Results of the Three Kitchen Forums

The minutes from the first round of seventeen meetings were distilled into a six page report that was mailed to every household in the Margarees. The report presented several significant outcomes:

• A common resolve was articulated; "the people of Margaree are resolved to continue primary to grade twelve education in our own community.
• We must improve education in Margaree
• A single Primary to Grade 12 school in Margaree is our best long-term option for community- based education.
• Two models for running the school emerged:
  1. retain and enhance the current education system
  2. establish our own Community-Operated Public School
• A second round of meetings is needed to further consider the options.

Twenty-one meetings comprised "Forum II" and each neighbourhood elected a delegate to attend a day-long planning workshop. The minutes from Forum II were reviewed and organized in terms of "concerns, appreciations and needs" and these were circulated among the participants. Each delegate was given a copy of the minutes from her/his meeting and instructed to represent those opinions at the workshop. The workshop analyzed the critical issues, set priorities and identified opportunities. As a result of the day's work, the following resolution was passed:

"that the Margaree Community, through the Margaree Education Coalition, prepare a strategic plan for education in the Margarees that describes the enhancement of the current education system, to be administered by the Strait Regional School Board; and that this Strategic Plan should have the capability to establish a Community-Operated Public School, to be administered by an empowered Margaree School Council,"

Following the Forum II planning workshop, the Margaree Education Coalition generated a "Draft Proposal Outline" for its strategy for education, and prepared to receive community input. The third round of the kitchen forum process consisted of fifteen meetings. Forum III participants used the "Draft Proposal Outline" as a basis for discussion. Many useful ideas were expressed on school pro- grams, extra-curricular activities, governance, maintenance and teaching resources. In addition, several critical concerns about the regional school board and the Margaree Education Coalition were revealed. The "Forum III Report" was mailed to all homes in Margaree.

The three rounds of kitchen forum meetings and the planning workshop succeeded in assessing the education needs of the Margaree community in a participatory and inclusive manner. The progression from general concerns of the first round through to the specific issues of designing a strategy for education in Margaree in the third round gave both direction and credibility to the work of the Margaree Education Coalition.