The City of Prince Albert dissolved the City School Board Liaison Committee during the City Council Meeting on Jan. 26.
The dissolution came after the city reviewed city board structures as part of the City’s upcoming Strategic Plan.
The Saskatchewan River School Division board as a whole met with Mayor Bill Powalinsky, members of Council and city representatives on Jan. 19. The meeting was to discuss matters of mutual interest.
Director of education Neil Finch said that the new meeting format was productive.
“It was really good. It was a new model of having the whole board meet with mayor and councillors and also their city manager. That was the group that was invited to come join the board and that’s different than the city liaison committee.”
Finch said the meeting occured before the division knew about the dissolution of the committee.
“We wanted to try that as a board, not knowing where the city was going with their committee, but they’ve since dissolved their City Liaison committee so we’re happy that we had to meet,” Finch said.
During the Saskatchewan Rivers Board of Education meeting on Monday a motion was made to continue with the new format and invite the Mayor and City representatives each January for a meeting.
Finch said it was important to continue to meet with the Mayor.
“When you think about it, we have a huge impact on the City of Prince Albert with the amount of students and families that we serve and the amount of employees that we have.”
Finch said because the division serves the surrounding area the conversation can be more productive when Sask Rivers meets with the Mayor.
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.
“There’s lots of value in the entire board meeting with the city and their councillors,” Finch said.
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.
Finch said that overall the new format’s expansion of voices was a great development.
“I’m excited to have all of our voices on the table when we do meet with the city,” Finch said.
