Heads up parents — education advocacy conference
The good news is that there is going to be a parent education “advocacy” conference in the Greater Toronto Area on Saturday, April 26th, 2008.
Some background. Over the past year I have written several articles on the need for parents to be their own advocates when it comes to dealing with teachers, consultants and administrators in their children’s school board. You can read examples of those posts here and here. Yet, only recently did I find out that there is a parent advocacy association in Ontario and have no doubt, with parent and professional input, there could be similar organizations all across Canada.
In Ontario, it is called the “Ontario Association of Education Advocates” and it provides workshops, conferences and parent advocacy training. The April 26th, 2008 conference, for example, will be held at the Four Points Sheraton at 2501 Argentia Road in Mississauga. The keynote speaker will be Julian Falconer, the noted human rights lawyer and in the afternoon, there will be a number of different workshops available on such topics and issues as IEP’s, how to solve conflicts between home and school, becoming a successful reader, post-secondary transition programs and so on.
I’d highly recommend Ontario parents get involved in this association and if possible, take their training. Or, interested people from other provinces could attend to learn how to start up a similar association. I hope to attend this meeting myself and, if I can, I look forward to meeting many parents who visit here regularly.
Conference and registration information can be accessed through a PDF file at the OAEA website, as well as on my header bar. Parents can also get further information by e-mailing: help@oaea.ca
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