HomeMy WebLinkAbout05 Report 06-095 Review of Board Meeting Schedule, Structure and Agenda DistributionOTTAWA - CARLETON
DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
26 April 2006
Report No. 06 -095 to Chairs' Committee
Re: Review of Board Meeting Schedule, Structure and Agenda Distribution
ORIGINATORS: Michele Giroux, Executive Officer (Administration)
Monica Ceschia, Manager, Board Services
PURPOSE:
To summarize the feedback received from the agenda and meeting schedule review and to make
recommendations for change.
BACKGROUND:
2. At the December Chairs' Committee Meeting, staff presented a report identifying the need to
undertake a review of the Board and Committee meeting schedule, committee structure, and agenda
packages.
At the subsequent Board meeting, the Board passed a motion which established a mandate for the
review, and required staff to take into consideration the OCASC motion to consult with major
stakeholder groups including OCASC, SEAC and STAG, and to begin posting draft agendas
and /or reports, where available on the web.
4. The mandate of the review was defined in the first clause of the motion as follows:
THAT staff bring forward a report including recommendations to the 26 April 2006
Chairs' Committee meeting on ways to improve the distribution of material to trustees
and stakeholders, including possible changes in committee and Board meeting dates,
earlier distribution of materials, use of electronic as well as hard copies and other means
as appropriate, so that there is adequate time to review material, where possible, prior to
the deadline for registering delegations at standing committee and Board meetings,
On 22 February 2006, staff brought forward a report to Chairs' Committee outlining the process
by which the review would be undertaken, as well as the consultation schedule which included
two consultation periods. The first consultation period (March — April 2006) solicited input on
the current process and ideas for change in order to develop alternatives for consideration. The
second consultation period (April — May 2006) is intended to allow stakeholders an opportunity
to respond to the alternatives under consideration.
6. The consultation process was designed with a "Discussion Tool" as the key consultation
mechanism. The Discussion Tool was used as a guideline for managing group /committee
discussions and was also used by stakeholders as a survey for written comments. A copy of the
Report 06 -095 Review of Board Meeting Schedule, Structure and Agenda Distribution
Discussion Tool was sent to all standing, ad hoc and advisory committees of the OCDSB,
federations, STAG, OCASC, school councils, and community associations.
7. In addition to distributing the Discussion Tool, this item was scheduled onto the agenda of every
OCDSB standing committee and SEAL. In addition, a Discussion Forum was held on 3 April 2006 to
which all stakeholders were invited. The Discussion Forum was attended by three OCASC representatives
and two trustees. Staff also held meetings with affected staff groups to solicit their input into the
process. All of the feedback was consolidated into one document, which was distributed to trustees
on 13 April 2006.
STATUS:
There are a number of changes that will come out of this agenda and meeting schedule review.
Some of these changes will require approval by the Board as in the case of changes in the rules
of procedures. There are also a number of administrative changes that are related to process and
procedures. This report provides an overview of all of the areas of change proposed as a result of
this review and provides the opportunity for the Committee to discuss some of the more
substantive changes that are considered.
Summary of Feedback
9. The feedback received can be divided into four categories:
a) Trustees
b) Staff
c) OCASC, school councils and community groups /representatives
d) Federations
10. There were some common themes from all four stakeholder groups:
• Usability and access of agendas and minutes needs to be enhanced,
• Access to information in electronic forms and through the web needs to be further
developed,
• Reports to committees require a greater emphasis on analysis of data and rationale for
recommendations,
• Efficiency and effectiveness of meetings needs to be improved, and
• Earlier access to information and more consultation,
In addition, each stakeholder group had some specific concerns in other areas:
a) Trustees
• Focus on issues relevant to student achievement,
• Staff recommendations should be comprehensive and include financial implications,
• Better discipline among committee members (no grandstanding), and effective
"chairing ", and
• Minutes should be shorter and more focused on summarizing positions rather than
lengthy references to a particular speaker.
b) Staff
• Review the consent agenda concept,
• Installation of equipment in Trustees' Committee Room,
2
Report 06 -095 Review of Board Meeting Schedule, Structure and Agenda Distribution
• Meeting effectiveness, frequency and length of meeting, and
• Improvements to post meeting materials (minutes, score sheets, notes).
C) OCASC /School Councils /Community Groups
• Decrease number of in camera meetings and do not make public wait,
• Improve access to committee minutes on the web and provide committee fact sheets
including contact information,
• Offer public e -mail distribution service,
• Have recorded votes for all motions,
• Adhere to debate timelines; and
• Limit to one question per person for question period.
d) Federations
• Hold monthly public consultation meetings,
• Recommendations by staff and committees should be given serious consideration by
the Board, and
• Increase time for and number of delegations at meetings.
Finally, there was some feedback that was relevant to this process but that could be more
appropriately addressed through other initiatives such as the Board Evaluation process
(effectiveness of meetings /deliberations) and the accessibility of web information and enhancement
of web services (web redesign).
Agenda Format and Usability
11. One of the objectives of this process was to enhance the design and layout of the agenda pages to
improve usability for both internal and external stakeholders. To achieve this, the agenda package
will be redesigned and the following changes will be implemented:
a) Redesign of the agenda cover page highlighting the date, time and location of the
meeting and clearly identifying the Board and /or Committee members,
b) Inclusion of information for the public about how to use the agenda and how to appear as
a delegation, who to call with questions, and other relevant information on the inside of
the agenda cover page (this will be supported by related information on the website),
C) Implementation of a new agenda item numbering system which removes the bullets and
ensures that each agenda item is clearly numbered and can be easily referenced,
d) Expansion of the agenda item description to better explain the nature of the item (e.g.,
"Parental Involvement Policy" would become "To establish a Parental Involvement
Committee and Process for Distribution of Funds "),
e) Contact information for the report originator will be added on the committee agenda
page to improve access for public and trustee questions prior to meeting, for example an
agenda item would appear as follows:
To establish a Parental Involvement Committee and Process for Distribution of
Funds (Michele Giroux, ext. 8607)
Report 06 -095 Review of Board Meeting Schedule, Structure and Agenda Distribution
f) Improved use of draft agendas in order to ensure stakeholders are made aware of
upcoming isues,
g) Consolidation of the categories for items on agendas to: Action, Discussion, and
Information,
h) Addition of a distribution sheet to the back page so that the agenda distribution is
easy to access,
i) Separation of the agenda pages for in camera and public meetings so that each agenda
has its own page (no change to the information included), and
j) Addition of the criteria for in camera meetings onto the agenda page (beneath the
resolution to move in camera) so that the criteria for moving in camera are more readily
available.
12. The redesign work is also intended to ensure that all Board and committee agendas have a
common look and feel, incorporating relevant meeting information and our corporate
objectives. Samples of the redesigned documents will be available at the meeting. The redesign
will also include an overhaul of the agenda and minutes section of the Board website to support
the above noted initiatives and to ensure that stakeholders can easily access the information they
need.
Reports
13. The feedback also highlighted a number of ways in which reports could be enhanced. As
expected, some stakeholders requested more information in reports and others requested less
detail. There is recognition that the level of detail in reports is important in contributing to the
decision making process and therefore the effectiveness of committee and Board meetings.
Over the past few months, staff has been working to improve the strategic analysis of
information and data in reports. Efforts in this respect will continue with an emphasis on
ensuring that reports contain a balance of background information and current data, with analysis
of options and rationale for recommendations made. The recommendations should stand alone
as motions.
14. Staff will also investigate options for increasing the use of electronic appendices or reference
documents in order to avoid paper attachments that add considerably to the length of the report
and /or which have been previously distributed and are available from other sources.
15. The report format will be redesigned and a new template will be created that will standardize the
font style and size, margins, layout and design, and will also use the following headers:
• Purpose
• Background
• Status (including rationale)
• Consultation Process
• Financial Implications
• Recommendations
Minutes
in
Report 06 -095 Review of Board Meeting Schedule, Structure and Agenda Distribution
16. A considerable amount of time is spent at Board meetings reviewing minutes and committee
reports and making revisions to same. As a result, staff is reviewing the processes involved
in preparing the minutes in order to improve the accuracy of reporting and the format of the
minutes to ensure that the focus of the minutes is on the decisions made and that decisions
are easier to follow. The format of the motions in the minutes will be revised so that the
motion number is clearly labeled, the text of the motion will be bolded in the minutes and
the final status of the motion will be recorded at the bottom of the motion on the right side,
for example:
Motion xx -xx
Moved by Trustee XX, Seconded by Trustee YY
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Board Chair send a letter to the
Minister of Education outlining the OCDSB concerns with the state of
education funding in Ontario.
- Carried -
17. Staff will also be reviewing other documents that are generated summarizing meetings. For
example, we will be reviewing the Director's Notes with respect to distribution, content, and
placement on the website in order to optimize their availability and use as a communications tool
for both internal and external stakeholders.
18. Another important post meeting tool is the "Unofficial Meeting Summary" which is intended to
identify the action required as a result of the meeting. Our current practice is to include a full
summary of the delegations and public question period in this document. This is time consuming
and delays the release of this summary. In future, the meeting summary will include the name
and subject matter of delegations and public questioners, and will identify any action required.
The more detailed summary of the delegation will be included in the minutes.
19. Staff is also recommending that Chairs' Committee discuss a change in the manner in which
minutes of committee meetings are made. Currently, the minutes of standing committees are
presented as reports to Board and included in the Board agenda. There are no "minutes" of
standing committee meetings. This creates some confusion for stakeholders about how to follow
an item from the report stage through to the final decision at the Board meeting. As an
alternative, minutes of standing committee meetings would be approved by the committee (not
the Board) and only the committee recommendations (motions) would be included on the Board
agenda.
Committees
20. The feedback on committees and committee structure indicated a need to maximize the
effectiveness of the committee system by reducing the amount of time spent on discussion and
deferral/referral of items, the duplication in deliberation of issues between Board and committee,
and the volume and frequency of meetings.
21. There are several alternative approaches to the committee structure that could be pursued and
staff is recommending that Chairs' Committee discuss the following possibilities:
a) The combination of Business Services Committee and Chairs' Committee into one
committee which meets two times per month. This would allow the same amount of time
Report 06 -095 Review of Board Meeting Schedule, Structure and Agenda Distribution
for consideration of issues, but would allow greater flexibility in scheduling agenda
items.
b) A reduction in the number of Human Resources Committee meetings to six meetings per
year with the proviso that meetings may also be held at the call of the Chair as needed.
C) Consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of SEAC reporting directly to Board
rather than through Education Committee.
d) A change to the structure of standing committees by increasing the number of standing
committee members from three to seven (six plus the Chair, ex- officio) and voting
permitted only by members of the committee.
Meeting Schedule
22. The feedback identified a need to increase the amount of time between the release of the agenda
and the meeting, the number and frequency of meetings and the start time of meetings. In
addition, staff will work to ensure that the annual meeting schedule is designed to take into
account the impact of the regular calendar (religious holidays restrictions according to the policy,
last committee meeting of the year to be followed by a Board meeting, timing of the
organizational meeting, etc).
23. It would be helpful for the Chairs' Committee to discuss the following scheduling possibilities:
a) A move to a Tuesday /Thursday schedule for all Board and committee meetings, for
example:
Board Meetings — ls` and 3rd Thursday
Chairs' /Business Services Committees combined — 2nd and 4"' Thursday
Human Resources Committee — ls` Tuesday (6 meetings per year)
Education Committee — 2nd Tuesday
Audit — at the call of the Chair
ACA — ls` Tuesday
ASAC, CCEE & CAYARAC — 3rd Tuesday pm
SEAC — 4"' Tuesday
This type of schedule would increase the amount of time between the release of agendas
and the day of the meeting.
* A similar schedule but using Tuesday /Wednesday may be advantageous as it allows
one extra day of preparation time for the Friday package.
b) Standardize the start time for meetings
Delegations /Public Question Period
24. The rules relating to delegations were central to the demand for this review. It is clear that many
of our stakeholders feel it is necessary to improve accessibility for delegations to appear at
meetings. One way of achieving this is to create more flexibility around how delegations might
attend a meeting. For example, a revised delegations policy could include:
Report 06 -095 Review of Board Meeting Schedule, Structure and Agenda Distribution
• those who sign up in advance and in accordance with current practice would be listed on
the agenda and would have their material distributed to trustees with the agenda,
• those who sign up after the agenda deadline, must provide their written submission by
noon on the day prior to the meeting and the material will be released to trustees by e -mail,
and
• those who appear at public question period may sign up at the meeting, but are restricted
to asking a question.
Rules of Procedure
25. Once changes have been determined, it will be necessary to make amendments to the rules of
procedure. In addition to the specific rules that will require amendment, it is proposed that a
more comprehensive review of the rules of procedure be undertaken as the second stage of this
initiative. The goal of this exercise would be to:
• clarify the applicability of the rules between committee and Board,
• clarify those sections which are frequently subject to question/confusion (reconsideration,
notice of motion, etc.),
• make necessary housekeeping amendments based on changes stemming from this review,
• clarify voting /speaking ability between Student Trustee Advisor and Student Trustees
when both are at the committee meeting, and
• clarify consent agenda procedures.
Other Items
26. Further discussions about the following areas will allow staff to develop final recommendations
for the Chairs' Committee to consider for implementation in September 2006:
• Minutes of standing committees will go to the committee for approval versus to going to
Board as a report. Only committee recommendations will go to Board.
• Changes to the committee structure, with a possibility of combining committees.
• SEAC reporting directly to Board.
• Reduction in the number of Human Resource Committee meetings.
• Increasing the number of standing committee members from three to seven, with voting by
committee members only.
• Changes to the meeting schedule.
Conclusion
27. The process of collecting input and feedback has been extensive. Revisions that will be
implemented on the process and procedure components will enhance information for Board
members, the public and staff (e.g., redesign of agenda format, layout of reports, minutes format,
unofficial meeting summary layout, and Director's Notes).
SUBMITTED FOR DISCUSSION
Report 06 -095 Review of Board Meeting Schedule, Structure and Agenda Distribution
Lorne M. Rachlis
Director of Education/
Secretary of the Board
Michele Giroux
Executive Officer (Administration)
Report 06 -095 Review of Board Meeting Schedule, Structure and Agenda Distribution