a history of curriculum services canada
a history of curriculum services canada
a history of curriculum services canada
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
X. 2000<br />
Contacts and Contracts - and Website News<br />
The year began with a meeting with the Minister <strong>of</strong> Education, Janet Ecker. Both the Executive<br />
Director and the President <strong>of</strong> CSC attended. The purpose <strong>of</strong> this meeting was to inform the<br />
Minister <strong>of</strong> the organizational changes in CSC, to document the positive track record in review<br />
<strong>services</strong>, and to determine the status <strong>of</strong> the Learning Resources Policy (formerly Circular 14),<br />
with a promotional push for OCC’s continuing active role in the implementation <strong>of</strong> this policy.<br />
It was indicated that the Learning Resource Policy, after three years <strong>of</strong> development, was now<br />
finally in the process <strong>of</strong> being written.<br />
Also in January, contacts were made with Bibliocentre, a not-for-pr<strong>of</strong>it organization that<br />
manages the acquisition and distribution <strong>of</strong> Community College textbooks across Ontario, with<br />
the idea that Bibliocentre would fulfill orders that CSC anticipated receiving if it partnered in a<br />
point venture with Central Store, an electronic order management system that kept an inventory<br />
<strong>of</strong> school supplies and resources.<br />
The bid for CSC to manage the reviews <strong>of</strong> Health and Life Skills materials for Alberta Learning<br />
(Ministry <strong>of</strong> Education), K to 10, was also submitted in January, after extensive consultation and<br />
reviews <strong>of</strong> items and appropriate fees. Unfortunately, it was not accepted.<br />
Confirmation from the Ministry came in January for the contract to prepare for the extension <strong>of</strong><br />
about 24 partial secondary Course Pr<strong>of</strong>iles to full course pr<strong>of</strong>iles. Further contracts, tied to the<br />
Grade 11 Course Pr<strong>of</strong>ile Process, were mentioned at this time and confirmed in June.<br />
A central purchasing concept, using an active in-house s<strong>of</strong>tware management system, was<br />
actively promoted in the new year, with presentations made to the Education Improvement<br />
Commission, the Purchasing Manager <strong>of</strong> Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, and the<br />
Catholic Purchasing Consortium. Inquiries were also received from the Halton-Peel Purchasing<br />
Consortium. Plans to continue these presentations throughout the province were seen as a vital<br />
marketing strategy, given the proposed change in purchasing philosophy. Encouraging praise for<br />
the project was received from the EIC co-chairs, Dave Cooke and Anne Vanstone, both <strong>of</strong> whom<br />
promised to promote the scheme in their reports. Discussions also took place with the Canadian<br />
Association <strong>of</strong> School Administrators (CASA) to explore the possibility <strong>of</strong> a partnership for the<br />
unrolling <strong>of</strong> the central purchasing system across Canada.<br />
As part <strong>of</strong> a campaign to promote the new pan-Canadian service and website facilities, a<br />
corporate launch date was established for February 29, 2000. As a follow-up on the promotional<br />
side, an outside consultant was hired to conduct focus groups to establish the corporate impact<br />
and impressions <strong>of</strong> the new organizations, and to solicit responses to the new website design.<br />
©2008 Curriculum Services Canada 52