REGINA — The opportunity to speak at Regina Public Schools (RPS) board meetings could be further limited, raising concerns among regular delegates.
On its Tuesday agenda, RPS is proposing changing the wording for a delegate from having an interest in improving education within the board to having a direct interest in programming or operations.
“What is their definition of direct interest?” said Hannah Wildman, who appeared as a delegate several times following changes made to the RPS band program.
According to Wildman, anyone who pays taxes is considered a stakeholder and therefore has the right to appear before the board.
“[I wonder], are they going to limit their definition of direct interest to something that is like you have to have a kid in the system, you have to be somebody in that profession, you have to be somebody within the division, and you can't be a community member at large,” she said in a concerned manner.
Another proposed change would restrict delegates to speaking only on a matter presented at a specific board meeting.
“There's no possible way now that we would be able to bring it up at a board meeting to have it on public records so that the community can be more in the know of what's going on,” stated Wildman.
This change also confuses Wildman, as delegates must give notice to the board 14 days prior to the meeting.
“The agenda doesn't come out, first of all, until the Friday before a board meeting. So, unless you have a crystal ball, you're not going to know what's on the agenda.”
Under the proposed changes, delegates wishing to raise a separate topic with the board would be required to submit their request in writing to the board chair, with a copy provided to the CEO/director.
Wildman feels this gives the CEO an overreach of power.
“The trustees are to be guiding him, not the other way around. And then on top of that, the public is supposed to be the one to employ the trustees, and the trustees employ the director. So it's just giving way too much power to a single person within the organization.”
Wildman suspects that delegates presenting their cases against changes to the RPS band structure and programming over a number of years led to this.
“It seems like they're tired and they don't want to hear any more criticism and critique of the band program.”
Necessary changes
In an emailed response, RPS said these necessary changes are to ensure informed and directly connected delegations can present to the board.
“Prior to this change, the wording was ambiguous enough that any special interest group, individuals with separate/alternative agendas, or uninformed persons might be able to secure an audience with the board.”
Since the board meets once a month, RPS said its time is limited and valuable for hearing from delegates relevant to the topic, citing that inaccurate or irrelevant content has taken away time from students, staff, families and stakeholders to speak on the matter.
Delegates may contact individual trustees and division administration regarding any matter of interest.
As far as the CEO duties, those will remain unchanged, said RPS.
A final decision on passing the revised policy will occur Tuesday.
