Provide governance and oversight of the school district by establishing and overseeing governance policies that ensure community priorities, values, and standards are applied in local education
Provide vision, goals and guiding priorities through Purposes policies
Establish boundaries for the superintendent to follow, establishing policies that outline the standards and values that the community expects the school district to uphold
Provide local accountability for school district performance by monitoring progress and compliance with these governing policies and reporting such evidence and results to the school district
Each member works for the success of all students in the school district.
The education council functions as a unit and each member must contribute to the collective work.
DEC members must:
Each member is expected to become familiar with the education system and the DEC’s governance model. Knowing the scope of the mandate and the limitations will help avoid confusion and focus on the work of the DEC for the benefit of all students.
It is important for each member to actively take part in the work of the DEC. The strength of any DEC is in considering the diverse views and opinions of the members to develop an agreed upon position or decision. It is equally important that each member respect the official position of the council once a vote is recorded as a motion in the minutes. Every council member must publicly support the decision of the DEC -even if they personally disagreed and voted against it. This is referred to as ‘speaking with one voice.’
Each member must follow council policies about public statements, media interviews and social media to ensure united and consistent messaging.
Members have been elected or appointed to this position because people trust them to make carefully considered decisions and to exercise their vote. It is your responsibility to be familiar with the materials provided to you in advance of the meeting, to ask questions, to participate in the discussion and debate, and to vote
Each DEC has a code of conduct that outlines expectations for professional and ethical behaviour.
Each member must adhere to the code of conduct and hold other members accountable for the way they represent the public and the school district.
Students and staff have privacy rights. Each DEC member has a duty to uphold these rights under the law as part of the government and as an employer.
Each DEC member is elected by their community to represent the entire school district. It is important that you avoid appearing to favour the schools in the neighbourhood where you were elected over the best interests of all schools. You are obligated to consider all the information before the council and to work with your peers to decide what is best for the whole district.
DECs are responsible for making local decisions about the operation of schools in their district.
How?
At the district level, the DEC develops guidelines and the general management makes day-to-day decisions in accordance with these guidelines.
The superintendent is accountable to the District Education Councils (DEC) for the management of programs, services and resources, for the quality of learning and for the implementation of the educational plan and the expenditure plan of the district.
District Education Councils (DECs) are responsible for hiring or firing the superintendent in their district.
In classrooms, teachers make the most important local decisions about classroom management and the delivery of the provincial curriculum, tailoring it to each student in the classroom.