Board Motions
Requirement for Board Motion
Section 199 of The Education Act, 1995 provides that a teacher may only be engaged or dismissed pursuant to the authority of a resolution of the board of education (board) of the conseil scolaire. Section 201 allows the board to delegate the hiring of teacher to a committee or staff member but there is no similar section relating to terminations.
Section 215 regarding amending the contract of a principal or consultant to remove duties as a principal or consultant must also be made by board motions.
By virtue of section 80(3) of The Education Act, 1995 all board motions must be made in public.
There are no statutory requirements to have board motions with regard to non-teaching employees or other employment issues. Any such requirements would come only from the board’s own police or administrative procedures.
Discipline
Disciplinary matters, other than termination, will always be personal information of the employee and generally should not be disclosed without consent. Section 10(g)(i) of the LAFOIP Regulations which allow a board to disclose personal information about “the performance of any function or duty or the carrying out of any responsibility by an officer of employee of a local authority” would not extend to giving details of
In most cases, disciplinary matters can be appropriately delegated to administrators.
In cases where a motion is required consideration should be given as to how the privacy of the employee can still be protected. A motion to accept the recommendation contained in the report of the director or superintendent without citing the name of the employee will generally be sufficient. In such cases the report should be preserved and linked with the minutes. It should also be marked in such a way that the privacy interests can be addressed if a request is made to disclose the report.
Termination
In the case of the termination of teachers the board would be able to rely not only on section 10(g) of the LAFOIP Regulations, but also upon section 28(2)(i) of LAFOIP, which allows the release of personal information for the purpose of complying with an Act or regulation – boards must pass a resolution in order to terminate the contract of a teacher and such resolutions are required by The Education Act, 1995 to be made in public.
However, there is still a great deal of sensitivity on the part of employees and unions regarding such information. This is heightened by the fact that board minutes are usually published on the internet and in many cases by the local media or in newsletters. Therefore, since the boars is not required to release the record unless a request is made, privacy considerations should still be taken into account as much as possible.
Addressing privacy concerns for motions related to discipline and termination can be accomplished by adopting a recommendation from the administrative team that will be referenced in the board motion by date or number. The board motion can simply state that the recommendation is accepted for the reasons set out in the report. The name of the employee and the background information would not have to be mentioned in the motion.
The administrative recommendation itself would contain details of the employee name, position, and the reasons for which discipline or termination is recommended. The key is to ensure that it is very clear which recommendation and which employee is being referenced by the motion. Because LAFOIP specifically provides that certain details of employment are not personal information it may be possible for a third party to request access to the recommendation prepared by the administration.
Legal counsel should be sought when requests are made to access reports or recommendations regarding employee that are referenced in board motions.
Arbitration, Board of Reference or Court Action
In the eventuality that an employee wishes to challenge a disciplinary action taken by the employer the employee has a legal right to copies of any employer records that might be relevant to the matter.
The legal principles of discovery and disclosure will require disclosure of records in accordance with section 28(2)(b) of LAFOIP which provides that personal information may be disclosed.