Peace River North SCHOOL DISTRICT

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Peace River North SCHOOL DISTRICT 60

• 10112-105 Avenue
• Fort St. John B.C.
• V1J 4S4
• www.prn.bc.ca
• [phone] Phone
• [phone] fax

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Trustee
September 2008 Trustee Ida Campbell School
District 60

• Who are we and what do we do.

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Board of Education

• How much do you know about being a school
  Trustee?

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Peace River North The Trustees

• Gordon Anderson Chair
• Gord Klassen Vice-Chair
• Ida Campbell
• Linda Sewell
• Heather Hannaford
• Lynda Peterson
• Gary Gamble

Peace River North The Trustees Front Row (Left
to Right) Gary Gamble, Gord Anderson Back Row
(Left to Right) Linda Sewell, Heather
Hannaford, Gord Klassen, Lynda Peterson, Ida
Campbell
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Helping Students/Community plant trees at Charlie
Lake

• Art show at Taylor School

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Quiz

• 1. School Trustees are
• a) appointed b) elected c) hired
• 2. The role of Trustee is
• a) a fixed term b) week to week c) for
  life
• 3. Trustees are accountable to
• a) employees b) superintendent c) voters

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• 4. The role of trustees is set out in
• a) collective agreement
• b) School Act
• c) District Code of Conduct
• 5. Trustees are paid for their services by
• a) a monthly stipend
• b) an hourly rate
• c) no -- they volunteer their services

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Resource

• PUBLIC EDUCATION
• PUBLIC PRIDE
• The Centennial History
• of the BCSTA
• By James B. London
• Published by BCSTA in March 2005

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School Boards in B.C.

• On May 15, 1865, an Act Respecting Common Schools
  was passed by the Legislature of Vancouver
  Island. It provided for a General Board of
  Education, a Superintendent of Education who
  would be secretary of the Board, and for local 3
  man school boards appointed by the Governor.
• By 1872 there were 14 public schools in the
  province.

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Public Meeting
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• By the mid-1870s the control of the B.C
  educational system rested in the hands of the
  Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council
• Government could create new school districts,
  school grants, appoint, certificate and dismiss
  teachers, and make rules and regulations for the
  management of all public schools
• Following the eastern Canadian custom, 3 man
  school boards were now elected in each district

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• Their functions were limited to calling school
  meetings, receiving and disbursing funds, keeping
  in good repair the school buildings and
  equipment, ensuring that only the authorized
  textbooks were used, and that the schools were
  operated according to the established provincial
  regulations
• In 1873 school boards were allowed to hire their
  own teachers
• In 1888 they were given authority to raise taxes
  locally
• By 1903 there were 268 school districts in the
  province, most being single-school school
  districts

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Early Challenges

• Qualified teachers, especially for hinterland
  districts
• Standardized system of grading
• Poor school attendance
• B.C. passed a law in 1873 authorizing local
  board to pass compulsory attendance By-Laws.
• In 1876, the Legislature made attendance
  compulsory for children aged 7-12, for 6 months
  of the year, if they lived within 3 miles of the
  school

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Trustee are always learning
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Provincial Association

• 20 school trustees representing eight school
  boards met at the Vancouver School Board office
  on February 16, 1905 to discuss ways to improve
  public education. This was the 1st School
  Trustees Association in Canada.

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Trustees in Province

• Length of term is three years
• Next civic election in November 2008
• Five, seven or nine trustees on each board
• Total of 420 trustees
• 55 per cent female and 45 per cent male
• Incumbent trustees elected 58 per cent
• Newly elected 42 per cent
• Receive stipend which varies from 6,500 to
  25,250

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BC School Districts

• 59 school districts francophone education
  authority
• 599,505 students
• 1,800 schools

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BC Facts

• 33,716 teachers
• 26,000 school districts employees
• 300 to 66,000 students per district
• Provincial education budget of 4.8 billion (19
  per cent of total budget)

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District 87 Stikine

• 282 students
• Aboriginal 213
• Special Education 37
• ESL 147
• Language at home
• English 99.65
• 4 elem/sec schools
• 22 teachers
• 6 Principals, Vice-Principals
• District Administration

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District 36 Surrey

• 66,853 students
• Language at home ()
• English 59.09 Punjabi 18.27
• Korean 3.24 Hindi 3.06
• Vietnamese 2.2 Chinese 2.01
• Tagalog 1.79 Mandarin 1.77
• Urdu 1.34 Spanish 1.22
• 128 schools
• 98 elementary 19 Secondary
• 3,794 teachers
• 285 Principals, Vice-Principals
• District Administration

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District 60 Peace River North

• 5948 students
• 23 schools

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District Staff

• 380 FTE Teachers
• support staff
• 35 FTE Principals, Vice-Principals
• District Administration

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Power and Responsibility

• Power and responsibility set out in School Act.
• Co-governance role with Ministry of Education.
• Provincial Government delegates responsibility to
  locally elected Boards of Education and can
  create, eliminate or adjust these powers at any
  time.

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Key Work of Boards of Education

• Approve operating budgets, capital plans and
  accountability contract
• Set local policy
• Employ staff for district operations
• Establish conditions of employment
• Approve local courses and resource materials

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Challenges

• Board of Education is responsible for everything
  that occurs in the district.
• Community interests need to be understood and
  taken into account
• Many important decisions in education are made at
  provincial level including funding, graduation
  requirements, curriculum, employment contracts

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Board Meetings

• Board Meetings
  2nd Monday of each month at 800 p.m. at
  the District Administration Office located at
  10112-105 Avenue Fort St. John B.C.
• each 4th Monday at 700 p.m. located in
  different school through out the District
• Presentation written request by one week prior
  to Board meeting

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Board Committees

• Trustees meet in committees to enable full
  and informal discussion of school district
  matters. These committees make recommendations to
  the Board for consideration at the regular Board
  meetings
• These meeting are open to the public except
  In-camera meetings which deal with items
  pertaining Land dealings and personnel issues
  which by law are in-camera meetings
• We encourage you to come out to these meeting the
  first Monday of the month.

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• STANDING BOARD COMMITTEES
• Operations
• Education
• Finance
• Personnel
• Communications/ Community Relations
  Governance/Administration
• Social Responsibility

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• Agenda and all reports of the public meeting are
  available on Board Office in Fort St.John
  District Friday a.m. of the week before Board
  Meeting

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Trustee Liaison

• To act as a liaison between the Board of
  Education and the committee
• To report the Board on individual functions and
  activities of these committee
• To be more familiar with the programs, services,
  staff, parents and community members of each
  district and provincial programs

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• DISTRICT LIASON COMMITTEES
• CITY OF FORT ST. JOHN
• DISTRICT OF TAYLOR
• DISTRICT OF HUDSONS HOPE
• UNBC
• NORTHERN LIGHTS COLLEGE
• COMMUNITY HEALTH
• SUPERINTENDENT/PAC PRESIDENT
• District Parent Advisory Council

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• PROVINCIAL COMMITTEES
• B.C. School Trustees Association
• B.C. Public School Employers Association
• BCSTA Provincial Council

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Always another thought
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Website Information

• Peace River North School District www.prn.bc.ca
• Ministry of Education www.gov.bc.ca/bced
• BCSTA www.bcsta.org
• BCPSEA www.bcpsea.org
• BCCPAC www.bccpac.bc.ca
• BCTF www.bctf.ca

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Credits

• Diana Mumford Trustee from Burnaby
• BCSTA
• Jim London/Historical Book on School Districts

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Trustee Elections

• September 30 Nomination period begins at 900 am
• October 10 Nomination period ends 400pm
  ,declaration of Candidates
• October 14 Deadline for challenge for nominations
  400pm
• October 17 last day to withdraw from election

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Trustee Elections

• Election or acclamation announcement
• November 5 Mandatory advance voting day
• November 15 General Voting day for local
  elections
• Run for Trustee
• and/or remember to Vote

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Thank you for Caring about our Public Education