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BYLAW 9368  SD61Greater Victoria

PROCEDURE

100.00             In all meetings of the Board of Trustees, procedures shall be governed by Robert’s Rules of Order, except where provisions of the bylaws of the Board or the Schools Act may conflict, in which case the latter shall prevail.

The Record Off The Record is  my personal record of and  commentary on SD61 Board and  Standing Committee meetings. Official, approved  minutes are on the SD61 website, one  month after the meeting.

Sticky post: Motions and Trustee Voting Records  January 2012 – December 2015 (January – June 2016 to be added in August 2016). Motions may be shortened but retain essential information.

P1: Meeting Schedule /  Trustee  Appointments
P2: Board Meeting
P3: District 61 DPAC (aka VCPAC) Constitution excerpts / School Act re DPACs
P4: BCCPAC (British Columbia Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils) info (no school act basis for BCCPAC)

Meeting schedule here.   Meeting agendas posted on SD61 website Friday before the meeting. Board meetings are now audio and video recorded, though Standing Committees are not. (Under the Board of Education menu.) Next meeting: Monday, September 26, 7:30 : Board meeting.

SD61 Greater Victoria School District includes  students in Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Victoria, View Royal, parts of Saanich and the Highlands, and the Traditional Territories of the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.

A Policy Subcommittee has been formed to review Policies,  some of which have not been reviewed for several decades, some of which are redundant, and some of which are job descriptions and not Policy.

Trustees  are assigned by the Chair as members of one of the two standing committees, Education  Policy and Directions, and Operations Policy and Planning. Agenda setting is the prerogative of the Committee Chair, with input from senior administration.

Standing committees are the best opportunity for stakeholders, public, and partner groups to make their views known to Trustees as  Standing  Committee structure operates on less formal   Rules of Order than does the Board, ie. no need for a seconder for a motion, and a Trustee  can speak as many times as the Chair allows; members of the public and presenters can ask questions of each other and engage in dialogue.The question can’t be called in a standing committee, meaning debate can extend for some time. Most substantive debate on motions takes place at the standing committees.

Operations Policy and Planning Standing Committee: (until December 2016)
Chair Leonard; McNally, Paynter, Watters  (ex officio Loring-Kuhanga – vote but not counted for quorum)
Education  Policy and Directions:(until December 2016)
Chair Nohr; Ferris, Orcherton, Whiteaker (ex officio Loring-Kuhanga – vote but not counted for quorum)

For OPPs and Ed Policy,  “quorum is a majority of trustee members on the committee”.   So assigned Trustees are the ones who count for quorum = 3.

Policy Review Subcommittee:  (advises both Standing Committees)
March-June Leonard/Watters (term ended)    Sept-Nov  Nohr/Whiteaker
Dec-Feb 17  Paynter.   [During the 2012-2015 term, those Trustees (I among them) who pointed out the need for Policy review were told more than once by a majority of Trustees that it would be too much work for senior administration, and that it would take place on a one-off  interim basis, by the then-Director of HR.]

External Trustee Liaison assignments are made by  the Board Chair. Terms below go to December 2016, when internal Trustee elections take place.

Although Paynter advised in his January 2016 report as then-French Immersion rep that the French Immersion committee had never met during his term of assignment and thus advised that there was no need for a Trustee rep, Administration recommended keeping a rep to the committee as it may be more active.