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P.E.I.’s elected school trustees host first public meeting

ALISON JENKINS alison.jenkins@theguardian.pe.ca @reporteralison

STRATFORD, P.E.I. — The new chair of P.E.I.’s English-language school board trustees said access, transparency and engagement are her first priorities as the trustees establish themselves in their roles.

The Public Schools Branch board of elected trustees — the first board to be elected since 2008 — hosted its first public meeting Jan. 26 in Stratford

“It’s the first time going back to elected boards in 14 years,” said chair Heather Mullen. “One of the things we talked about right away is transparency, accessibility and engagement.”

To start, Mullen said there will be a report from the chair at each meeting, as well as an opportunity to meet the trustees after each meeting. Future board meetings will also be scheduled in communities across the Island. The Jan. 26 meeting was available online and that’s something Mullen hopes to continue to offer.

“We certainly are not a Charlottetown-centric board. We want to be across P.E.I. and hearing from everybody — and we want to hear from the students, and the staff and be in the schools because that why we’re here and that’s who we’re representing as trustees, all the staff and those students,” said Mullen.

Previously, a board of three appointed directors was in charge of guiding the branch.

Mullen said the elected board has already put in a lot of work.

“We joined as a group in early December meeting each other, learning about our governance, doing some training, meeting all the directors — we’ve had a lot of meetings just leading up to today,” she said. “We’re still learning about our roles and what’s next.”

PSB DIRECTOR

Norbert Carpenter, director of the Public Schools Branch, also attended the meeting.

“Co-operation has been very strong so far,” he said of his work alongside the board of trustees.

Carpenter hopes some of the board’s first tasks will include establishing the working conditions for his office as well as the trustees.

“The trustees are out representing the zones and their communities and the community of schools, and that’s a really positive thing for the Public Schools Branch, but we do need to delineate the roles and make sure that the roles of governance and the roles of the operations are clear to us and clear to the public,” said Carpenter.

HOME AND SCHOOL FEDERATION

The agenda for the first public meeting included a presentation from the Home and School Federation outlining the role of the federation, its accomplishments and the role it hopes to play alongside the board.

“We like to think of it as the glue. We are the glue that connects the parents, the guardians, the students and their brothers and sisters and grandparents and the community at large with the teachers and principals and staff, volunteers and administrators and trustees,” said Colonel Gray family of schools representative David Schult in his presentation.

The home and school is involved in the school bus safety task force and was active during the trustee election process, hosting six public meetings where communities could meet their candidates, among other endeavours, as they work to promote the total well-being of children in schools.

THE ISLAND

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2023-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://saltwire.pressreader.com/article/281556589962075

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