Public loses when trustees stay silent

Trustees are the “accountability link” between school boards and the community, says former Ontario education minister Dave Cooke. If they aren’t prepared to speak to the media, which represents the public, it reinforces the idea that they don’t understand their role, he adds.

Cooke, who served as education minister in Bob Rae’s NDP government and is a former Windsor school trustee, said trustees across Ontario seem to be struggling with “what they really exist for.”

Amendments brought in by the Liberal government while Kathleen Wynne was education minister, he said, were meant to clarify and strengthen the role of trustees but most have never taken on that responsibility.

Passive and silent trustees are a symptom of a power vacuum that board administration often moves in to fill, said Cooke.  (more...)

Public loses when trustees stay silent

Related:

School trustees: Just what are they 'entrusted' with?

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Post by Society for Quality Education Canada.