Public school board trustees propose different ways to get community feedback for future goals
Cambridge trustee Carla Johnson introduces motion for ‘exhaustive' community outreach
Two Waterloo Region District School Board trustees have brought forward motions to their colleagues for public consultations about the future of the board.
Trustee Carla Johnson and trustee Cindy Watson both put forward notices of motions during Monday night's committee of the whole meeting.
The move follows the sudden departure in December of director of education jeewan chanika.
Before the meeting, Watson and fellow trustees Bill Cody and Mike Ramsay had posted an open letter on social media and said they wanted a public town hall to get input on how to "re-calibrate our board's goals."
Johnson told Craig Norris, host of CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition, that she believes a wider approach is needed.
"My notice of motion calls for an exhaustive outreach to the community. I know there was discussion about a town hall, but in my mind that was just a very limited opportunity for people to have input, and it would be an opportunity for some of the loudest voices in the room," Johnson said in an interview Wednesday morning.
"I really wanted to reach out to people who were the quiet voices at the back of the room, as it were," she added.
"SI wanted to make sure that if we're going to reach out to the community, we need to do it in a very thorough, thoughtful, exhaustive process and allow for multiple ways of reaching out to people, so we hear all the voices and we have as much input as possible from as many facets of our community as possible, as broad as possible."
LISTEN | WRDSB trustee Carla Johnson speaks with Craig Norris about her notice of motion:
The school board has never said why chanika left and chanika has not responded to requests for comment.
The letter from Watson, Cody and Mike Ramsay described themselves as "moderate conservative members" of the board. They wrote that they were "constrained from commenting" on chanika's "sudden departure."
"However, in our opinion, we now have an opportunity to revisit the fundamental goals and educational strategies of our [your] school board," the letter said.
CBC News reached out to Cody, Ramsay and Watson to request an interview about their letter. None responded to the request.
Prior to the meeting, CBC News asked board of trustees chair Maedith Radlein to comment on the letter from Watson, Cody and Ramsay. Instead, she issued a statement through the board's communication office to say trustees and staff are "fully committed to student achievement and well-being."
She noted the board would not release any further details about chanika's departure and pointed to a December post on the board's website about Scott Miller being named interim director of education.
Johnson sees 'disconnect' in call for town hall
In issuing her notice of motion, Watson said parents, guardians, staff and community members have expressed "have legitimate and serious concerns about the fundamental goals and strategies of the WRDSB school board's learning agenda."
Watson said board meeting bylaws "restrict two-way conversations" but said the board also "is committed to providing the public with meaningful opportunities to offer input and to influence board decision making.:
She asked for a town hall meeting to be scheduled in a central location "to gather input and answer questions and concerns of students, parents, guardians, staff and community members that would help recalibrate the board goals."
Watson asked that the town hall meeting be scheduled by the end of March 2025.
Johnson said she's "not very clear" on what her fellow trustees are asking for when calling for a town hall.
"There was very clearly a call for a town hall after the former director had parted, and if anyone knows HR policy, we cannot speak about what's happened," Johnson said.
"I thought these trustees know that we can't speak about this. I don't understand why the call for a town hall, there was a disconnect there."
Meanwhile, Johnson said the last community consultation on the board's strategic plan was in the spring of 2022.
"[That] was the last time the public was sort of exhaustively reached out to. We are three years into our five-year strategic plan. Our policy is to review it every three to five years, and I think this is a good time to review it and to see what people have to say about it," Johnson said.
"I want to hear from everyone, I want to hear from all our staff and I want to hear from all the families and the community groups. I really want it to be thorough."
Johnson said she's also hopeful that the community consultations will give people an opportunity to share their thoughts about chanika's exit.
Johnson said if her motion gets approved, she would like to see the process begin this spring and be completed by early 2026.
It was not immediately clear when Johnson and Watson's notices of motion would be scheduled for a vote by trustees. Johnson said it's up to the agenda committee to decide when it gets scheduled.
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With files from The Morning Edition and Cameron Mahler