Board chair was quite taken aback
Dear editor: It was very interesting to read the transcript of my interchange with Mr. James Miller (“Meeting about West Kelowna held in Rutland,” Okanagan Weekend, March 3) which took place at the beginning of the public question and comment period at the Feb. 28 public meeting of the board of education. I was quite taken aback when Mr. Miller left the media table to be first at the microphone, and I obviously did not make a case, with Mr. Miller, for holding our regularly scheduled board meeting in Kelowna.
The board does hold public meetings in other parts of the district, but these are usually devoted to one topic and are either a “consultation” meeting or a committee meeting.
While board meetings usually take place at the board office on Underhill Street, the Hollywood Road education services is only a few kilometers away in the Rutland area, and if a large gallery is expected that is where we have traditionally moved our meeting. When the board office moves to the Hollywood Road site within the next month, we will have all our administrative services in one place with a choice of larger meeting space available right on site. The Kelowna area is the midpoint of the school district, and the obvious place to have our corporate office.
Regular meetings of the board of education have a set agenda, follow rules of order, and are defined in Policy 135, School Board Operation. At the beginning of the meetings, at the section called Inside 23, there is an opportunity for the board to hear from students and staff on innovative programs in the district or to recognize them for outstanding achievements.
At the meeting held on Feb. 28, students, teachers and administrators from Mount Boucherie Secondary and Davidson Road Elementary in Lake Country, attended to explain two original communication tools they use in their schools. Our secondary and elementary students in attendance are to be commended for their interesting and informative presentations, made in front of an unusually large audience.
We schedule Inside 23 in advance. Would Mr. Miller have expected the students and families from Lake Country to have had to make their way to the Westside to attend a regularly scheduled board meeting? I certainly would not have supported moving the meeting to the Westside or of cancelling the attendance of our students and staff members from either schools.
In closing, I would like to thank Mr. Miller for attending our public board meeting. I cannot remember when we last had anyone from the Kelowna Daily Courier in attendance, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him there. I believe that school board business is important enough be reported on first hand, so I hope he is setting a welcome precedent. And if a reporter decides to make the news instead of just reporting it, I can live with that.
Moyra Baxter, Chairperson Central Okanagan Board of Education