HomeMy WebLinkAbout4.2 Report 20-008 Revisions to PIC By-Laws and Standing Rules
Report 20-008, Proposed Revisions to Parent Involvement Committee Page 1
(PIC) By-Laws and Standing Rules
PARENT INVOLVEMENT COMMITTEE 15 January 2020
Report No. 20-008
Proposed Revisions to Parent Involvement Committee By-Laws and
Standing Rules
Key Contact: Michèle Giroux, Executive Officer, Corporate Services, 613-596-8211 ext.
8310
PURPOSE:
1. To propose a number of revisions to the Parent Involvement Committee (PIC)
By-Laws and Standing Rules in compliance with Ontario Regulation 612/00
School Councils and Parent Involvement Committee under the Education Act.
CONTEXT:
2. Throughout the Parent Involvement Committee (PIC) discussions this year, a
number of issues and/or concerns were raised relating to the language in the PIC
By-Laws and Standing Rules, including:
Community Representatives; who qualifies and how they are appointed.
Non-voting members; who appoints them;
Parent Members; their term of office and their appointment process; and
Who counts for quorum.
At the 20 November 2019 meeting, Committee members were asked to provide
input into revisions to the PIC By-Laws and Standing Rules in order to bring
clarity to the language of the By-Laws and ensure compliance with Regulation
612/00.
CONSIDERATIONS:
3. Community Representatives
The language regarding Community Representatives currently allows for an
individual or a local association to be appointed. The continuation of this practice
with some modifications to the current language to enhance the clarity of the
definition and the appointment process is proposed. Section 7.3 was added to
clarify that when a Community Member is a local association, the association, not
their representative, holds office and therefore when the representative is no
longer able to attend PIC meetings, the association may appoint another
individual to fill its seat for the remainder of the term.
Report 20-008, Proposed Revisions to Parent Involvement Committee Page 2
(PIC) By-Laws and Standing Rules
4. Appointment of Non-voting Members
Currently, the By-Laws are silent on the mechanism for appointing the non-voting
members (up to five) to the Committee, and according to Section 33 (2) of
Regulation 612/00, the Board shall make those appointments in the absence of
related PIC By-Laws.
In order to align the practice with the Regulation, new language is proposed for
section 3.0 of the By-Laws to clarify that the Committee appoints the voting
members while the District appoints the non-voting members.
5. Parent Member Term of office
Ontario Regulation 612/00 section 37 (1) states: “The term of office of some of
the parent members of a parent involvement committee shall be one year and
the term of office of some of the parent members shall be two years, as provided
in the by-laws of the committee”. The goal of this section is to promote continuity
in the membership by staggering the terms of office for the Parent Members.
Section 43 (b), iv of the Regulation requires the Committee to establish By-Laws
that specify the number of Parent Members will hold office for one year and the
number of Parent Members that will hold office for two years.
Currently, the Committee has Parent Members with both one-year and two-year
terms, where the length of term is determined by the interest of the members and
the needs of the Committee. It is proposed that the term of office of the eight
Parent Members be fixed to two years (Section 5.1) to ensure some continuity in
the membership of the Committee and to ensure the new members have enough
transition time to acquire the knowledge of the mandate and the operation of the
Committee. OCASC representatives, who are deemed Parent Members as well,
will continue to hold office for one year.
6. Simplified Appointment Process
The PIC Membership Sub-Committee has recently recommended the
establishment of a waiting list of candidates who could be appointed as members
should a current member(s) vacate their seat(s) during their term of office. In
2018, the Committee drew from the waiting list to fill a Parent Member vacancy
that arose during the year.
The new section 6.8 proposes language that would provide for this practice to
enable the Committee to tap into available candidates and not be required to
undergo the recruitment process with every emerging vacancy.
7. Election of Chairs and Vice Chairs
Section 6.18 is updated to confine the voters for a Chair and/or Vice Chair to
Parent Members of the Committee. This change is proposed in alignment with
Section 38 (2) of Regulation 612/00 which states “The Chair or co-chairs of a
parent involvement committee must be parent members of the committee and
shall be elected for a two-year term by the parent members of the committee at
the first meeting of the committee in each school year that there is a vacancy in
the office of chair or co-chair”.
Report 20-008, Proposed Revisions to Parent Involvement Committee Page 3
(PIC) By-Laws and Standing Rules
8. Quorum
The language in 9.4 is modified to clarify that only voting members count for
quorum, in alignment with the Board By-Laws and Standing Rules.
COMMUNICATION/CONSULTATION ISSUES:
9. Section 14.0 of PIC By-Laws and Standing Rules requires the approval of two-
thirds (⅔) of all voting members present at a regular meeting of the Committee to
approve changes to the By-Laws, provided that advance notice in writing has
been given to all Committee members. Report 20-008 will serve as advance
notice of the proposed changes at the 15 January 2020 meeting of the PIC.
RESOURCE IMPLICATIONS:
10. There are no resource implications associated with the revision of the PIC By-
Laws and Standing Rules.
STRATEGIC LINKS:
11. The proposed changes to the By-Laws support sound governance structures and
practices in alignment with the mandate and operations of the Committee as set
by Ontario Regulation 612/00.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
THAT proposed changes to PIC By-Laws and Standing Rules, as outlined in
Appendix A to Report 20-008, be approved.
Michèle Giroux
Executive Officer,
Corporate Services
Camille Williams-Taylor
Director of Education
APPENDICES:
Appendix A: PIC By-Laws and Standing Rules
Appendix B: Ontario Regulation 612/00