Chilliwack – In the summer of 2016 Premier Christy Clark tasked Parliamentary Secretary Linda Larson to work with the education sector, the public and community stakeholder groups, as well as Donna Barnett, the Minister of State for Rural Economic Development, to create a Rural Education Strategy by the summer of 2017. The purpose of this engagement is to explore rural school funding and educational practices, as well as the role educational programs and schools play in rural communities across the province.

The first phase of the engagement, which included an online discussion and a technical survey are now closed as of January 9, 2017. You can read the archived online discussion here.

Open House on Rural Education

Starts: Thursday, January 26th, 2017 – 6:00pm

Ends: Thursday, January 26th, 2017 – 8:00pm

A Conversation about Rural Education

at the Neighbourhood Learning Centre

The next phase is to receive stakeholder submissions by January 31, 2017. These will be posted to this site once received.

Also, over the next few months, several community open houses are taking place for the Parliamentary Secretary and/or Ministry of Education staff to speak directly with parents and interested stakeholders. The purpose of the regional open houses is to explore rural funding and educational practices, as well as the role education programs and schools play in rural communities across the province. These regional open houses aim to gather feedback from families and community members through an open dialogue.

Everyone is welcome to attend.  The first 30-45 minutes of each meeting will be an open house format, where light refreshments will be served.  The remaining portion of the meeting will be a more formal question and answer format with Parliamentary Secretary Linda Larson and/or Ministry of Education staff.

You are invited to share your thoughts on the following discussion questions at the open houses:

• Discussion 1: What is your definition of a rural school?
• Discussion 2: What are the positive impacts in the community?
• Discussion 3: How are schools being used?
• Discussion 4: Share your rural education story

If you are unable to attend, you may comment on a draft discussion paper posted here in the coming weeks and can also submit feedback by email to Rural.Education@gov.bc.ca

Please join us at the Neighbourhood Learning Centre on January 26, 2017 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.