There has been a fair bit of discussion about the role and relevancy of education trustees in Ontario lately. There are many questions, if not confusion, about their role and purpose. The topic can get quite complex and it is not an easy discussion. I suspect there is something unique about the culture of every single board of trustees that is in place at each of Ontario’s 72 school boards. I don’t know the answers regarding what they should be doing, or if they should exist or not. How can an unbiased discussion about alternatives occur? How can the discussion be kept to be about the role, and not personalities and politics?
One argument I often read and hear in favour of keeping trustees is that they are the “voice” of parents and the community — that an important link or “level” would be lost without them. I recently read an article that suggested that the newly established ombudsman oversight of school boards may not be necessary because trustess are part of the support network for parents. There is a guidebook about the elected role, as well as a new governance guide which can be accessed from the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association’s website here. These guides do mention school councils and parent involvement committees in regards to how a trustee can be connected to their communities — how it is done can vary. From the 2014 Governance Guide, Ch. 4, The Role of School Board Trustees, under “Political Accountability” (p. 43):
Individual trustees interpret “representing their community” in different ways. Some community members expect a trustee to be very active, others do not. Because Ontario’s communities are so diverse, the job of school trustee varies widely. What all trustees do have in common is serving the community as elected representatives while focusing on the primary task of acting as members of a board that makes policy decisions, oversees curriculum and program delivery and fulfils its responsibilities as an employer.”
Chapter 11 is titled and covers, “Working with School Council, Parent Involvement Committees, and Communities”. There is one specific section with suggestions as to how they “can” do so (I am uncertain if they must):
How Trustees Can Support and Promote the Parent and Community Voice
Trustees can support the work of school councils and parent involvement committees by:
- promoting the value of school councils and PICs to the community;
- facilitating communication among school councils within the trustee’s area;
- helping to establish contacts between councils and their communities and between councils and the board’s PIC;
- providing a communication link among school councils, the PIC and the board;
- ensuring that the board establishes policies for school councils, in consultation with school councils;
- ensuring that school councils are able to provide input into the development of board policies related to the areas listed in Ontario Regulation 612/00;
- ensuring the board reports back to school councils or the PIC on the actions taken by the board in response to advice provided by school councils or the PIC (Note: Boards are not bound by school council or PIC recommendations, but they are required to report back on actions taken or not taken.);
- evaluating the board’s method of reporting back to school councils;
- making school councils and the PIC aware of relevant board policies;
- ensuring that all those who are involved with school councils and the PIC work within the provisions of the regulations and any applicable board policies; and
- promoting and encouraging collaborative relationships among the board, school councils, the PIC, and the broader school community.
It is a long list, but there is a focus on communication and consultation. While there is a requirement for one trustee to be a member on the school board level PIC, the role they are to have isn’t clearing specified in the PIC regulations. They cannot be members on a school council and their role and expected relationship with these school level committees seems less specified. Also, in the list above, one bullet suggests that they can ensure that all those involved with school councils and the PIC work “within the provisions of the regulations and any applicable board policies“. Do they? Should they? Is it okay if they don’t, or only connect with those committees that do, or are able to do? A few of my previous posts have highlighted the conversations and debates about the roles of school councils and what they should be doing. If these committees are the suggested avenue for trustees to represent parent voice and facilitate communication, how should they be supported to also be an effective representation of parents? Are there other avenues for trustees to do this effectively and broadly?
Are there some actions on this list that are more effective in supporting “the work” of school councils and PICs than others? Is the list fair? Honest answers might be difficult, but those are my questions in regards to one aspect of the role.
SheilaSpeaking 
Feb 05, 2015 @ 21:54:30
Sheila, this was a very interesting post indeed. While I do not categorize, I must say that my trustee back in 2006, when approached with a very serious safety concern, suggested that I should “trust your school board to do the right thing”. Nothing changed and the end result was a very academically, smiley, goofy grade 8 student turning into a youth at risk. He was diagnosed with PTSD and had suicidal ideologies for a very long time. I trusted by school board to do the right thing for 3 very long years. In reality, I did the wrong thing. I continued to send him to school. My trustee did none of the things listed in your post. Had she done so….well lets just say my child’s outcome may have resulted in a positive manner as opposed to the one it actually did. School board policy derived from MOE PPM’s can be ambiguous at best, specially if they are not strictly adhered to. A Freedom of Information request I obtained confirmed this. Having said all of this, I am acquainted with some fantastic school board trustees and can only say that politics are a mess and a deterrent for what should be taking place.
Feb 06, 2015 @ 10:51:34
Thank you for the feedback and adding your insightful thoughts from your experiences! Well described re: a mess and a deterrent… unfortunately.
Feb 06, 2015 @ 10:51:47
Sheila,
As always, a wonderful article.
I particularly focused in on “Also, in the list above, one bullet suggests that they can ensure that all those involved with school councils and the PIC work “within the provisions of the regulations and any applicable board policies“. Do they? Should they?”
This quote led me to the question of … what exactly is the role of the Director of Education?
Is this the flow?
Minister of Education —-> Director of Education—->Board Trustees—->CPIC/PIC—–>School/Parent Councils
Do the trustees answer to the director, are they the conduit of the director to the schools and if the question is yes then why have CPIC or PIC’s at all because based on what you have written it seems everyone all the way down to the parent/school councils cannot “rock the boat” so to speak. Seems redundant to have the PIC/CPIC and Trustees as they seem confined to the decisions from above. If they’re all following the same path then whats the point? This screams no diversity.
Maybe the future of our boards is no future at all, maybe one board is what it should boil down to where the so called directors of education are the only conduit between the Minister of Education and the schools, no additional middle man trustees so to speak. Directors only are given regions and they alone manage it. Could be interesting.
Feb 06, 2015 @ 18:44:36
Hi Lisa, it is the other way around in fact. The Director of Education is hired by and reports to trustees. Trustees set the policies of the board so are in a good position to help parent/school councils navigate the system and can directly affect change if current policies are barriers.
Feb 07, 2015 @ 08:55:10
I did not know this. Good information TKO. So essentially the trustees make the decisions for the schools, shove it to the director and she shoves it off to the principals who shoves it off to us…..hmmmmm……something smelly does travel downhill! 🙂
Feb 06, 2015 @ 20:25:17
Hi TKO – this is only subject to whether or not the parent/school council has a strong trustee and not one that spends his/her time pacifying the parent. I do not wish to come across as negative, and I repeat, I do not categorize, but I have had hundreds of parents contact me since 2009 because they find themselves on a hamster wheel while trying to navigate the system. These are not “off the wall” parents – they are police officers, doctors, social workers, and teachers, to name a few, who are so frustrated with the system and the inaction of their designated school board trustee. Parents shouldn’t have to go through these kind of motions. My trustee was not proactive. She was a school board cheerleader. In fact, I had two other trustees contact me to advise what they would have done differently, but unfortunately they couldn’t because they were not in my zone.
Feb 06, 2015 @ 21:30:49
Trustees, in turn, are hired by the public. Unfortunately sometimes a little known afterthought during a municipal election. Need more knowledge of and support for good candidates. I hope yours was voted out!
Feb 06, 2015 @ 22:05:04
TKO – I hear you and understand but for the last ten years the same trustees have been voted in. There has been absolutely no change. I spent six years on parent council at the elementary level and it was always the same parents who attended meetings as well. Same old….same old.
Feb 07, 2015 @ 08:53:07
And therein lies the problem! We recently had a trustee that retired after 33 years. It’s ridiculous that there is no regulation for this. Trustee positions should only be held for a maximum of 4 concurrent years. Take a year off if you like then try and come back…if we really wanted you there we’d vote you back in. Voter turnout was pathetic in our district this past election. I’m surprised we were able to see a change.
Feb 07, 2015 @ 12:39:59
Good points, all! Does this all point to apathy, for both parent and trustee participation, or are there other reasons for the avoidance of these roles?
Feb 07, 2015 @ 12:47:33
While trustees make some decisions and vote on policy, is there variance from board to board in how much they are involved in the planning of initiatives? It must be tough for them to know what to devote their time to as well, especially if they have other jobs.
Feb 07, 2015 @ 13:00:04
On another note… my blog stats tell me that people have been visiting this post, but I have noticed that it is not getting shared out on social media by Ont. educators or trustees, compared to other topics I blog about. I don’t know what to make of that right now… might be various reasons. I was reluctant to blog about the topic as well. It could be easy not to care and decide not to care about this topic, but I appreciate the dialogue so far!
Feb 07, 2015 @ 17:28:43
just to follow up… a few trustees have been sharing this post today.
Feb 07, 2015 @ 19:20:30
I would love to have their thoughts.
Feb 07, 2015 @ 16:21:07
It has been Now. You find it confusing, so do we. How far does the communication to school councils and PICs get disbursed? Whether if it comes from the trustee or administration if it does not leave the committee/council room is it any good? Who has the ear of the parents? Who has the ear of the trustee?
Feb 07, 2015 @ 21:09:15
Good questions, Robert. hmm.. barriers to communication or selective listening? The P. for Ed. provincial report on PICs to be released on Monday might help these questions.
Feb 09, 2015 @ 15:18:53
Here is a few interesting findings from our PIC report:
– even though PIC regulations requires at least one trustee be appointed to PIC, 6 boards reported no trustee rep
– communication was definitely a hot topic. Several PICs raised concerns about boards not allowing access to school council emails. That would certainly make it difficult to fulfill their mandate to “communicate with and support school councils”
Robert raises a concern that I too have – when the chain of communication is long (eg. ministry-board-principal-school council- parents) there are multiple places where it can break, and the information doesn’t get to the people who may need it.
The full report on PICs is available at http://www.peopleforeducation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/PIC-Report-2015-WEB.pdf
Feb 11, 2015 @ 13:27:01
Thanks for commenting and adding the report here, Jacqui! Glad you beat me to it! I am a little concerned that the circulation of the report hasn’t been that wide yet… or maybe I am just not aware that it is. I hope it helps increased understanding of the current reality and leads to good outcomes.
Your concern sounds a bit like Lisa C’s in her comment: “why have PICs at all, if….”
Feb 11, 2015 @ 13:59:53
Unfortunately, the media is focused on immunizations and school closings right now, so they weren’t interested in PICs. It is hard to predict how it will go – we’ll keep putting it out there and hopefully more people will start circulating it to their networks.
Feb 25, 2015 @ 22:38:06
Apr 27, 2017 @ 17:50:53
Apr 29, 2017 @ 11:51:39