BYLAW 9360
GENERAL MEETING OF THE BOARD
1. The Board of Education of School District 61 will regularly meet on the fourth Monday of each month except where the fourth Monday is a statutory holiday, in which case the meeting will take place on the next working day, except for the months of July and August, when no meeting will be held and for the month of December, when the meeting will be on the second Monday of the month.
2. In addition to the regularly scheduled meetings of the Board the newly elected Board will meet for the first time within 30 days after the official results of the election of trustees will have been declared, for the purpose of receiving the results, the swearing in of Trustees, and the selection of the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board. This inaugural meeting of the Board will be called and chaired by the Secretary-Treasurer of the School District until the Chair is elected, at which time the elected Chair will preside.
3. Each year thereafter during the term of office, the election of Chair, Vice-Chair, and Board representatives will take place at the November Board meeting. At the meeting following, the Chair will appoint, after first canvassing Trustees for interest, Trustees to external and internal committees, as well as family of schools, municipal and First Nation liaison roles.
4. The Chair, the Secretary-Treasurer or any three trustees, may call a special meeting of the Board, in addition to the regularly scheduled general meetings of the Board.
5. A special meeting will be called upon less than the normal forty-eight hours’ notice, in writing or by telephone, with such meeting being deemed to have been properly convened if a majority of trustees agree to waive the normal forty-eight hours of written notice.
6. The following procedural matters will be implemented:
• Meetings will be conducted in two major sections:
The first will encompass the agenda, minutes, correspondence, and acceptance of presentations from the public and employee groups;
The second will be for the consideration of Board Committee Reports and Special Reports to the Board.
• The meetings should be conducted in a timely manner and time guidelines and limits adhered to with respect to:
* general meetings of the Board of Education commence at 7:30 p.m. and continue until no later than 10:30 p.m., save as may be extended by majority consent
* Starting the meeting on time
* The Community Presentations period is limited to a maximum of six speakers, each speaking a maximum of five minutes; there can only be three speakers per issue (numbers and time may be extended at the discretion of the Chair)
* Individuals or delegations wishing to make a presentation will be advised of their placement on an upcoming agenda on the Wednesday before the Regular meeting. Presentations on behalf of groups will be presentation by the spokesperson(s) of that group, who will be identified on the agenda.
* There will be no public debate with presenters; information only will be received
* The Question Period is limited to 15 minutes
7. The public will be encouraged to attend the Education Policy and Directions, or the Operations Policy and Planning Standing Committee meetings, rather than a Board meeting, to facilitate dialogue with the public before decisions are made.
In addition to the opportunities to participate at Standing Committees, the Board Chair will ask partner groups including the Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association (GVTA), the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE Locals 947 and 382), the Victoria Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils (VCPAC), Esquimalt and Songhees Nations, Student Representatives, and the Victoria Principals and Vice-Principals Association (VPVPA), whether they would like to provide comment on motions prior to them being debated by the Board. Each stakeholder representative will have up to two minutes to provide comment through the Chair.
8. In the event that the Board may fail to conclude the business of the agenda by the time of adjournment the Chair may ask the board to prioritize the remaining agenda items. Agenda items not concluded at the meeting, will be placed on the next month’s agenda, and given priority to before new business, if a Special meeting is not called to address unfinished business.
9. All agendas will be prepared by the Chair of the Board, and circulated by the Chair or designate. Proposed agenda items will be provided to the Secretary-Treasurer no later than the Tuesday before the meeting.
10. The agenda will be adopted by ordinary motion as the first item of business at each meeting.
11. The Agenda will contain the following:
Guidelines for the meeting format including outlining opportunities for public and stakeholder comments
A. Acknowledgement of Traditional Territories; Adoption of the Agenda; Approval of Previous Minutes and Business Arising from the Minutes and Presentations of which first priority will be given to schools, and then to the public and community.
B. Opportunity for Comments from the Public (15 minutes)
C. Correspondence
D. Chair’s Report; Trustee Reports
E. Board Committee Reports:
(1) Education Policy and Directions Motions
(2) Operations Policy and Planning Motions
F. Staff Reports
G. Question Period
H. Public Disclosure of In-Camera Items
I. New Business/Notice of Motions
J. Adjournment
The order of the Agenda will be as above, unless varied at the meeting by majority vote.
12. All votes will be recorded in the Regular board meeting minutes with the Trustee’s name and yes, no or abstain. Absent Trustees’ names will be recorded as absent for the vote.
13. An electronic copy of the General Meeting Agenda will be made available to the media, partner groups and the public (website) through the Secretary-Treasurer’s three days before the meeting.
14. The Board Chair may reschedule any regularly scheduled general meeting of the Board to a different time and date in order to meet the business requirements of the Board. The Board may, by ordinary resolution, cancel a regular general meeting of the Board.
15. In accordance with Section 67 of the School Act, Trustees may participate in or attend a meeting of the Board by telephone or other means of communication if all Trustees and other persons participating in or attending the meeting are able to communicate with each other. Such attendance shall only be permitted where Trustee participation is prevented by extraordinary circumstances and can be accommodated by staff.
16. With the exception of poll votes pursuant to Bylaw 9011, and electronic meetings called by the Chair, the Board will not conduct meetings electronically. For the purposes of this bylaw, electronic communications that would constitute a meeting include communications shared among all trustees that materially advance or debate a matter before the Board. This Bylaw does not prohibit the electronic provision of information pertaining to a matter before the Board.
Greater Victoria School District
Adopted: April 27, 1981
Various Revisions
Revised: November 25, 1991
Revised: June 23, 1997
Revised: January 16, 2006
Revised January 19, 2009 (corrected)
Revised: November 17, 2014
Revised: December 14, 2015
Revised: June 20, 2016
Revised: April 24, 2017
Revised: April 23, 2018
Revised: April 26, 2021
Modification to this document is not permitted without prior written consent from the Greater Victoria School Board
Bylaw 9360