CORNWALL, Ontario – The United Counties of SD&G have announced that they will host a symposium on rural education on Feb. 3, 2022.
This symposium is the latest follow-up step after the United Counties had a report written on the state of rural education in SD&G by Horizon Educational Consultants of Ottawa. Regional school boards including the UCDSB were invited to participate in the creation of the report.
The report, released in November of 2021 identified several barriers to improving rural education including: a lack of available information for the public from school boards, lack of diversity in school board leadership, lack of adequate internet, low birthrate and declining enrollment, a lack of student voices, parent advocacy being the only way to promote change, limited housing stock in the region and more.
“We encourage everyone interested in education for our children to take this opportunity to find out more and advocate for the changes necessary to ensure that Ontario’s educational system is equitable for all students,” said United Counties of SDG CAO Tim Simpson.
The presentations will be broadcast live on the United Counties of SD&G YouTube channel from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The keynote speaker for the event will be Paul Bennett, author and Director of the Schoolhouse Institute and Adjunct Professor of Education at Dalhousie University who will also be taking part in a roundtable discussion after the conclusion of presentations. The rountable discussion will be moderated by Erik Lockhart of Queen’s University.
Very proud of @SDGCounties Council for sponsoring this event.@KgardnerSD and I are presenting on behalf of SDG.
Followed by these great speakers:@marcusryanzorra & @doug_reycraft on behalf of @csaont @Arleie‘s perspective on TVDSB rural ed task force
Keynote: @Educhatter https://t.co/wu7rUR9Err— Stephanie Jaworski (@StephJaworski) January 11, 2022
