A consultant hired by the Ministry of Education to examine allegations of unprofessional conduct, bullying and harassment among members of the North Vancouver School board has recommended that the school board stop holding meetings behind closed doors and offer professional mediation to deal with harassment allegations.
Board chair Christie Sacré confirmed this week the board will act on most of six recommendations put forward by governance consultant Lee Southern, who was hired by the ministry to look into allegations of dysfunction at the board table.
In addition to stopping the long-standing practice of holding board information sessions with school district staff behind closed doors, Sacré will meet individually with trustees to “reinforce their personal responsibilities” to better working relationships around the board table.
The recommendation by Southern to stop holding closed-door meetings follows comments made by more than one trustee to the North Shore News that much of the problem behaviour between members of the board has taken place in meetings not open to the public.
Usually, local governments are only supposed to hold meetings closed to the public to discuss legal, land and personnel issues.
But some local councils and school boards in B.C. stretch the definitions of when closed-door meetings are appropriate, said Dermod Travis, executive director of the watchdog group Integrity B.C. “Some small communities in B.C. have more in-camera meetings than the City of Toronto does,” he said.
In the case of the North Vancouver School District, trustees have met in-camera on a semi-regular basis to discuss issues that would later come up for decisions at the board table.
Sacré defended the practice. “Most of what we discussed at them were just us asking questions,” she said. “You can’t make proper decisions if you don’t feel comfortable asking questions.”
Sacré agreed that those closed-door meetings were occasionally the settings for problem interactions between trustees. “I wouldn’t say it was a regular occurrence,” she added.
Travis said ending unnecessary closed-door sessions would likely have a positive effect on trustees’ behaviour. “If trustees were more often in public than not, they’d be less inclined to be abusive to each other,” he said. “People would be watching.”
Over the next two months, trustees will work on coming up with consequences for board members who don’t do their jobs or behave appropriately. Board members are expected to review options, which could include docking trustees’ pay, by April at the latest.
In December, a North Shore News investigation revealed that trustee Susan Skinner rarely attends board meetings in person, along with her allegations of workplace sexual harassment and bullying, and allegations from other trustees that board dysfunction makes it hard for the board to do its job.
Southern recommended that Skinner be encouraged to file a formal written complaint to the school district. If that happens, the consultant recommended that both Skinner and any other trustee named in that complaint be asked to take a leave of absence from the board until the issue is resolved. In the meantime, the board should offer mediation, Southern recommended.
Sacré said Skinner has so far not made a formal complaint about bullying or harassment, but has indicated “she’s working on it.”
Sacré said she’s hoping that the issue will be resolved. “I think that the allegations need to stop if there is no complaint coming forward,” she said.
The Ministry of Education has asked for a progress update from the school board by the end of April.
