Voting Time!

Late Friday the school held elections for parent representatives to what is called the Counseil d'Administration.

This is a large group: Parents (I'm not sure how many representatives there are in total, but this year there are 5 openings from the College and 7 from the Lycee,) the Proviseur (head of school), her assistant, a delegate from the commune (here the 15th arrondissement,) several teachers/other administrators, a delegate from the building committee (the group responsible for the upkeep of the school,) student reps from each class (6th-12 grade.) This being France, the country where bureaucracy was born, it is easy to find exquisite detail on how this group works, who should be a member, how often it will meet, and how it works with other administrative groups, both at the school and within the city and country. In looking at the list, I am actually amazed that the director is able to do any productive work: it would seem that most of her time would be spent in meetings.

The overall goal of the CA is to provide an educational "plan," and then come up with the money to fund that plan. Apparently, there is some autonomy at the local level, which really surprises me - I had a vague idea that in the land of equalite et fonctionnaires that pretty much everything was top-down driven. I shall have to investigate that a little more. I suppose that explains why certain schools have certain extra-curricular activities that are different than others. So for example, here's a plan from one from Henri IV, located in one of the most "desired" school districts, the 5th arrondissement, (and consequently one of the most expensive places to live in the city.)  And another college in the 19th - one of the poorest places in the capital - looks like it doesn't have a plan. Certainly its website has little useful information. Alexandre's school is in the middle - not particularly good, but not the worst. (There are a couple of after-school projects including rock-climbing, hip-hop dancing. In-school projects include chorus (1x week during lunch, and a couple of field trips (5 days in the Lozere in early Sept. for the 7th grade class, a trip to see West Side Story in November...)

To return to the subject at hand: voting in France most often means voting for a political party and its platform of political promises rather than individual candidates. Before the election, each party will present its candidates in a specific order. Once the votes are tallied, the positions are allotted proportionally to the votes cast, and then the party will assign its allotted places in the order that the candidates were presented. Thus the name - proportional voting.  This is in contrast to how France elects its president, for the presidential race is one of the few where the voters vote for a specific candidate.  During this election, all candidates are on the first round ballot. Two weeks later, the top two vote-getters square off in a final vote that will declare one person the future president. This can lead to some interesting results: a couple of elections ago, in 2002, the two candidates facing off in the second round of voting were both from the right - Jacques Chirac (center right,) and  Jean Marie Le Pen (extreme right.) France is not an extreme country, particularly, although parties from either end certainly have representatives in various legislative bodies. This choice was problematic for the left. (Anecdotally, the French don't have an option for a write-in vote - the only protest is by not voting at all.) A decision was made that center right was less objectionable than far right, and consequently, the Socialist Party (PS) called on its members to vote for Chirac in order to prevent LePen from coming to power, and the result was an overwhelming victory for Chirac. (about 82% vs 18% of total votes cast, with about a 20 % abstention rate.)

The vote for the school's Conseil d'Administration, however, was by proportional - not direct - voting, and before the election, we received the position statements from the two parent groups proposing candidates.

One party, called PEEP,  is in favor of
- electing dynamic and committed parents who will be actively involved in the daily life of the school.
- making sure that the school invests in and maintains its historically strong language program (both living and ancient languages.)
- More field trips and developing  foreign exchanges/partnerships with schools outside France.
- Developing and investing in projects that will help students figure out what they will do later in life.

The other party, called FCPE , is in favor of
- improving social and learning environment (d'obtenir de meilleures conditions de vie et d'apprentissage, ameliorer le cadre de vie.)
- fighting excessive backpack weight.
- promoting balanced and inexpensive school lunches.
-  proactively preparing students for their future by bringing in professionals to meet students. (Rencontres etudes et metiers)

Both sound pretty good to me. As I have said in other posts, carrying around 10 kilos of books, and bouncing pieces of stale baguettes across the courtyard are not particularly conducive to a postive educational experience.  But I think that field trips will trump cafeteria food this fall. So, I take the piece of paper that says PEEP, put it into a small envelope, seal this envelope, and put it into another envelope. The second envelope asks me for my name and address, which I duly write on the front of the larger envelope. I give the envelope to A. who will put it in the voting urn (a big cardboard box) at school for me. And my civic duty for the day is done. But the million euro question is, once the votes are cast, and the election results known, how much influence will this group have with the school? And that question is international. Parents come and go. Teachers and administration stay.