Timely Topics Addressed at EMSB Parent Conference

More than 300 parents spent a Saturday morning and afternoon learning about a whole series of topics and issues that were relevant to the world of parenting recently. The English Montreal School Board’s (EMSB) second annual Parent Conference held at the Grandes Prairies Vocational facility in St. Leonard was a big success.

Sponsored by the EMSB and hosted by the EMSB Parents Committee, the conference was chaired by Parent Commissioner Norm Gharibian. A total of 21 distinctive workshops dealing with a variety of related topics were grouped in three separate programming block. Parents in attendance chose their preferred sessions in advance. They were led by a roster of educators, consultants, therapists, pathologists and experts.

 “This conference will help you learn more about how we handle these bundles of joy we call children, because you are the people who know your children best, and are the best suited to understand their needs,” said EMSB Chair Angela Mancini, who delivered the opening address at the conference. The first block of morning workshops dealt with the following topics: Despina Vassilou and Renee St. Pierre focused on stress and anxiety in elementary school children, in which they defined the difference between anxiety and stress, what causes them and how can parents help them cope with it; special education consultant Sarah Lynch outlined the many resources, activities and support services that are available for parents who have children with special needs; Greg Frank of E2 Adventures spoke about how children can achieve student success with the help of Quebec’s leading visionaries, innovators, entrepreneurs and scientists; Serge Beliveau of the Learning Partnership and wellness and mindfulness teacher Samantha Haas offered parents special tools that will help them optimize their time management skills, as well as find a balance and prioritize themselves with their families; social worker Genevieive Watier and social work technician Caitlin Murphy showed the different methods and services parents can use to help them cope with dividing their time between caring for their children and their aging parents at the same time; Rhonda Boucher of the English Parents’ Committee Association explained about the role of parents in the Quebec Educational system and governance within; Carolina Toteda talked about how LEARN’s free evening online tutoring and homework service can help elementary and high school students with their homework and studying habits in the comfort of their own home; EMSB Transitions Advisor Miriam Furfaro explained about the numerous opportunities the EMSB’s Adult Education and Vocational Services (AEVS) can offer students after they graduate from high school.

In the second round of morning workshops, Caroline Phaneuf, a communications & marketing consultant for the Shriners Hospitals for Children and an EMSB parent, spoke about the different types of bullying that affects over a million Canadian students every week and what parents can do to prevent and stop it, and she was accompanied by Jeffrey, a 19-year-old student and Shriners patient, who related his story of how he overcame bullying due to his physical disability; EMSB violence prevention and health promotion consultant Daphna Leibovici dealt with the issue of sexting, and how parents can keep their children safe online and on their electronic devices, and how they can make sensible choices for both; EMSB arts education consultant Nicolas Doyon offered several easy techniques on how children can overcome stage fright and become an effective public speaker through storytelling; EMSB Assistant Director or Education and Technology Services  Luigi Di Filippo spoke about how to protect one’s self and streamline communications in a world of online everything and a never ending bombardment of e-mails; EMSB speech-language pathologist Carol Jazzar provided parents of younger children with several strategies and activities that promotes oral language, vocabulary building and early literacy skills; school-based occupational therapists Erica Di Marino and Emma Brown discussed the role of the occupational therapist at the elementary level, and spoke about the developmental milestones of fine motor skills that affect elementary school level students; Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) consultants Tania Piperni and Vanessa Too gave helpful advice on how parents with ASD children can create clear home routines, visuals, schedules and other useful tools that will make life easier for both the child and their family.

The afternoon session of workshops included drug abuse prevention consultant Sandrine Aschour, who spoke about cannabis, its history, how it’s used and misused, and how parents can talk to their children about this controversial topic; Giacinto Spina from Canadian RoboCup Junior dealt with how robotics is being increasingly used in schools when it comes to math, science, writing, speech and emotional intelligence. As well, there was a series of ReMix sessions, where parents got the opportunity to suggest a number of topics that they would like to discuss, and impromptu sessions were put together by conference organizers with like-minded individuals to deal with the suggested topics in question.

The 2018 EMSB Parent Conference also offered something special for parents who brought their children with them, in which a separate space was provided for children between the ages of 6 six to 12 to work on a variety of Lego and STEAM-oriented projects. The activities were courtesy of Bricks 4 Kidz, an organization that offers exciting, hands-on programs where children between the ages of 3 and 13 can learn, build and play with Lego bricks.