville believes that "it is normal for teachers to be sensitive to the needs of these children,
to find the right speech, to find the right way."
The president of the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) deplores that this case makes so much noise.
"Let's take an example: a year when we know that in the classroom, a child is grieving the loss of one of his parents, we will govern differently than another year. We will do the same if we have a child in the classroom with a serious illness. We will have a sensitivity that we will have less the following year, "says Mélanie Hubert.
In any case, she adds, the professional autonomy of teachers allows them not to use this theme "which is by no means on the agenda".
On teachers' Facebook groups, the subject is divisive, but several teachers report situations that call for delicacy.
"I have a student whose father committed suicide last month... Is it necessary to turn the iron in the wound
by imposing a card writing or a DIY [...]? " asks a teacher.
Others simply say that if they do not celebrate these holidays, it is because at the end of the year, the school calendar is busy. One teacher writes that she "sometimes wasted two or three teaching periods" to get crafts done.
