The silence of the trustees

Gay rights case highlights English school boards’ strict media policies

The election of Andrea Steenbakkers to the Ottawa Catholic School Board in October — more than a month after she dropped out of the race — was a worrying sign that the public is not paying attention to school boards.

More worrying still: Some board communications practices seem designed to keep it that way.

At a time when newly elected trustees are joining school boards across Ontario and tough issues such as school closures and separate school funding are on the horizon, many school boards are limiting media access to trustees in a way the public would never accept if they were city councillors or members of Parliament.

The tightening control over to whom elected trustees talk has come under fire across Canada recently.

Some worry the trend is further eroding public engagement in education, one of the big money and high priority portfolios of the provinces.

The Ottawa Catholic board’s communications policy was in the spotlight last week when the board was embroiled in a controversy over the vetoing of a Grade 6 gay rights project.

No publicly elected official would speak to the media about the issue.

Instead, the board’s communications department released a brief statement it said could be attributed to board chair Ted Hurley. Further questions were referred to director of education Julian Hanlon.

Neither Hurley nor the local trustee, Betty-Anne Kealey, did an interview.

Kealey, the veteran trustee who represents the area that includes St. George Elementary School, referred a reporter to the board’s head of communications, Mardi de Kemp.

Kealey said: “We channel all comments through either her or the chair of the board.”

De Kemp said the board policy is that either the chairman or director speaks for the board. When asked how elected trustees could be accountable to the public, she said: “They have a responsibility to speak to their constituents. They are accessible to the ratepayers but not necessarily to the media …”

De Kemp added: “We don’t have a disciplinary process that they would go through if they spoke to the media.

“They are elected officials and that is something they can do.

“But as an organization, we have come up with a protocol that we designate the chair and the director as our spokesperson.”

The board, however, never made the board chair available for interviews.

The policy that the school board speaks with one voice — usually in the form of a statement from the board chair or director — is not unique to the Ottawa Catholic board.

The Ottawa Carleton District School Board has a similar policy, as do boards across the country.

Its implementation can differ from board to board, however.

Last week, a retiring trustee from Prince George, B.C., slammed her school board’s lack of transparency, including directives that trustees should “keep our opinions to ourselves and leave all media interviews to the board chair or superintendent.”

There have been similar complaints elsewhere. Trustees in Calgary were asked to sign what has been described as a “gag order” instructing them not to speak to the media.

Caroline Andrew, director of the Centre on Governance at the University of Ottawa, said such policies decrease public engagement with crucial issues and likely have other consequences, including disproportionately harming female politicians.

Having boards speak with one voice means it is more difficult for individual trustees to demonstrate that they are making a difference and representing their constituents, Andrew said.

School boards are often a stepping stone into higher levels of politics, particularly for women, she noted.

Lynn Scott, a veteran trustee with the Ottawa Carleton District School Board, said the public board’s policy should not prevent any trustee from speaking to the media, although he or she might be speaking on their own behalf, not for the board.

“It does not say anywhere that trustees can’t ever speak to the media, but we are expected to do so in a sensible way,” Scott said Monday.

Board policy, in fact, says trustees should “diligently respond to requests for information,” she noted.