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Why are such a large portion of Board of Trustees meetings held in private?Comparing the number or length of private meetings of the Board of Trustees to the number or length of public meetings is misleading. Whether a matter is discussed in private or public is determined by the topic being reviewed at the meeting and not by the number of meetings or time duration of any meeting. The Board of Trustees meets in public generally twice monthly during the school year. Although most matters can be discussed with the public present there are some matters that the Board of Trustees can and should discuss in private. By way of example only, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) Act authorizes a public board to discuss issues such as personal information, litigation, labour relations matters and other specified topics in private. The School Act authorizes the Board itself to determine that certain matters can be discussed in private meetings. However, the actual decisions and resolutions of the Board can only be made in public meetings. The CBE Board of Trustees also publishes the minutes of both public and private meetings on the website at cbe.ab.ca.
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