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Please share your thoughts with us on this or any other Public Education issue.

Question of the Month archives
Gordon Dirks: I believe the three key roles of the locally elected school board are governance, advocacy and hiring, as follows:
1. Governance oversight and leadership of local education district through policy development and monitoring.
2.  Advocacy for public education (both local and provincial in scope)
3.  Hiring and on-going evaluation of chief superintendent.

Lynn Ferguson: One of our most important responsibilities is to govern well by establishing policies embedded with values that reflect the needs of all students while considering local community expectations. We must monitor the system's progress towards ensuring student success for all. And we must advocate on behalf of public education, conveying the value (an essential investment in our collective future) of publicly funded, quality learning experiences accessible to all students. Local community input is essential to an effective public education system that serves many diverse communities. The local school board is the democratically elected representative of the collective local community, which includes diverse subgroups and citizens without children in schools. As a rapidly expanding urban community with a diverse student population, Calgary needs a public school board that is responsive to public expectations for strong academic achievement, good citizenship, and ethical and caring students who have opportunities to be the best they can possibly be.

Kyle Fawcett: The most important responsibility of a school board is to set a strategic direction for the school district in accordance with values of the general public. The strategic direction should be visionary and innovative. It should look toward the future in meeting the needs of students and society at large.  Further, it is the responsibility of a local school board to monitor the district's performance, through the Chief Superintendent, to ensure administration is accountable for expectations from the general public. A rapidly and ever changing society has called into question the worth and necessity of  locally elected school boards. In stating two important responsibilities of school boards above, it is obvious that public representation is a key component of school board governance. With respect to governance, local representation is the easiest and most efficient means in meeting these representative needs. However, one must ask the question, in light of changing demographics and population trends, whether Alberta and students across the province are best served by having 64 elected school boards.  The important issue to deal with is not the question of the existence of locally elected school boards, but rather the appropriate size, scope and authority of such school boards.

George Lane: The primary role of the local school board is, in my opinion, to represent the collective interests and educational needs of the local community. In so doing it has to function within the School Act and under the directives of the Provincial government. This requires the Board to represent and advocate on behalf of the local community to the Minister of Education and sometimes to other ministers or other authorities such as the City. The CBE Board of trustees, being a 'policy board' governs by setting policies that guide and direct the Chief Superintendent of the larger organization. This involves interpreting the needs and desires of the community and making value judgements on its behalf. In particular the Board establishes the Ends towards which Administration is expected to work. Accompanying this function is the monitoring of results and determination of whether the CEO is in compliance. In this regard the Board of Trustees has the responsibility to review and renew (or not) the Chief Superintendent's contract. When the position becomes vacant, Trustees recruit and select a replacement. As well the Board of Trustees has a role to interact with the community; to listen, to study, to speak, to lead and to be a face for the CBE.

Pat Cochrane: We're elected to represent the interests of Calgarians in their public education system. The Board establishes the values upon which the system bases its actions, based on the common values of Calgarians. The Board approves the budget, based on the needs of Calgary public education students. The Board advocates for resources for students and schools, based on the expressed requirements of Calgarians. School boards make their decisions and set their directions based on up close and personal knowledge of local needs, hopes and expectations. Individual trustees know and represent specific areas of the city and therefore can bring forward to the Board that local knowledge. The local needs must then be balanced with the larger system needs and decisions are made based on this balance. In the case of the Calgary Board of Education, we are the voice of Calgarians regarding their very successful public education system.

Nancy Close: There are three main roles: governance, advocacy and representation, all of which ensure students complete high school with a foundation of learning to function effectively in life, work and continued learning. Student success is at the heart of everything we do. As CBE governors and elected representatives, we worked together to write down the expectations Calgarians hold for their future generation. These values are our Ends statements and they define success. Advocacy efforts continue for a strong public education system. Our current priority is securing a long-term, fully funded plan for new school construction and for school building modernizations. Our responsibilities are outlined in the School Act. What's most important is that decisions are made effectively when they're made close to the people affected by them. Good decisions are based on good information, which only results from connections with constituents. As representatives of Calgarians, we need to be connected to the hopes and dreams of constituents. We need to be accountable for understanding and addressing the issues, and for celebrating the successes of our students.

Carol Bazinet: Trustees must connect with constituents to determine what they want in their public education system. Trustees must then bring the variety of viewpoints they've heard to the Board table.  After debate the Board must put outcomes for students in writing in order to direct Administration.  They must then monitor the work of Administration to make sure the outcomes are achieved. It is important that this is done locally as each community has slightly different dreams/aspirations for their children. What may be acceptable and desirable in one community or city may not be in another.

 



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