The Bluewater District School Board is moving ahead with plans to implement recommendations from advisors appointed last school year as part of efforts to improve procedures, communications, and transparency.
The recommendations come from reports drafted by Geoff Williams and Ross Parry, two advisors appointed by the Ministry of Education.
Recommendations the board can implement immediately include restructuring board meeting agendas so business gets looked after faster, spending more time on planning, and improving communications methods.
Suggestions that will be referred to existing or new subcommittees include changing the by-laws to hold two meetings a month in the evening, instead of the current one daytime meeting per month, as well as policies regarding the role of administration, and the executive committee.
Board Chair Jennifer Yenssen says the board is taking action on items it can move quickly on, but developing new policies takes time.
One of the committees that will look after the long-term recommendations and set a timeline for implementation is a new committee made up of all board committee chairs.
Yenssen believes the Chair’s Committee will have a major role to play and isn’t concerned about the implementation process getting bogged down in committee discussion.
She was a member of a subcommittee looking at board by-laws over the summer and says they found the work went faster with four people involved in the discussion instead of the entire 11-member board.
Trustee Ross King says it’s important to get started with the implementation process instead of debating it.
He thinks as things develop, it will become obvious what is important, and what isn’t.
However, the Chair’s Committee will not have the official teeth it originally was supposed to have.
King was concerned about the amount of influence it could have and instead suggested it be an ad hoc committee only.
The board settled on the ad hoc option.
King says a committee is needed to look after specific things, but there are ramifications of an official Chair’s Committee that need to be discussed by the whole board first.