'Dysfunctional' school board to resume meetings

The board for P.E.I.'s Eastern School District, called dysfunctional by one of its own members and the president of the home and school association, will begin meeting again this month.

Trustees haven't been together since a controversial meeting last November that degenerated into an hours-long wrangle over procedural issues. After that meeting the P.E.I. Home and School Federation and other groups asked Education Minister Doug Currie to step in.

Currie responded with new legislation giving him the power to dismiss the board. He gave trustees six weeks to get their act together.

Board chair Bob Clow said the letter from the minister is part of the reason he believes trustees are now prepared to work together.

"I think the other part would be hearing from the public and from our schools the importance of school boards," said Clow.

"I think that's making people feel now that we need to, for the betterment of the board, to get back together and to focus and to get these policies in place that we need in order to operate our schools."

The board will resume committee meetings this week. A full public meeting scheduled for next Wednesday has been postponed. Clow said it will be made up later this month.

At this point Clow said he doesn't think he'll have the board's lawyer sitting next him advising him on procedure at the meeting, a move that created controversy in November.