When school trustee Lisa Graham opened her board of education agenda package last week she was surprised to see her motion on targeted funding for special needs students wasn't in it.
She thought it was just a clerical error, so she went online to check the agenda, but it wasn't there either. When she contacted the district to learn why her motion was missing,
Graham said she was told it was a "directive" to leave it off.
"I'm trying to be generous in my attitude here," Graham said. "I don't want to start world war three, but I also absolutely will not stand to be muzzled. It's entirely inappropriate to quash information or speech. I have an obligation. I'm elected."
The title of her motion was included in the agenda, but the motion itself and the rationale weren't.
Graham's not the only Voice New Westminster trustee whose motion disappeared from the public agenda (which will be discussed on Tuesday, after Record press deadlines). Her fellow Voice trustees Casey Cook and MaryAnn Mortensen also had issues.
Two motions from Cook and one Mortensen put forward for the board's public meeting were moved into the board's closed meeting, which is not open to the public.
It's a move Cook takes issue with, saying his motions should be debated in public because they don't fall under the criteria for the closed meeting.
One of Cook's motions calls for all trustee and senior staff expenses to be listed on the district's website immediately following monthly reporting periods.
"Nothing earth-shaking there - just straight reporting," Cook said. "This is stuff that gets reported on SOFI (statement of financial information) anyway."
His other motion called for the district to separate out financial statements for the business company, which oversees a school in China, from the district's budget.
"To have things not show up or to not appear on agendas to me is not appropriate. It's a re-occurring theme, and it's distressing," Cook said.
"I have not seen good reason why those can't be discussed in the open meeting," Mortensen said, referring to Cook's motions. "They are open matters. They don't refer to land, legal or personnel, or anything that puts the board in jeopardy."
Mortensen's motion calls for instructional minutes to be added to the school day to compensate for next year's two-week spring break and for parent and staff consultation on adjustment to the school calendar.
Currently, the district plans to reduce break times to compensate for the two-week spring breaks.
"Why doesn't the public have a right to speak to that, to listen to us speak to those issues?" Mortensen asked. "They have the right to hear what the argument is."
Board chair Michael Ewen told The Record that none of the concerned trustees have contacted him about the matter.
Ewen, who chairs the board, wasn't at the agenda meeting because his granddaughter was being born. Vice-chair Jonina Campbell set the agenda along with district staff, he said.
"Obviously, there's politics in this because if you want to solve problems you phone the person that's responsible," he said.
"There's obviously something in the motions, and I know what it is because I know the motions, that senior administration feels should be in closed. If trustees don't agree with that then trustees move it into the open. Trustees always have that option, so I don't get what the issue is.
"If they're suggesting that it's some nefarious plot politically, that's just a pile of crap," Ewen said.
He said trustees are also welcome to attend the agenda-setting meetings.
