Tuesday, December 20, 2011

From Larry Leach, Chair of ARTICS

(This was sent to Shane this morning, as ARTICS' response to the CBE Trustee's announcement to alter how the public can interact with the board.)

Please excuse this unsolicited contact. But the members of ARTICS (the Association for Responsive Trusteeship in Calgary Schools) feel strongly about the right to have a voice in the public education system, a value that we think you might share. 

We learned yesterday that CBE Trustees Cochrane, King and Bowen-Eyre are proposing updated board procedures that aim to silence parents by eliminating the opportunity to ask questions or address the Board as a whole. In essence, if you have a dissenting voice, the CBE Board of Trustees does not appear to want to hear from you. Instead, the CBE would rather dictate the agenda and parameters of the discussion, as opposed to allowing the public to bring issues forward as they see fit. You can find out more on our blog at: http://www.knowyourtrustee.com/2011/12/does-the-cbe-value-public-input
Please join the public board meeting of the CBE Board of Trustees today (Dec 20) at 5:00pm (until 5:45) to hear possibly the last ever public questions and stakeholder reports. The address of the Education Centre is 1221 - 8 Street SW. Let's not let them sneak this through at Christmastime. Whether or not you are able to attend, please write or phone your trustee, to share your thoughts about this attempt to silence the public. 

Larry Leach
Chair, ARTICS

Trustee contact information:
Wards 1 & 2: Joy Bowen-Eyre, 403-294-8121, jmboweneyre@cbe.ab.ca
Wards 3 & 4: Lynn Ferguson, 403-294-8263, lcferguson@cbe.ab.ca
Wards 5 & 10: Pamela King, 403-294-8261, plking@cbe.ab.ca
Wards 6 & 7: George Lane, 403-294-8265, gslane@cbe.ab.ca
Wards 8 & 9: Pat Cochrane, 403-294-8123, pjcochrane@cbe.ab.ca
Wards 11 & 13: Sheila Taylor, 403-294-8120, sltaylor@cbe.ab.ca
Wards 12 & 14: Carol Bazinet, 403-294-8241, cabazinet@cbe.ab.ca

(Our trustee is Carol Bazinet)

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