The Board commits itself and its trustees to ethical, businesslike, and lawful conduct, including proper use of authority and appropriate decorum when acting as trustees.
8.1 Trustees must have loyalty to the ownership and operations of the Board, without
conflict in loyalties to staff, other organizations, and any personal interest as a consumer.
8.2 Trustees must avoid conflict of interest with respect to their fiduciary responsibility:
(i) There will be no self-dealing or business by a member with the organization. Trustees will
disclose their involvements with other organizations, with vendors, or any associations which
might be, or might reasonably be seen as being, a conflict. No member of the Board shall
take part in the discussion of any questions in which he/she has a personal or pecuniary
interest beyond his/her interest as an ordinary ratepayer, nor shall he/she vote on the same.
(ii) When the Board is to decide upon an issue, about which a trustee has an unavoidable
conflict of interest, that trustee shall absent herself or himself without comment from not
only the vote, but also from the deliberation.
(iii) Trustees will not use their Board position to obtain employment in the organization for
themselves, immediate family members, or close associates. A trustee shall absent herself
or himself without comment from not only the vote, but also from the deliberation of
employment pertaining to family members, close associates, or the trustee her/himself.
Should a trustee be successful in securing employment with the Sunrise School Division,
he or she must resign from the Board prior to start of employment.
8.3 Trustees must not attempt to exercise individual authority over the organization:
(i) Trustees' interaction with the Superintendent or with staff must recognize the lack of
authority vested in individuals except when explicitly Board authorized.
(ii) Trustees' interaction with public, press or other entities must recognize the same limitation
and the inability of any Board trustee to speak for the Board except to repeat explicitly stated
Board decisions.
(iii) Except for Board deliberation about whether reasonable interpretation of Board policy has
been achieved by the Superintendent, trustees will not express individual judgements of
performance of employees or the Superintendent.
8.4 Trustees will maintain confidentiality appropriate to sensitive issues and information that
otherwise may tend to compromise the integrity or legal standing of the Board, especially
those matters discussed during the in camera session.
8.5 Trustees shall keep in confidence any personal or confidential information obtained in his or
her capacity as a trustee and not disclose the information except when required by law or
authorized by the school board to do so.
8.6 Trustees shall not leave the room when the Chair has put a question on the floor.
8.9 Trustees shall not speak to the question or in reply for longer than 3 minutes without leave of
the Chair.
8.10 Trustees shall not speak more than once on the same question without leave of the Chair.
The trustee who proposes the question is permitted to reply and thereby close debate. A
member may speak more than once for clarification only.
8.11 Trustees will notify Board Chair or designate of absence from any meeting prior to the
meeting. Board trustees missing three (3) consecutive Regular Board meetings will vacate
his/her seat unless the Board passes a motion to excuse those absences based on rationale
provided by the absent trustee.
8.12 To build trust among members and to ensure an environment conducive to effective governance,
members will:
(i) Focus on issues rather than personalities
(ii) Respect others who have differing opinions
(iii) Respect decisions of the full Board
(iv) Exercise honesty in all written and interpersonal interaction, never intentionally
misleading or misinforming each other
(v) Address concerns privately, praise publicly
(vi) Make every reasonable effort to protect the integrity and promote the positive image of
the division and one another.
8.13 Trustees shall adhere to Code of Conduct for School Trustees as outlined in The Public Schools Act. (PSA35)
8.14 Trustees shall ahere to The Public Service Act in order to provide ethical and effective public
service for Manitoba.
8.15 Process for Addressing Breaches of the Code of Conduct
Trustees are committed to faithful compliance with the provisions of the Board’s policies. In the event of an individual trustee’s demonstrated willful and/or continuing breach of policy, any trustee(s) may seek remedy by the following process:
(i) Notification of the violation presented to the Chair of the Board of Trustees.
(ii) Notification, if feasible, in a private setting between the alleged offending trustee and the
Chair of the Board of Trustees or, if applicable, the Board member who initiated the
notice of the violation.
(iii) If not resolved, discussion in a private session between
the offending member and the entire Board of Trustees.
(iv) If resolution cannot be achieved at this point, between the offending member and the
Board, the Board will impose sanctions which may include:
- Censuring the trustee;
- Barring the trustee from attending all or part of a meeting of the Board or a committee of
the Board;
- Suspending the trustee from the Board, including suspending all the trustee’s rights,
duties and privileges as a member of the Board, for up to three months as per the
PSA 35.2(1)
(v) Appeal of Sanction:
- A Trustee sanctioned under 8.13(iv) may initially seek an appeal to the Board, in
camera. If the outcome of this appeal remains unsatisfactory to the Trustee, she/he
Sec. 35.3(1); or
- A Trustee sanctioned under 8.13(iv) may initially seek an appeal to a single adjudicator
(vi) Chair/Presiding Officer
- The Code of Conduct applies equally to the Chair of the Board. In the case of an
allegation of a breach of the Code by the Chair, wherever a process requires action by
the Chair, it shall be modified to read the Vice-Chair.
- The Chair of the Board or Presiding Officer of any meeting of the Board or committee of
the Board shall exercise their powers in a fair and impartial manner having due regard for
every Trustee’s opinion or views.
References:
Policy 1 – Vision, Values and Mission
Policy 3 – Role of the Board
Policy 7 – Board Operations
Legal Reference: The Public Schools Act
Date Adopted: February 2017
Date Amended: May 2019