In an ongoing effort to ensure policies are kept up to date the Wetaskiwin Regional Public Schools (WRPS) board of trustees approved changes made to several of its policies during a special meeting held Jan. 31.
Alberta School Boards Association education consultant Terry Gunderson walked the trustees through the changes he made to the policies.
In Policy 5 Role of the Board Chair Gunderson says he moved what was previously point 10, “Act as the chief spokesperson for the Board except for those instances when the Board has delegated this role to another individual or group,” to point one.
“It normally shows up as number one in most policies,” said Gunderson.
Other points are brand new to the policy: review and approve the superintendent’s vacation entitlement and expenditure claims, review and approve trustee expenditure claims in accordance with board policy and address inappropriateness on the part of a trustee.
The policy was approved as amended.
Several minor amendments were briefly discussed by trustees for policies eight, nine, 10, and 15, including alphabetizing a list of committees of the board, clarify what Gunderson deemed a confusing paragraph about committees, creating better flow in the policies, and changing titles when needed.
In Policy 11 Board Delegation of Authority trustee Karen Becker stated she would like changes in administrative procedures regarding provincial policies, regulations, procedures and programs be brought to the board table. “I try to remain current … so when they’re changed and if they’re changed I think it’s important to be informed of that.”
Terry Pearson, WRPS Superintendent of Schools, says the changes were not being brought to the board because a previous council had set them as an administrative procedure.
Policy 12 saw a small but important change. When the term First Nations and Métis was used Inuit was also added.
The policies discussed were approved as amended.
During the board’s special meeting trustees engaged in a number of larger discussions regarding other board policies. For coverage please see related story.