Mark Anielski is making headlines in Nova Scotia these days. Seems like more than one government in Canada is afraid of the truth - especially when it comes to problem gambling. Anielski did a study for the previous Conservative government in Nova Scotia but now the NDP government is trying to bury it.
The media in Nova Scotia is all over the story and Mark recently published an op-ed in The Chronicle Herald in Halifax explaining some of the issues around VLTs and problem gambling. It is a problem everywhere but is seems regardless of the political stripe or the province, governments are as addicted to gamling as some of it most vulnerable citizens. What is disturbing is the political attitude that tries to hide facts from the public. It undermines public confidence in government and deomcracy.
Mark says, amongst other things: "The study, commissioned by the previous Conservative government, had two objectives: to establish a baseline analysis of a range of social and economic impacts that can be attributed to gambling in Nova Scotia, and to present an objective snapshot of those impacts."
There are currently similar studies on problem gambling being done in Alberta and Ontario. We can only hope they learn from the ham-handed political, governance and PR mistakes of the NDP in Nova Scotia and release the study results publicly. If they have a problem with the reports then take issue based on facts don't hide and stifle information that citizens need to evaluate what kind of society they want.
If you want to see yet another example of a government lacking integrity, honesty, accountability and transparency here it is.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Stelmach Government Honours Gary McPherson With Leadership Scholarships.
Congratulations to Premier Stelmach for a fitting tribute to the life of Gary McPherson. A post-secondary student leadership scholarship throughout Alberta is brilliant. If anyone was a role model for citizenship it was the inspiring life and actions of Gary McPherson.
Here is the link for more details on the scholarship program in Gary's honour.
Here is the link for more details on the scholarship program in Gary's honour.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Some Thoughts on Governance Teams for Alberta School Boards
This blog post has been a long time coming with all the meetings, events scheduling and traveling I have been doing. So while it has been promised a few times other priorities have taken precedence. So now here is my take on the Inspiring Education Dialogue with Albertans report on Governance in public education. For the record, I did not participate in the process except to attend one day to listen to some key speakers including Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind.
SOME CONTEXT ON INSPIRING EDUCATION REPORT:
There is much more to the Inspiring Education document than governance. So a brief overview, without commentary, I expect will be helpful for context to those who have not read the report. It was a process about setting a long-term vision for public education in the province. Minister Hancock wanted to raise awareness of the importance of education in the life of Albertans and its contribution to a prosperous society and economy. He wanted to “develop a clear understanding of what it will mean to be a successfully educated Albertan” in the future and finally, to develop a broad policy framework around the overall direction, principles and long-term goals for public education in Alberta.
PRINCIPLED-BASED TRANSFORMATION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION:
The goal was to be “transformational” about the education system by empowering educational innovation throughout the province. Time will tell if that is going to happen, but the governance provisions in the report are one fertile place to focus for transformation to occur in public education.
The underlying aspect of governance transformational directions in Inspiring Education is a “principles based” approach instead of rules based. There is merit in this but if it is to be effective the school trustees are going to have to pick up their game and be more engaged in policy development and execution.
The over reliance on the Carver governance system that has been adopted by many school districts is a significant barrier to school trustees being principled based governors. This old-fashioned and outmoded governance model is antithetical to a principles shift in accountability for learning excellence and away from accountability to bureaucracy. In a horizontal networked connected community engaging world the centralizing narrow approach to governance in the Carver model is more than a barrier, it is a danger to realizing the transformational direction Inspiring Education is all about.
There is a shift in focus to local direction form central influence which is a good thing too but that means school trustees are going have to be much more engaged in the overall life of the communities they serve, beyond the limited interests of schools and students as isolated form community. The potential for more direct and collaborative engagement of the local schools and school districts in other critical aspects of their communities is where the transformational change in public education needs to happen first.
GOVERNANCE TEAMS AND WHAT THEY COULD MEAN:
These principles based shifts is very significant but received scant attention compared to the more politically contentious provision for “Governance Teams.” This idea was seen by some as a provincial government power move to replace locally elected school boards, or at least to dilute and decrease the role and power of local school boards.
I don’t think that is the intent of this Minister, but political power is so centralized in the Premier’s office in Alberta and Cabinet shuffles happen. Who knows what might happen in the future that sees local school boards eliminated or at the very least, even more eviscerated? Regional health authorities were eliminated overnight an unceremoniously without advanced warning or consultation so it would be naive to think the same could not happen to local school boards in one way or the other.
My take is the potential for effective governance teams is that they can be the key to the culture change in public education that needs to happen so other changes can be enabled and empowered as well. More public engagement and involvement in the political culture of the province can start with the local schools and municipalities. That is where the citizen’s concerns are closest to the politicians and policy-makers. Adding talent and expertise to school boards in governance teams, on an as needed basis, to serve the greater good of the community by integrating schools and increasing learning capacity is a critical issue for the future prosperity of Alberta is there ever was one.
The key questions are who decides the need for a governance team, who sets the objectives for the team and who selects the team members? It the Minister or the provincial bureaucracy who makes these decisions then we have a serious governance problem. It will be paternalism at best and more likely lead to the eventual elimination of effective local governance in public education. That is a policy decision that needs to involve all Albertans and not just the unilateral imposed action by the government of Alberta, as they have done in the past.
If the essential issues about governance teams are in the control of the local school boards then we can see public education transforming and finding renewed relevance as a positive political force and as effective public policy instruments to enhance local communities. This is the preferred option in the execution of governance teams. The reality is that most school boards and individual trustees are not nearly prepared, experienced, engaged, focused or even competent enough at present to take advantage of this transformational opportunity emerging with governance teams.
There is a lot more to say on the subject but for now, I think cautious optimism is the appropriate response to governance teams. That optimism is justified so long as Dave Hancock continues as Minister. There is a reasonable likelihood of another Cabinet shuffle before the next election so time is of the essence for enlightened school boards to embrace governance teams. Not every board has to take on the challenge and opportunity inherent in governance teams but those with the inspiration to do so need get at it.
I will be doing a number of blog posts on the Inspiring Education implications in the weeks ahead as my part in increasing citizen engagement in school board and municipal elections coming this October. In the meantime there is energy and effort available to transform public education for the better but it needs more and continuing citizen engagement to be realized and effective. Elections are a great time for citizens to get informed and engaged and Inspiriting Education is healthy fodder for that to happen.
SOME CONTEXT ON INSPIRING EDUCATION REPORT:
There is much more to the Inspiring Education document than governance. So a brief overview, without commentary, I expect will be helpful for context to those who have not read the report. It was a process about setting a long-term vision for public education in the province. Minister Hancock wanted to raise awareness of the importance of education in the life of Albertans and its contribution to a prosperous society and economy. He wanted to “develop a clear understanding of what it will mean to be a successfully educated Albertan” in the future and finally, to develop a broad policy framework around the overall direction, principles and long-term goals for public education in Alberta.
PRINCIPLED-BASED TRANSFORMATION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION:
The goal was to be “transformational” about the education system by empowering educational innovation throughout the province. Time will tell if that is going to happen, but the governance provisions in the report are one fertile place to focus for transformation to occur in public education.
The underlying aspect of governance transformational directions in Inspiring Education is a “principles based” approach instead of rules based. There is merit in this but if it is to be effective the school trustees are going to have to pick up their game and be more engaged in policy development and execution.
The over reliance on the Carver governance system that has been adopted by many school districts is a significant barrier to school trustees being principled based governors. This old-fashioned and outmoded governance model is antithetical to a principles shift in accountability for learning excellence and away from accountability to bureaucracy. In a horizontal networked connected community engaging world the centralizing narrow approach to governance in the Carver model is more than a barrier, it is a danger to realizing the transformational direction Inspiring Education is all about.
There is a shift in focus to local direction form central influence which is a good thing too but that means school trustees are going have to be much more engaged in the overall life of the communities they serve, beyond the limited interests of schools and students as isolated form community. The potential for more direct and collaborative engagement of the local schools and school districts in other critical aspects of their communities is where the transformational change in public education needs to happen first.
GOVERNANCE TEAMS AND WHAT THEY COULD MEAN:
These principles based shifts is very significant but received scant attention compared to the more politically contentious provision for “Governance Teams.” This idea was seen by some as a provincial government power move to replace locally elected school boards, or at least to dilute and decrease the role and power of local school boards.
I don’t think that is the intent of this Minister, but political power is so centralized in the Premier’s office in Alberta and Cabinet shuffles happen. Who knows what might happen in the future that sees local school boards eliminated or at the very least, even more eviscerated? Regional health authorities were eliminated overnight an unceremoniously without advanced warning or consultation so it would be naive to think the same could not happen to local school boards in one way or the other.
My take is the potential for effective governance teams is that they can be the key to the culture change in public education that needs to happen so other changes can be enabled and empowered as well. More public engagement and involvement in the political culture of the province can start with the local schools and municipalities. That is where the citizen’s concerns are closest to the politicians and policy-makers. Adding talent and expertise to school boards in governance teams, on an as needed basis, to serve the greater good of the community by integrating schools and increasing learning capacity is a critical issue for the future prosperity of Alberta is there ever was one.
The key questions are who decides the need for a governance team, who sets the objectives for the team and who selects the team members? It the Minister or the provincial bureaucracy who makes these decisions then we have a serious governance problem. It will be paternalism at best and more likely lead to the eventual elimination of effective local governance in public education. That is a policy decision that needs to involve all Albertans and not just the unilateral imposed action by the government of Alberta, as they have done in the past.
If the essential issues about governance teams are in the control of the local school boards then we can see public education transforming and finding renewed relevance as a positive political force and as effective public policy instruments to enhance local communities. This is the preferred option in the execution of governance teams. The reality is that most school boards and individual trustees are not nearly prepared, experienced, engaged, focused or even competent enough at present to take advantage of this transformational opportunity emerging with governance teams.
There is a lot more to say on the subject but for now, I think cautious optimism is the appropriate response to governance teams. That optimism is justified so long as Dave Hancock continues as Minister. There is a reasonable likelihood of another Cabinet shuffle before the next election so time is of the essence for enlightened school boards to embrace governance teams. Not every board has to take on the challenge and opportunity inherent in governance teams but those with the inspiration to do so need get at it.
I will be doing a number of blog posts on the Inspiring Education implications in the weeks ahead as my part in increasing citizen engagement in school board and municipal elections coming this October. In the meantime there is energy and effort available to transform public education for the better but it needs more and continuing citizen engagement to be realized and effective. Elections are a great time for citizens to get informed and engaged and Inspiriting Education is healthy fodder for that to happen.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Politics in Cyberspace Presentation to ASBA Spring Conference
Here is the PowerPoint slides I used for the presentation to the Alberta School Boards Association on "Politics in Cyberspace" last week at their Spring Conference. I adapted the presentation for the workshop then next day for aspiringng and prospective school board trustees.
Now I am working through a blog post of the proposed Governance Teams provisions of the Inspiring Education report. - Go to page 33 of the report for the start of that section. My sense is I like the idea of governance teams but only if they come from the school boards themselves. If the ideas is to enable and empower school boards to augment their expertise by recruiting or appointing people from the district's communities or from outside depending on the shortcoming of experience the school board may see in itself to meet a challenge, then I am all for it.
If it is a ruse to have the Minister or the department appoint or recruit additional school board members at their discretion then I am all against it. That would further add to the centralization of power in the provincial government, add to the democratic deficit and increase citizen cynicism around our already deplorable political culture in this province.
So come back to this site tomorrow and read my post on my take about the posibilities and pitfalls of the Governance Teams portion of the Inspiring Education report. It all fits within Jim Bottemley's point in his ASBA Spring Conference presentation when he said "In the future we'll all be LEARNING a living."
Now I am working through a blog post of the proposed Governance Teams provisions of the Inspiring Education report. - Go to page 33 of the report for the start of that section. My sense is I like the idea of governance teams but only if they come from the school boards themselves. If the ideas is to enable and empower school boards to augment their expertise by recruiting or appointing people from the district's communities or from outside depending on the shortcoming of experience the school board may see in itself to meet a challenge, then I am all for it.
If it is a ruse to have the Minister or the department appoint or recruit additional school board members at their discretion then I am all against it. That would further add to the centralization of power in the provincial government, add to the democratic deficit and increase citizen cynicism around our already deplorable political culture in this province.
So come back to this site tomorrow and read my post on my take about the posibilities and pitfalls of the Governance Teams portion of the Inspiring Education report. It all fits within Jim Bottemley's point in his ASBA Spring Conference presentation when he said "In the future we'll all be LEARNING a living."
Reviving the RebootAlberta Blog to be About Informed Citizens for the Fall Elections
I have revived the RebootAlberta blog after 6 months of hiatus. I will be using it for information and activities on citizenship, citizen engagement, the democratic deficit in Alberta and the pending municipal and school board elections. The first post in that theme is about the Edmonton and Calgary municipal elections.
You can expect follow up posts on school board elections in the province as well. I am encouraged by the increased interest in both orders of government, especially the number and quality of candidates I met at the Alberta School Boards Association Candidate School I presented at in Red Deer last week. If you are interested in running for school board election, the ASBA is there to help you get started.
If you want to more about what you might be getting into as a School Trustee you may want to research the fiscal status of your district. The Alberta Teachers' Association has gathered all the information together in a section of their website they call "The good the bad and the ugly."
I am also encouraged by the signs of citizen re-engagement in politics in Alberta based on the number of fine and qualified candidates running for Mayor in Calgary. I know many of them and can assure you they cover a wide swath of interest and approaches to politics and governing. Calgary will have a range of leadership styles and political approaches as it decides what kind of a city is aspires to be in the next Alberta.
So visit the RebootAlberta blog for a more non-partisan approach to public policy and democracy in Alberta. I hope you comment and share your thoughts on the posts there too. I welcome guest blogs there as well. So if you are interested to writing about 500-750 words of your thoughts and commentary, send them to me by email ken@cambridgestrategies.com
You can expect follow up posts on school board elections in the province as well. I am encouraged by the increased interest in both orders of government, especially the number and quality of candidates I met at the Alberta School Boards Association Candidate School I presented at in Red Deer last week. If you are interested in running for school board election, the ASBA is there to help you get started.
If you want to more about what you might be getting into as a School Trustee you may want to research the fiscal status of your district. The Alberta Teachers' Association has gathered all the information together in a section of their website they call "The good the bad and the ugly."
I am also encouraged by the signs of citizen re-engagement in politics in Alberta based on the number of fine and qualified candidates running for Mayor in Calgary. I know many of them and can assure you they cover a wide swath of interest and approaches to politics and governing. Calgary will have a range of leadership styles and political approaches as it decides what kind of a city is aspires to be in the next Alberta.
So visit the RebootAlberta blog for a more non-partisan approach to public policy and democracy in Alberta. I hope you comment and share your thoughts on the posts there too. I welcome guest blogs there as well. So if you are interested to writing about 500-750 words of your thoughts and commentary, send them to me by email ken@cambridgestrategies.com
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