Hanover school trustee calls for board transparency

A Hanover School Division board trustee has called for a notice of motion regarding board transparency.

Trustee Danielle Funk made the overture during Tuesday night’s public school board meeting. This is the second time that Funk has asked for her motion to be put on the agenda leading her to make the notice of motion, where the motion itself will be discussed on the next public school board meeting on Dec. 3.

“My rational in bringing this notice of motion forward is that I noticed a continuation of habits dealing with things in the committee of the whole that should be in public,” she told the board.

Funk is also concerned with the recent turnover of senior administrative staff, school administration, and other staff members.

“There seems to be a lot more people leaving our division,” she said, adding there have been community concerns brought to the media and to the province that were “criticizing us as a board and what we’re doing.”

A special advisor was appointed by the minister of education in September to guide the Hanover School Division board as they make decisions. The minister met with the board in May and although he wouldn’t say what prompted the measure, it did come on the heels of a letter sent in April to the province by the Hanover Parent Alliance for Diversity, which called into question decisions and practices by the board that were seen as being discriminatory.

In July, some members of the board voted “No” to a change in the conflict of interest policy after they took issue with the words “perceived” and “potential” in the clause.

“I think we have to hold ourselves to extremely high standards when we’re in this position and we need to be very conscious on what we’re making our decision on and how it can look to the public,” said Funk at the time.

The measure was passed with Shane Barkman, Lynn Barkman, and Jeff Friesen voting “No.”

“I believe that for us to move forward and for the health of our organization and what we do, we should look at how we’re conducting our business and that way we can address any concerns and make sure we are doing everything appropriately going forward and show the community that we’re listing to the concerns and addressing it head on,” she said during Tuesday’s meeting.

Funk was not able to speak to the media after the meeting as she didn’t have permission from chair Friesen, who did not attend the meeting. Trustees are not allowed to speak to the media without chair approval.

In December, Funk will make the motion for an independent and external reviewer to conduct a comprehensive review of governance practices and the effectiveness of the board’s code of conduct.

“This review is essentially to ensure transparency, accountability, and adherence to our core values,” said Funk.

The review will include an assessment of governance practices, evaluating the current governance structure, policy, and procedures, to identify areas for improvement and assure alignment for best practices.

The review will also look at the existing code of conduct to assess effectiveness in guiding board member’s behavior and decision making. Further, the reviewer will conduct a historical investigation into the compliance of the current board to establish governance practices and code of conduct, and report all findings in a publicly made report.

Funk expects all action items in the report to be addressed by the board with “a timeline for implementation to ensure accountability.”