Five schools lacking a headmaster at their service center
In a recent development, the appointment process for director generals in Quebec's school service centers has undergone a change, as explained by Martin Maltais, a professor at the Higher Education Secretariat. According to Maltais, the new process requires director generals to be appointed following a recommendation from the minister.
Martin Maltais, along with Normand Lessard, the executive director of the Association des directions générales scolaires du Québec, does not find it unusual that there are numerous director general positions to be filled. Lessard specifies that it is usually assistant directors general who hold the fort during interim periods.
Despite the school year already having begun, Maltais is not concerned that the positions remain unfilled, as they are filled on an interim basis to maintain leadership continuity. The ongoing recruitment challenges and the need for a thorough selection process have led to the extension of the application period until September 5, and in some cases, until September 26.
Normand Lessard considers the current situation as "quite exceptional," with thirteen school service centers starting the year without a general director. According to Lessard, more than half of the members have "arrived in their positions in the last four years."
Last year, Sylvain Raclette, the association's president, indicated that 40% of CSS general directors had left their positions. As of Tuesday, one position is still vacant in the Centre de services scolaire des Chênes, and one out of five school service centers in Quebec still doesn't have a general director.
Ten of the vacant positions are due to retirement, and the government had previously announced cuts of $570 million for school service centers last June, only to reverse course a month later.
General directors now have a new role: making their organizations more accountable, a role previously held by the elected presidents of school commissions.
In a separate piece of news, the general director of Publications BLD, which publishes "Les Débrouillards" among others, passed away on Sunday. This fact is not related to the previous bullet points.
The Secretariat of Higher Education has not responded to inquiries about the number of applications they have received and why the positions remain unfilled during the summer. Normand Lessard does not find it concerning if an interim lasts more than a year, but a prolonged interim would indicate a problem, according to him.
