Yellowknife (Dec 21/01) - The community-minded people who serve on the public school board, like those who serve on other public agencies, must strike a fine balance between accountability and confidentiality.

YK Education District No. 1 Trustees: Dan Schofield (chair), Terry Brookes (vice chair), Mildred Wilke, Marlo Bullock, Ann Enge, Rob Meckling, Maureen Miller Superintendent: Judith Knapp Sec.-treasurer: Steven Richards Schools: Mildred Hall (K-8) N.J. Macpherson (K-5) J.H. Sissons (K-5 English, 4-5 French immersion) Range Lake North (K-8) William McDonald (6-8 English/French immersion) Sir John Franklin (9-12 English/French immersion) Staff: 150 teachers 34 educational assistants 19 maintenance custodians 14 support staff 13 district office staff

As a rule, all board business is to be done in public. But the law that governs boards also recognizes issues will arise that should not be discussed publicly.

The Education Act authorizes boards to close their meetings to the public when two thirds of trustees at a meeting believe it is in the public interest to do so, and vote accordingly.

"I would say that traditionally our board is very open and deals with a lot of sensitive matters in public," said Yellowknife Education District No. 1 chair Dan Schofield.

That's how it should be, said Bertrand Lacroix, senior education analyst with the Yukon government. "(Closed meetings), to me, in any operation should be minimal," Lacroix said.

Schofield estimated closed meetings averaging an hour in duration are held prior to 75 per cent of the board's monthly public meetings.

The authorization to go "in camera" comes with a catch. The only resolution that can be passed in a closed meeting is a resolution to revert to a public meeting.

In its policy manual, the public school board uses different criteria than those laid out in the act to help trustees determine when they can go in camera.

Though it does not include the term "public interest," the policy lists issues that may be discussed in camera. They include land issues, contract negotiations, individual students and staff, litigation, exploratory projects and "any confidential matter which the members of the board present at the meeting unanimously determine shall be dealt with in camera."

Schofield said "confidential matters" include those in which people are named.

"Let's say we had a problem with you, or the newspaper, and names were being discussed," he said. "These are the type of things that would go in camera."

He added the board also tends to discuss new projects in camera initially, reasoning, "We can't go public and release our plans until we've discussed them."

Ultimate responsibility for board operations rests with the Department of Education. The department's acting director of educational operations is Janet Grinsted.

"It is in the board's discretion," said Grinsted, referring to items that can be discussed in camera.

"The thing is, they can't make decisions in camera. So if they feel that, for the protection of the person involved, or because there's confidential aspects to the situation, that their discussion should not be held in public, they have that discretion to go in camera. They just can't make resolutions in camera."

Over the last year, the board has made two resolutions regarding in camera discussions, said a staffer. Both dealt with the same personnel matter.

The department recently contracted an consultant to conduct a review of the board's operations.