Nancy's Notes

“So what is my purpose anyway?” Not my personal purpose but the purpose of my role as school trustee.  As I read Graham Thomson’s piece in today’s Edmonton Journal I had to pause and reflect. This excerpt of his article certainly made me think about the work that I put so much effort into; “….If you want to feel sorry for anyone here, let it be for the Alberta School Board Association that once again was shut out  of the final negotiations.  School boards are already facing revenue shortfalls and increased costs for staff.  Now, they’re having a teacher’s deal imposed on them.  If nothing else you have to admire the long-suffering school board trustees across the province who continue to run for office to perform a sometimes thankless task that has no real power, pay or perks.  And Friday proved they are viewed pretty much as rubber stamps by the government.”

So of course I immediately began to think seriously about my role and the considerable amount of work I put into it. How accurate is Mr.Thomson’s analysis?  No pay or perks is easy.  Absolutely true!  No real power?  Well let me do my own analysis….

I referred first to the brochure provided by the Alberta School Board Association for an audience of potential trustee candidates for the 2013 elections. The red section below is an excerpt from that document.

What do school trustees do? School trustees are politicians elected by and accountable to the community. The provincial government delegates to school boards the responsibility for conducting the affairs of the school jurisdiction. The school board:

• plans for the jurisdiction, setting priorities for the system in light of community wishes, available resources and sound educational practice.
• sets goals for the jurisdiction, ensuring education stays in step with today’s world
• evaluates the jurisdiction’s chief executive officer-the superintendent of schools
• adopts an annual budget for the school system
• develops policy to guide the administration and employees toward jurisdiction goals
• communicates with the community on behalf of the jurisdiction
• educates others to ensure education is a top public priority and to make the community aware of the jurisdictions achievements
• gathers information to make sound decisions
• hears appeals
• lobbies all levels of government on behalf of education

Well you know what ? Most of that is not specific to our role in the collective bargaining process.   Boards have a significant level of importance outside that.  Our power?  Well that depends on how you measure that.  Since it has been many years since Boards had the power to tax perhaps our limited role with regard to negotiations is no surprise.  Do I like it?  No!  But does it mean that our work is less important?  No again!  Since school boards rely on the provincial government for funding, their flexibility in adding to or adapting local programming is limited by the dollars available.  It is the responsibility of board members to help their constituents understand the parameters within which the budget is developed which is going to be a fair task in the days to come.

It is through the process of collaborating and engaging in joint decision making as members of the board that we work with the values, priorities, and expectations of the community to translate them into policy.  That is the role I see as primary.  If this layer of government did not exist we would leave a pretty soft layer of accountability from senior administration to provincial government.

So what’s next?  I will await the information from our professional organization; the A.S.B.A and take that back to my negotiating committee and the will of the Board will determine our next steps.  As always we will do what’s best for the students within our abilities.  At the end of the day I will continue to value my role as school board trustee with no perks nor pay and an unmeasured amount of power but a lot of passion and know that I do make a difference to my constituents.   How do I know that?  They tell me every day….