‘the concerns and problems

DAC because he says it’ is

. «he’s prepared to go-along -
with» ihe ‘wishes. :of _ the:
“poard,’ and work with the

DAC.

Debate over style of
governing continues

By CRIS LEYKAUF
KITIMAT AND TERRACE school dis-
tricts may have united, but their trustees
have not.

After halfa year together, the two sides
are still split on how much say parents
and teachers should have, That’s resulted
in accusations from some parents and
teachers that the new board isn’t as open
as they thought it would be.

Today’s school board is the result of an
amalgamation of the Terrace and Kitimat
boards — and an amalgamation of gov-
eming styles.

The old Terrace trustees termed their
style consultative.

“That meant people were consulted
when trustees wanted to know some-
thing,” said George Newmann, chair of
the curreyt school board, and former
chair of the Kitimat board.

In contrast, he said Kitimat had a
participatory model. Groups such as
teachers, parents, union members and
more would sit down and help make de-
cisions. In the end though, trustees got
the final say.

When Terrace and Kitimat combined,
the board was supposed to adopt the
Kitimat style of goveming. Partner
groups, such as teachers, were invited to
sit on committees,

A district advisory committee (DAC)
was set up to sift through input from

school
board’s top

Neumann

Christensen

each community advisory committee and
report to the board. A budget advisory
committee was also formed,

There were plenty of kinks this year, as
trustees and partner groups tried to figure
out just how the committees would
work, That’s to be expected, particularly
Since this school districl is one of the
largest geographically in the province,

Who should be on these committees,
what were their mandates, and who
could vote, were some of the problems
— and they haven’t all been settled.

The committee that faced the worst
troubles was the budget advisory com-
mittee. Members were put through a
flurry of meetings as the school district
tried to deal with trimming $750, 000
from its budget.

Commiltee members took crash
courses in how to understand budgets.
But membership varied from meeting to
meeting, as did the format of the budget.

The end result, which included the
controversial decision to trim $100,000
from ihe REM Lee and Mi. Elizabeth
Theatres, had people complaining that
they weren't consulted.

The new district has also developed a
chronic communication problem — one
that’s creating suspicion and mistrust,

Groups that should have been: invited
to meetings haven't been. And partner
groups like teachers and parents aren't
getting documents in time or at all ‘in
some cases,

‘Communication is.a big problem,”
acknowledged Neumann. He said some
cases of groups not getting information
may even have been deliberate.

But district superintendent Frank
Hamilton says he isn’t aware of anyone
deliberately trying to stop people from
getting information. .

‘There are certainly problems in com-
munications in any organization with al-
most 800 employees,’ said Hamilton.
"We're not perfect.’”

Conmunication isn’t the only problem.

At a District. Advisory Committee
meeting last week Kitimat trustee Peter
King said the board is divided over how
much inpul it wants from partner groups.

Board chair. George Neumann said
Terrace trustees Stew Christensen, Gary
Turmer and Roger Leclerc don’t want
teachers and parents to have as much say

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 25, 1997 - A@

Trustees divided over power sharing

as trustees on committees.

At a board meeting in Stewart in May,
those three trustees voted in favour of a
motion that said only trustees would be
permilted to have a vote on standing
committees, said Neumann.

Standing committees are education,
personnel and operating. They don’t in-

* clude community and district advisory

committees.

“Maybe I’m being a bit cyni-
cal, but it’s easier to make
decisions when you don't
listen to one side.”

Right now partner groups can vote on
all the commiltecs, The committee then
forwards recommendations to the board.
Trustees have the final say on whether a
recommendation passes or not.

Neumann, Angela Brand of Stewart,
aud May Brown of Terrace voted against

the motion, The other three trustees.

werent at the meeting, and the tie vote
ineaut the motion was defeated. .

“By golly, if that would have passed it
would have meant quite something,’
said Neuman.

He worried that teachers and parents
would feel left out of the committee pro-
cess if they conldn't vate.

“Maybe I’m being a bit cynical, but
i's easier to make decisions when you
don’t listen to one side,’’ said Neumann.

But Christensen defends the motion.

“Trustees bave a responsibility to
make the decisions and get input from
the partuer groups,’’ said Christensen,

He thinks trustees abdicate their
responsibilities if they ‘‘let other groups
make decisions for them.”

His concern is that the public voted for
trustees, not for the parents and teachers
appointed to the committee,

If the public doesn’t like what's hap-
pening on the school board they can
remove the trustee, but they can’l
remove the appointed people on the
committee, who still have the right to
vote.

“It takes away the rights of the elec-
torate,’’ he said. ‘What we are doing
now is not the noxm,”’

But Neumann argues participation
from partner groups is invaluable, since
they are more closely linked to the
schools,

And in the end trustees have the final
say, said Neumann. ‘‘I don’t know what
there is to fear.’’

-Despite the split on the board,
Neumann said he was optimistic about
its future, In the past, the former Kitimat
district has faced worse problems.

“Tt was war,” said Neumann, describ-
ing strikes and battles fought in the
media. But the Kitimat district complete-
ly changed once partner groups were
able to vate on committees, he said.

“] guarantee that working relationships
{in the new district) will border on
pleasant within a year,”’ he said.

challenges }

gi Communications:
Partner groups complain
of not getting information
or not being told of meet-
ings.

@ Trust: Although ad-
visory committees are in
place, people are suspi-
cious they're not working.
For example, arts groups
complained they weren't
consulted about the deci-
sion to chop $100,000
from theatre budgets.

mi Input: How much is
enough? Trustees left-
over from the old Terrace
district would rather have
trustees make all the de-
cisions on committees,
denying the vote to pari-
ner groups,

Trustees
want to
scuttle

group

MEMBERS OF the School
District Advisory Com-
mittee (DAC) are worried
that some school trustees
don’t want the committee to
succeed.

The commitiee was
formed to funnel reports
from Community Advisory
Committees (CACs) to
school board trustees.

It's supposed to keep
trustees up to date on what

are in the many com-
munities that make up the
schoal district. The DAC is
made up of teacher, parent,
union and administrative
representatives,

It’s one of a number of
new committees which were
created when Kitimat and
Terrace school districts
merged late last year.

“There are people who
are against this comunittec
and who do not want to see
it succecd,”’ Kitimat trustee
Peter King said at a DAC

meeting last week.
"Terrace trustee Stew
Christensen agreed with
King’s statement.

“I think that’s probably a
fair assessment,’’ he said.
Christensen is against the

not representative of all the
communities in the district.
For example, he didn’t think
Stewart and Hazelton con-
cerns played a big enough
role on the committee.

“It’s going to create prob-
lems for us,’’ he said.

He's also worried that the
role of the Community Ad-
visory Committees is being
downplayed by haviig the
DAC,

However, Christensen sald

PROGRES

S REPORT TO B

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the
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F and the Province

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