In the midst of the municipal election campaign, a trustee with the Limestone District School Board is trying to address complaints about transparency.
Laurie French says she’ll bring a motion to next week’s board meeting that aims to be more “open” about meetings that are held in private.
“For those discussions that are required to take place in private session, we can then report out immediately following at the public sessions and ‘rise and report,'” French said.
“And I hope that will help people feel like they have a better window to what must be conducted in private session.”
Some people, including a slate of new candidates, complain about a veil of secrecy over the board’s past activities such as how it handled naming a new high school by secret ballot, censuring a trustee and choosing a replacement for the late Dave Jackson.
“Private session has to be held legally for particular reasons to protect the board or protect the individuals involved,” said Wess Garrod, a current trustee who’s running for re-election. “And then anything that can come forward out of private session will come forward out of private session.”
With a raft of incumbent trustees not running, at least half of the nine-member board will be made up of newcomers after this fall’s election.