BROCKVILLE – Upper Canada District School Board trustees approved changes to how many and how its trustee board meetings happen in an effort to improve efficiency and transparency at their March 5 meeting.
The approved changes are in response to new regulations from the Ministry of Education, that all school boards have to implement by September 2025. The new regulations significantly change the rules for physical attendance by a trustee at board meetings.
Under the new regulations, trustees must attend board meetings in-person unless their use of remote attendance falls within a very narrow approved list of reasons. Any trustee who does not have an approved use of remote attendance or absence and fails to attend a meeting will immediately have their trustee position declared vacant.
Committee meetings, will require at least one trustee in-person in attendance.
Until now, the UCDSB held two regular meetings per month during the school year, plus standing committee meetings, and special committee meetings. In 2023-24, that meant trustees had 17 regular meetings.
Ward 9 (Cornwall) Trustee David McDonald, who proposed the changes, said that the time to prepare the agendas for each meeting is about the same. But some regular meetings ran less than an hour. In that same school year, the public portion of the regular meeting averaged less than 97 minutes per meeting.
The board approved changing to one meeting per month, 10 times per school year. Special committees like Special Education and Audit, are unchanged. Any standing committee meetings will change to ad hoc committees for up to one year, on an as-needed bases.
McDonald said the changes will improve the efficiency of trustee work.
“We’ve designed a system to be more efficient currently,” he said. “This will make it more efficient. Our role will not be diminished by simply having one meeting [per month].”
Ward 4 Trustee John McAllister – who attended this meeting remotely – asked if there could be a more fulsome discussion on the changes before approving the proposal.
“This is a considerable, but positive change in our bylaws,” McAllister said.
Trustees Michel LaBonte and Carole Dufort both spoke in support of the changes as well, which were unanimously approved by trustees.
A separate attendance policy will come to the board before June 2025.