Policy for stronger communication on upcoming events shot down by school board

School District 57’s Board of Trustees met publicly for the second time this school year tonight (Tuesday).

The scheduled item that garnered the most conversation from the board was a policy recommendation brought forward by Board Chair Rachael Weber centered around improving communication between schools and parents when it comes to presentations to students.

Timely communication was something all the trustees could agree is a good thing, however there was some debate on if communication to parents around presentations and events held at specific schools is a board governance responsibility or an individual school’s administrative responsibility.

“I question why, as a board of education, we are making that policy when I feel it is an operational action,” Trustee Shar McCrory said.

“I believe we have a communications policy for a reason,” Weber responded. “I think it is important communication goes out to families in a respectful timeline.”

Without giving a specific example, Weber said parents are occasionally told about a Monday morning event or presentation on a Friday afternoon. After the meeting, she told the media that very thing has frustrated her as a parent over the years.

She said this does not give families enough time to make sure their child can attend – if they want to – in the event they have another commitment like a doctors appointment, or conversely if a parent does not want their child to take part in a presentation and needs to arrange other plans.

Weber suggested putting calendars of events on school websites that have this information 30 days in advance.

Trustee Erica McLean agreed communication can always be better, but she called the policy reactionary.

“When I look at this rational, it is about one thing. It is specific to presentations. It feels reactionary, and I don’t want us to be reactive,” she said.

Trustee Bob Thompson threw the conversation to Pam Spooner, the acting Superintendent, asking her if she thought the issue one of governance or administration.

She agreed with the majority of the board, saying “I think [the policy] would be a mistake.”

“We hire teachers and principals to do the job and we need to be able to trust them,” she explained.

Trustee Sarah Holland also echoed that sentiment, and said she would not be supporting the policy.

After these other trustees questioned the policy, Weber again took the mic.

“To me this is simple transparency. Parents deserve to know what their kids are doing,” she said. “This motion is not to ban presentations, it is to establish a way that parents can be involved in knowing what is happening. We are not an ‘act first, ask forgiveness later’ school board are we?”

“We deserve to know if a presentation is coming in, whether or not we as parents are going to agree to have our child dropped off,” she continued. “We can’t sit back and let people do what they want and then come back to us and say ‘oh, I’m sorry, maybe I should have listened to you, but can you forgive me now?’ It doesn’t work that way.”

Weber finished by saying “This was a very lighthearted [policy], so just imagine the conversations that are going to take place later.”

The policy did not pass.

After the meeting, Weber told media she believes this policy will be brought forward again, “it is not done. It is not completed… maybe in a different format.”

“When it comes to presentations, it does families justice to have adequate time for planning around this,” she said. “We will keep pushing forward for parental rights.”

Weber also spoke with the media about the search for a new, full time superintendent, recruitment and retention, and Prince George District Teachers’ Association President Daryl Beauregard calling on her to step down as board chair.

That will be published in a separate article tomorrow (Wednesday).