New Westminster school board will continue with online meetings

New Westminster school trustees will continue to meet virtually at least until January 2022 – or until B.C. enters Stage 4 of its pandemic response.

That decision was made during a vote at the school board meeting held Tuesday, Sept. 28 via Webex.

Trustee Mary Lalji, who raised the issue at the board’s operations committee meeting two weeks ago, said it “just seems daft” to consider returning to in-person meetings given B.C.’s rising COVID-19 cases.

Plus, she noted, more parents have been attending meetings and bringing concerns to the board since trustees switched to the virtual format in April 2020.

“If our goal is making sure that we’re meeting the needs of our parents and the needs of their kids, then wouldn’t you want more people attending these meetings?” she said.

Board chair Gurveen Dhaliwal said she believes the board could safely meet in person but agreed parent participation was the main motivator for continuing with online meetings.

“That’s just been the biggest win out of all of this,” she said.

Trustee Anita Ansari noted the loss of some of the aspects of in-person meetings, including holding fuller discussions and being able to read and understand speakers’ body language. In the future, she said, some sort of “proto-virtual environment” that allows parent engagement would be ideal.

Trustee Danielle Connelly suggested some sort of hybrid format might work best in future but agreed that, for now, continuing with virtual meetings is the “prudent” alternative.

The lone vote against continuing with virtual meetings came from trustee Dee Beattie. She suggested the board consider holding committee meetings online, to allow for public engagement, but hold its full board meetings in person.

“I’ve heard parents say, ‘OK, the kids are expected to be in school, why aren’t you guys meeting in person?’” she said. “We’re asking kids to come to school, so why aren’t we meeting and doing our business in person?”

Dhaliwal pointed out switching to virtual meetings hasn’t meant trustees are doing any less work. Board members have also had some of their non-public meetings, such as “in-service” sessions to delve into particular budget or capital planning issues, in person.

“We continue to show up,” she said. “We continue to have those important conversations.”

The board will re-evaluate the issue at its Jan. 18 operations committee meeting or after the B.C. government moves into Stage 4 of its provincial reopening plan, whichever comes first.

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