MANITOULIN—Rainbow District School Bird (RDSB) Trustee Larry Killens said he is worried that high level decisions made at the board level are not first going through the school councils—councils made up of parent representatives found at each of the Rainbow schools.
Mr. Killens explained that school councils are legislated by the Ministry of Education and are to work in concert with school administration “to bring to the table the wishes, concerns and suggestions” from the parents to the board.
Mr. Killens said that anything to do with the “delivery of education” must be made known to the councils by the board, but this, he says, is not happening, and points to motions regarding downsizing, school sizes and curriculum that should all be brought before school councils.
“The new (RDSB) governance manual (which defines the role of the board) did not go before school councils—they had no input and in no way were they consulted,” Trustee Killens said. “The director said they were, but they weren’t.” He also pointed to the announcement by the board that A.B. Ellis Public School would move into the Espanola High School and the lack of consultation in that North Shore school community.
School council meetings are always held with the school’s principal and when he raised his concerns with Manitoulin Secondary School Principal Laurie Zhanow, the principal explained that the school council only meets quarterly so information is sometimes not passed on in a timely manner, he said. “With respect to Principal Zhanow, maybe we had better change the amount of times the school councils meet.”
“School councils are not just nice to have, they are important to have,” he added.
[pullquote]“School councils are not just nice to have, they are important to have,” he added.[/pullquote]
RDSB Chair Doreen Dewar said Mr. Killens has expressed these concerns at board meetings, but she has yet to hear of an actual school council with any concerns. “We have heard from nobody,” she said.
In terms of school councils not learning of board motions or other board affairs until after-the fact, Ms. Dewar said the trustee is likely correct on this point in that many of the school councils only meet quarterly. As for his concerns with the governance model, the chair said there had been two months between the first reading and the motion that passed the document into policy for anyone to make an objection, adding that the policies contained within the manual “are not carved in stone and can be changed at any time.” The policies have been reduced to 16 in number, but there have been no changes, she said. “We reformatted them and refocused them on student learning.”
“School councils are there to consult with parents,” the chair continued. “If there’s a problem, program or endeavour, they would advise the principal. There is no school function that can function without the principal.”
“Trustees really don’t have a role to play with school councils,” Ms. Dewar added. “They are an advisory body mandated by the ministry. Trustees are usually welcomed, but should be working as a liaison between the parents and the principal. Anything they (the school council) want to bring to the board must be done through the principal.”
On top of the school councils, there is also a parent involvement committee, usually made up of the heads of each of the school councils that meets once a month in Sudbury, or in Manitoulin’s case, via teleconference.
“He (Mr. Killens) is entitled to his opinion,” Chair Dewar said, “but it is an opinion of one. It would appear that there is nobody else that is supportive of it.”
As for A.B. Ellis, Ms. Dewar said the school councils in that community have been very supportive of the decision. “I even got a letter from the past chair calling it the best possible plan,” she said, noting that the RDSB also held public hearings on the matter, with another scheduled for May 15.
“The board of trustees is a democratic process—we’re not appointed, we’re elected, and people expect you to make decisions for them,” the chair said. “Where would we get if we had to hold a public meeting on every decision? At the board level we also vote and democracy weighs in again. The decisions are not made lightly.”
