Trustee Academy Preview

Delegates will learn about the services and programs that BCSTA offers, statutory foundations, the basics of board budgets, understanding provincial funding and more.

Delegates will learn about the BC Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA), their functions and the basics of labour relations.

This is a workshop with George Couros. George is an educator from Edmonton, AB, an innovative learning, teaching and leadership consultant, and the author of the book, The Innovator’s Mindset.

• George Couros, Innovative Learning, Teaching, and Leadership Consultant, Author of the book, “The Innovator’s Mindset”

• BCSTA President
• Ministry of Education representative/s

• Superintendent of Learning, Ministry of Education

Panel discussion with leaders of key education partners on their role and yours moderated by BCSTA President Gordon Swan and Board of Directors.

• Vice President, BC Association of School Business Officials (BCASBO)
• CEO, BC Public School Employers Association (BCPSEA)
• President, BC Principals’ and Vice-Principals’ Association (BCPVPA)
• President, BC School Superintendents’ Association (BCSSA)
• President, BC Confederation Parent Advisory Councils (BCCPAC)
• President, First Nations Education Steering Committee(FNESC)

• Eli Mina, Board Effectiveness Consultant and Registered Parliamentarian

Have you been to a meeting which was long, aimless, monotonous and dull?  Have you seen the bulk of a meeting’s time being taken up by outspoken members, to the exclusion of others? Have you witnessed a meeting becoming unraveled at the first sign of controversy or getting bogged down in arguments about rules of order? Have you ever encountered `meeting fatigue’?

Well, suffering is optional.  In this workshop we will discuss practical tools and proven ideas to help make your meetings orderly, focused, efficient, inclusive and even enjoyable. Specific topics include:

• Who is responsible for a meeting’s success: The Chair, the Participants, or both?
• Creating discussions that are orderly, focused, efficient, inclusive and respectful;
• Gentle but firm enforcement of key meeting rules (`The velvet gavel’);
• Roles of Trustees and Staff members during Board meetings.

“Clearing the path for student learning.”

• SD 48  Sea to Sky
  • Board Chair Rick Price
  • Superintendent, Lisa McCullough

• Harris & Co. LLP
• BCSTA Legal Counsel

• Therese Mickelson, ABC, Managing Partner, Mickelson Consulting

• 1:15-2:15  Truth with a panel of trustees (Erin Evans and Rhiannon Bennett)
• 2:30-3:30  Reconciliation with a panel of trustees (Erin Evans and Rhiannon Bennett)

• BCPSEA representative/s

This session will focus on emerging topics for boards of education. Deputy Minister MacDonald will speak on topics affecting school districts. Delegates will have a chance to talk at tables and share themes that are emerging

• BCSTA Legislative Committee

In this session, the Legislative Committee and attendees will review of the purpose of a motion and how to write good a motion. 

School trustees, individually and collectively, are entrusted to govern in a way that optimizes the education system’s capacity to deliver its mandate. Yet, this capacity is often diminished, largely due to habits that divide the board and create tensions with management and/or the community. 
In his address, Eli Mina will discuss why, contrary to common beliefs in an increasingly political world, the word ‘T.E.A.M.’ is absolutely vital to the achievement of quality decisions that reduce risk and optimize the benefits that the education system delivers to the students