After approximately a year of work to develop a new policy manual for the district, School District 57 is going back to do further consultation after the board of trustees voted to table the proposed policies last week.
Board vice-chairperson Trent Derrick called for the proposed policy manual to be referred to the board's ad hoc committee on truth and reconciliation for more consultation on indigenous rights. The terms of reference for the committee have not been approved by the board yet, but that work needs to be done before the board approves the new policy framework for the district, Derrick said.
"If we move forward without completing that committee, we kind of lose the heart of that committee," Derrick said. "Bill 41, the implementation of (the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Rights), is a game-changer and something we have to take seriously. What are we saying to our students – to our Indigenous and LGBTQ+ – if we went ahead with this without consulting with them?"
Derrick said the board needs to reach out to the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation and McLeod Lake Indian Band.
"I think the policies have a good structure, but we can add some strength to them by some consultation," he added.
Trustee Shuirose Valimohamed said the district policies are important, and it's import the district take the time to get it right.
"This is not going to be easy," Valimohamed said. "(But) let's get this as right as we can."
Trustee Bob Thompson said he thinks the new policies are better than what the board has currently, but the district has to "start walking the walk" when it comes to reconciliation.
"We need to delay our satisfaction and delay what we want to do, so that all the people we want to represent are included," Thompson said. "If we don't do that, we're going to create more damage that we don't want to do. I see a lot of opportunity for misunderstanding here."
Prince George District Teachers' Association president Joanne Hapke also raised concerns about the proposed policies. The proposed new policies would allow senior district staff to fire teachers, Hapke said.
The collective agreement between the association and the district stipulates only the board of trustees can dismiss a teacher, she said.
"You will contravene the collective agreement between the PGDTA and School District 57 if you proceed with this motion," Hapke said.
Not all members of the board were convinced that more consultation was needed, however.
"We were committed to this process over a year ago. We've had extensive consultation with with many partner groups," trustee Ron Polillo said. "We even delayed implementation and put this out for 60 further days of consultation. If we are looking to get this perfect, we will never have a document that's perfect."
Polillo said he was surprised to hear the concerns of his fellow trustees, because the group had seemed to be in support of the changes the last time the board reviewed them.
Chairperson Tim Bennett said the policy manual is the most important things the board will vote on, and if the board isn't comfortable approving them then it shouldn't.
"I don't think the truth and reconciliation committee is going to get through this work in three months, or six months. It's going to take time," chairperson Tim Bennett said. "(But) I believe we could have approved the policies tonight, and then developed an avenue to do that work. Our current policies have a lot of challenges."
