UCDSB Highlights from the March 5 Board of Trustees Meeting

Brockville – Trustees with the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) met on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. Key items discussed in the public session are as follows.

STEO Update – Bell Time Review

Student Transportation of Eastern Ontario (STEO) presented to the UCDSB Board of Trustees the financial and operational feasibility for the UCDSB to change bell times to be later for secondary students and earlier for elementary students.

STEO indicated they reviewed several scenarios: one that included shifting bell times forward by 30 minutes for all schools in the UCDSB and coterminous board (Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario), one that flipped elementary and secondary and adjusted times slightly for both boards, one that included doing a full flip of elementary and secondary bell times for both boards, and a scenario that included doing a full flip of bell times for the UCDSB only.

At this time, the coterminous board has not shown interest in adjusting bell times, therefore STEO brought forward the scenario that outlined changes to the UCDSB bell times only. The scenario showed a $2.03M increase to transportation costs due to requirements for additional vehicles, more kilometres and other operational factors, including further constraints to the driver pool.

No recommendations came forward from Trustees for the 2025-26 school year.

The UCDSB will continue to discuss the options with the coterminous board, with the goal of improving student health and well-being.

Governance Review and Bylaw Changes

Trustee David McDonald presented a review from the UCDSB Accountability Framework Committee of the current board governance structure.

The committee explored opportunities to enhance board operations and recommended strategies for improvement.

A motion was put forward and passed to adopt the following bylaws:

• In-person meetings will be held 10 times per year, on the second Wednesday of the month (except March – first Wednesday)
• Board and Committee of the Whole members must attend meetings in person, except under specific circumstances, or risk losing their seats.
• For Committees of the Board, the Chair (or designate) must attend in person, but may participate electronically if at least one other member is physically present. Other committee members do not appear to have a strict in-person attendance requirement.
• New electronic attendance requirements include criteria for physical absence and a process for requesting and approving it. To ensure stability and continuity, governance structures should minimize non-compliance.
• Standing committees are replaced by ad-hoc Special Committees, established by resolution or the Chair, with a one-year mandate.
• Special Board Meetings will be held as needed, with different attendance rules than regular meetings.

Full details on presentations, reports, and discussions can be found in the agenda or reviewed in the recorded broadcast.