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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2001-11-21, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2001. Trustee warns Smit h to 'keep his mouth shut' By Stew Slater Special to The Citizen One trustee's public airing of con- cerns about the affairs of the Avon Maitland District School Board has prompted another trustee to urge him to "keep his mouth shut" and warn that the board could "fall apart" if such activity is allowed to continue. In the "New Business" section of a regular meeting of the board, Tuesday, Nov. 13, Central Huron Trustee Charles Smith distributed a package of information to both trustees and the media. Included were two motions to reconsider pre- vious actions of the board — one to approve a list of schools for study into possible accommodation changes, and one to publicly declare a capacity loading target for the board's schools. There was also a new motion to require that trustees be provided with line-by-line expense and rev- enue information, as well as analysis of the differences in provincially standardized test results for schools By Stew Slater Special to The Citizen North Huron Trustee Colleen Schenk described the Walton Little School open house, which she attended, during the "Good News" section of the Avon Maitland board's regular meeting, Tuesday, Nov. 13. "It was just packed," she related. "It was really terrific to see such a worthwhile use of a former school and my hat really goes off to the pro- gram's director, Shannon McGavin, and the assistant director, Naomi with or without a congregation of Grades 7 and 8 students. The new motion was defeated after some discussion. Stratford Trustee Rod Brown spoke most forcefully against the inclusion of line-by-line budget information, suggesting such analysis would take away valuable time from both staff and trustees. And Listowel representative Don Brillinger commented that compil- ing accurate standardized test analy- sis based on the congregation of Grades 7 and 8 students would be difficult, since few clusters of Avon Maitland schools are operating fully under sudea system. The motions to reconsider, mean- while, are expected to be brought before trustees at the board's next regular meeting, Nov. 27. The portion of Smith's informa- tion package which really caught Stratford Trustee Meg Westley's eye, however, was an as-yet-unprinted letter-to-the-editor that Smith later told r'porters he had already sent to various district media outlets. Pelss," Schenk added. Staff members hold post-secondary degrees in edu- cation, as well as other fields of study. Schenk said the facility currently offers daytime early literacy pro- gramming for pre-school children, aged 2 1/2 to five years. She adds two-thirds of the spots in the pre- school program are now occupied. According to Schenlc's report to the board, McGavin and Peiss plan to begin an after-school program in January, 2002, aimed at students whose parents are still at work when The letter gives details of a closed- session meeting of the board from Oct. 23, in which Smith objected to a portion of the agenda featuring a presentation about the role of trustees. "I objected to the inclusion of this presentation in closed session both before and after the lawyer (in Smith's words, hired by the board to give the presentation) arrived, stat- ing that a presentation and ensuing trustee discussion does not . . . meet any of the five criteria for closed ses- sion as set out in the Education Act," Smith's letter reads. Smith also included (in the infor- mation package, but not as a part of the letter-to-the-editor) a copy of the board's official minutes from the meeting, which are not normally dis- tributed to the public. The minutes confirm Smith's objections to the presentation's inclusion under closed session, then go on to describe the presentation, by David Williams of the London firm Harrison, Pensa LLP. "The board acts as the corporate they normally finish day school. Instructional areas for the after- school program could include sign language, music programs and help with homework, and the target stu- dents would be those attending ele- mentary schools in Seaforth, Ethel and Brussels. And Walton's Little School is also looking at the possibility of provid- ing toddler programs for children aged 18-31 months. "It really fills a niche in those com- munities because there was a strong need for daycare," Schenk told reporters following the Nov. 13 meeting. To contact the Walton Little School, call 887-8440. Meetings at 8 p.m. Continued from page 1 meeting be extended beyond one evening. Similarly, a tentative meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 27. Currently, the Tuesday, Feb. 26 regular board meeting is scheduled as the night trustees would make a final vote on changes, including clo- sure. The open sessions of all regular board meetings begin at 8 p.m. For the tentatively-scheduled special meetings, there will be no closed session prior to the meeting, so those will begin at 7 p.m. All meetings occur will be held at the Seaforth District High School. body and, as trustees, individual members do not hold any power," the minutes state regarding Williams's presentation. "The power of a board is derived from acting as the corporate board. The duty of the board is to establish policy in areas of its jurisdiction, and to delegate to administration to oversee the admin- istration of the school system. "If trustees as a group act within the body of a board, there will be no individual liability," the minutes continue. "It is a matter of protection for trustees to stay within its legislat- ed policy-making role and work as a corporate body." Immediately after viewing the information package, which was only distributed at the Nov. 13 meet- ing, Westley requested board staff to look into whether or not the letter constituted a breach of confidentiali- ty, and whether or not any action should be taken. "Madame chair, I'll take that under advisement," responded Director of Education Lorne Rachlis. Speaking after the meeting, Smith said that, because such a discussion doesn't fall under the Education Act's criteria for a closed-session meeting, "I don't feel bound to hold that in confidence. "The legal advice that I have is that (the role of a trustee) shotildn't have been discussed in closed ses- sion, and also that I'm within . my rights to talk about it in public for that same reason." Indeed, in his information pack- age, Smith also included two dodu- ments prepared by Seaforth lawyer Fred Leitch, backing his claims. With her request to the board, however, Westley said the minute$ of the closed session must remain confidential. "As far as I'm concerned, I don't want to be in a closed-session meet- ing with Trustee Smith if he's going to breach that confidentiality," she said. "Because otherwise, we are going to fall apart as a board if we can't trust a trustee to keep his mouth shut." New Guides in Blyth Blyth Guides added two new members to their ranks last week when Maaike Van Hittersum on the left and Ursina Stuthalter were accepted as members. They were wel- comed by Guide leader Cheryl Currie. 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