Policy #15: Community Engagement
The Board will develop and implement strategies to enhance the Board’s communication and engagement with communities, ratepayers and the citizens of Sunrise School Division. These strategies will include:
15.1 Formal connections with the community, with government, and with other relevant agencies
and organizations in order to support the achievement of Board goals for the division.
The Board will share information, proactively identify issues of importance, work
collaboratively and build relationships.
15.2 The Board believes that all reasonable efforts should be made to identify the desires of the
community and to be responsive, through its actions, to those desires. There are two major
ways in which the will of the community shall influence the development of Board policies.
- The people of the Division are responsible for electing Board members to represent their ward.
- All citizens of the Division will be encouraged to express ideas, concerns, and opinions about the schools through such means as:
- written suggestions or proposals;
- presentations at hearings or at Board meetings;
- responses to surveys made regarding education;
- attendance at open meetings of the Board; and
- active involvement with the school's Parent Council
15.3 Keeping the public informed of the Board's and division challenges, deliberations, policies,
and actions by encouraging the public and media to attend meetings either in person or
through electronic means, with the exception of in-camera meetings. All supporting
documentation of regular board meetings will be provided to the public no later than the
start time of each regular board meeting.
15.4 Designating a Board spokesperson who will endeavour to be current on all matters of Board
governance and policy. In most cases this will be the Board Chair or the Chair's designate.
15.5 The Superintendent or his/her designate will act as the primary spokesperson for operational
or administrative matters.
References:
Policy 1 – Vision, Values and Mission
Date Adopted: February 2017
Date Amended: January 2019; October 2019