Message from the President ahead of the elections

Dear parents of LFI Tokyo,

Once again this year, FLT, the LFI Tokyo Family Association, will be the only candidate for the election of your representatives in the different school councils. As the current crisis has shown, the extraordinary diversity of cultural, professional and family situations makes it very difficult to represent all conflicting interests. Nevertheless, we are unified by the expectations that our kids will receive the best possible education and as parents we will be better heard as a united lobby group. We are all parents like you and all volunteers working for the common good to improve the studying conditions of our children. Over the years, with your support we have been able to constructively engage with the direction to build consensus and made progress in many areas. We also have many ongoing projects for the coming school year. 

Making parents’ concerns and difficulties heard during the COVID crisis management: (6 exceptional councils, almost weekly informal meetings with the management, parent surveys, support for families facing difficulties). Our association is a member of the FAPEE (which regroups the parents’ associations of French high schools abroad). As such, we were able to bring your questions and problems to the attention of our parliamentary representatives and to the FAPEE. On behalf of the members, we donated ¥340,000 of the association’s own funds as well as the proceeds from the 2019 raffle (¥560,000) to the Caisse de Solidarité (Solidarity Fund), which is usually used to finance school outings/travel. We defended the idea that this money could be used to help families for whom scholarships were inaccessible or insufficient during this crisis.

Ensuring the future of the high school for all students, from kindergarten to after graduation. The FLT worked with LFI Tokyo on an in-depth reform of languages from primary school, with the introduction of balanced French-English and French-Japanese curricula, opening access to the SIA and SIJ international sections in CE1 . Recurring questions from parents on this subject show that the links between these choices and post-baccalaureate orientations are not clear enough. These questions and the post-baccalaureate orientation in general remain one of the major ongoing projects. Next year, we will collaborate with the lycee to increase students’ access to Japanese and international universities, after “baccalauréat”.

Participate in the school-extension-committee:  The project to extend the school’s campus is critical in order to be able to accommodate all new families and implement the reforms in foreign language instruction in the Primary school. We will represent the interests of all parents on these issues and to be informing you on the progress of this project.

Keep school fees under control. For many families, choosing LFIT means making a 15-year commitment. A steady increase of school fees in a context of stable salaries is not sustainable. Through our participation in the School Executive Board, we make sure that the costs are in line with the expectations of the families in terms of the educational offer.  As members of the FAPEE, we have obtained broader criteria for scholarship allocation, to answer the new difficulties faced by  families. In 2020/21, we are committed  to keep school fees under control while preparing the future of the LFIT. We will also demand a comprehensive assessment  of the Covid crisis, to draw upon this experience to achieve a better response in case of a future crisis (in terms of organisation, communication, teaching tools…). 

We have established a constructive working relationship with the management team which was renewed at the beginning of last school year. The mutual trust  allows us to make sure that your questions and critics are heard and acted upon whenever necessary. To maintain this legitimacy, we need your participation in the upcoming elections, to be held from October 13 to 15. Again this year, there are many new volunteers among the FLT candidates, with particular attention to gender parity and to faithfully reflecting the diversity of the families. The higher the number of votes, the better the voice of the parents will be heard in the school councils.  

Please vote and have people around you vote, each parent has one vote for the School Council (“Conseil d’Établissement”); Parents of Primary school pupils have an additional  second vote for the Primary School Council (“Conseil d’École”).

With regards,

Thomas Launey, président des FLT

 

FLT-Fapee : LFI Tokyo Families Association