Please take note of the enclosed information on the upcoming Annual General Meeting, "Empowering Parents on School Councils", in Corner Brook on April 26-28, 2002.

Make plans to attend!!

Some of you may have seen NLFSC President, Denise Pike's interview with Craig Jackson in The Telegram on Sunday, February 17/02. Under the heading, "Parents Fear Repeat of Fall Disruption", Denise spoke regarding the potential teacher strike and urged the NLTA and Treasury Board to continue negotiating until they reach a deal in the dispute. The NLFSC has taken the position that we must speak out on behalf of children and their parents. In her interview Denise stated that students, particularly those in the areas where the support staff strike occurred, can't afford to lose any more educational time. You may recall that during the NAPE employees strike, NLFSC also spoke for the rights of the students in media interviews and in meetings with Department of Education, school board and NAPE officials.

If your School Council would like to develop a plan of action in the event of a teacher strike, one of your options is to take a pro-active approach in anticipation of the strike rather than having to react when and if a strike occurs. One course of action could be a letter writing campaign to political leaders. This could be done by the School Council or you could encourage your individual parents to write letters to Government, i.e. the Premier, the Minister of Education; to your local MHA's, and to the Union, i.e. the President of the NLTA. As well you could copy your letters to the Editor of your local papers. If you have other strategies that you would like to share with other member councils, please don't hesitate to let us know about them.

We know that the strike last fall affected a lot of you and you are probably just now getting to other issues. Please don't feel that you have missed the deadline and not respond. We are still interested in your thoughts on the above noted position papers. If you have not sent in your comments, please do so as soon as possible. If papers were not received, contact us for copies.

During March, Canada Book Day print materials will be mailed directly to schools and libraries.

Plans for the 2002 AGM continue. Enclosed with this update is a preliminary agenda, registration form, call for nominations for position of secretary, and other pertinent information.

Catherine Spinney has been appointed to the Executive as 1st Vice-President replacing Jane Haggie who has resigned. Hazel Hickey has been selected as the Executive Director replacing Eva Whitmore who left in December.