The City of Prince Albert dissolved the City School Board Liaison Committee during the City Council Meeting on Jan. 26 after reviewing city board structures as part of the City’s upcoming Strategic Plan.
The Prince Albert Catholic School Division was pleased with the original structure and will still try to find ways to advocate. During their meeting on Monday, trustees discussed the best way to move forward following the dissolution.
Direct of education Lorel Trumier said the liaison committee was an important forum for the school division.
“Part of our discussion with our city over the years has always been a point of advocacy and educating City Council about some of the elements that are obviously of concern or that we’re pleased about,” Trumier said.
“In general, (I was) definitely disappointed that the committee has not been renewed.
“We will, as a school board, continue to seek opportunities to work with our city in our advocacy or in our requests.”
Trumier said the division will continue to advocate and hopes there is still an open mind in the City for discussion.
Trumier said that one plan would be to send an invitation to meet with Mayor Bill Powalinsky and other city represenatives.
“We hope that there is still an ear to our concerns and questions that we would have regarding operations for school division within this city,” she said.
“There will be some strategies that we’ll use. Sometimes it will be in letters or invitations for meetings, but it won’t stop our want or need to communicate with the city. It’s just going to look different.”
The City moved forward with a recommendation from Administration that the Mayor’s Office provide an initiation to all School Boards for a meeting, as required, to replace the City School Board Liaison Committee.
Under the old City School Board Liaison Committee, only appointed trustees and the school board chair would meet with City officials. Under the new format the entire board would meet with the Mayor and council.
The report on committees to Council said that the old model of committee was becoming ineffective because of challenges to reach quorum, broad mandates, declining participation and limited actionable outcomes. The report showed that targeted, short-term consultations provide stronger participation and more useful input.
The motion made by Councillor Stephen Ring at the City Council Meeting on Jan. 26 also recommended that the City Clerk’s Office review the new structure prior to the end of 2027 to assess the model’s effectiveness
