a history of curriculum services canada

March was full of activities geared to implementing the proposed Board membership and policy
changes, and finalizing the necessary By-Law revisions. Included in the changes were: 1) the
expansion of the number of directors from six to nine; 2) a new quorum (i.e., majority vote) of
five out of the nine directors; 3) a requirement that attendance be regular, with directors who
missed three consecutive meetings being removed from the board; and 4) the introduction of bimonthly
meetings, with two new committees - Curriculum and Business - meeting in alternative
months, and the chairs of such committees chosen by the Board. The rationale for some of these
changes was the need to establish some continuity on the board in order to ensure a collective
memory, which would in turn preserve the history of the organization.
OCC presented its Business Plan to various groups. A presentation to the OPSBA Committee on
Program in March met with encouraging responses. Almost every member of the group ordered
a copy of The Evaluator, and a suggestion followed that a presentation be made to the executive
of each Member Association to explain the new direction of OCC.
A major city school board was approached in March with the idea of a free cost assessment of its
current curriculum marketing operations. It was chosen because of its quality curriculum and the
fact that it performed its own marketing functions. The purpose of the assessment was to
determine the extent to which OCC, as a centralized organization, could provide a more costefficient
service. A more rural board was eventually contacted for the same reasons.
April - June
The best news in April was a confirmation from the Ministry for another year of funding. The
amount of money requested ($150, 000.00) was approved and the agreement was effective on 1
April 1997, continuing until 31 March 1998. This grant entitled OCC to centralize access to
curriculum resources for school boards and educators across the country; evaluate and/or train
educators to evaluate resource materials for consistency with Ministry curriculum policy and
guidelines; and provide curriculum support services and develop new products to assist
curriculum implementation and/or development of classroom- ready materials. The agreement
was subject to the requirement that OCC continue its efforts to become a self-sufficient
organization by entering into appropriate partnerships.
OCC’s charitable status was also confirmed at this time by Revenue Canada, meaning that it
could now seek corporate sponsorship. Thus, the focus on fundraising strategies continued into
April with a search for possible business representatives and organizational partnerships.
Informative meetings with directors of various fundraising organizations led to further ideas
about potential qualifications of suitable directors from the business community. The idea of
having a job description for such a director, with expectations of the position outlined, was
strongly advised. It was also suggested that new directors be selected from three different areas
including corporate banking, publishing, and the world of community volunteering.
1997
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