As school board trustees we will

advocate for the following:

• Our preferred option is to advocate for the abolition of public school boards entirely. With modern internet-based voting solutions, they are redundant. The preferable model of school governance should be direct online voting for most policy-making by registered parents and guardians of children attending any given public school. Policy proposals could be put forward by any registered parent or guardian which would be applicable only to their own children's school rather than entire boards. All other parents and guardians with children in the same school could then vote electronically via a website on the proposal in question with a simple majority vote needed to carry. This approach would empower parents and enhance democratic decision-making for each individual school. We have no affiliation with this company but will highlight one example of such a voting solution. Election Buddy is based in Edmonton, Canada. Their website highlights the application of their system in public K-12 schools. We recognize that some limits would need to be imposed for HR issues and budgetary matters, however, the goal of empowering parents makes this an attractive option. We would propose that the provincial government entertain this idea of a trial basis for selected public schools across the province
• With elected trustees there is a known issue of some trustees acting only on behalf of their own constituents. One option is to have elections or appointments for trustees at large.  If elected, voters would all choose from the same list of candidates, regardless of their constituency.
• We will advocate the trustees be limited to serving two terms be they consecutive or not.
• We propose that school board trustee "Codes of Conduct" rules should be limited to matters of proper governance. Trustees should not be subject to ideological constraints imposed under the guise of "Codes of Conduct" or ideologically rooted interpretations of the Ontario Human Rights Code. Such codes are invariably weaponized to silence trustees who speak out on contentious unsettled social and cultural issues. Legislation should unequivocally protect the right of elected trustees to speak freely even on highly divisive issues.
• Questioning or opposing any school board policy (including new policy proposals or existing policies) during or outside of board meetings, privately or publicly, in any form must be explicitly permitted under the Code of Conduct. Doing so will not be deemed a violation of the duty of fiduciary care.
• We would propose that censure-related sanctions should be limited to financial penalties associated with a temporary reduction in honorarium. As elected officials, school board trustees must be able to attend all meetings, receive materials, and participate in committees to represent their constituents. Any sanction process which interferes with their ability to do so effectively robs voters of their elected voice on school boards and is fundamentally undemocratic.
• We reject the idea that trustees should ever be able to silence or reject delegations who speak out on any contentious social or cultural issues impacting our K-12 public schools. Claims that parental delegations should be shut down if their content is perceived to be at odds with the Ontario Human Rights Code or that speaking about contentious topics contributes to an “unsafe environment” are not acceptable as these assertions are subjective and heavily susceptible to ideological bias.
• Trustee meetings should be held in person whenever possible to allow the public to attend.
• We will advocate that the student trustee program be scrapped entirely. We have good reason to believe that the Ontario Student Trustees Association is highly dysfunctional and only serves to ideologically indoctrinate young people.
  
• Trustees should not be subject to mandatory ideologically rooted training of any sort. This would include training in "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion", "Critical Race Theory", "Gender Ideology", "Intersectionality", "Social Emotional Learning", and "Culturally Responsive Pedagogy", to name but a few. Mandatory training should be limited to matters of proper governance.