Fera calls for Catholic trustees to be graded
WAYNE CAMPBELL
SPECIAL TO POSTMEDIA NETWORK
Trustee Frank Fera wants to know how he and the Niagara Catholic District School Board are doing.
The trustee for Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake presented a notice of motion Tuesday calling for an independent survey of staff, parents and pastors.
He said the board has just completed challenging negotiations. It has been years since it asked for feedback. It is healthy to get honest feedback from the system.
A key issue in negotiations between the board and the Ontario English Catholic Elementary Teachers Association was access to trustees over grievances.
After a year of talks, the board locked out the elementary teachers for a week in April. In the contract settlement, teachers gained informal access to trustees.
In his motion, Fera wants to hire a firm specializing in talking to staff, parents and parish leaders. He would set a March 2018 deadline for the survey report.
Fera wants it to look at staff and parental attitudes toward trustees, the director and senior administrative staff.
The survey should examine the trust level of the administration and seek feedback on communication practices within the board.
Fera hopes to learn the level of job satisfaction within the school system.
Finally, he seeks budget suggestions at the school and board levels.
On Tuesday, the board referred discussion of the motion to its next committee of the whole meeting.