BROCKVILLE – After reducing the number of trustee board meetings in March 2025, the Upper Canada District School Board will meet even fewer times beginning the 2026-27 school year. The board approved a bylaw amendment cutting the number of meetings by more than half to four per school year.
Approved at the board’s June 10 meeting, trustees will now meet in quarterly each school year. Additional meetings may be called if needed.
Following the meeting, UCDSB Chair Jamie Schoular said the move was to align trustee meetings with the changes made by the Ministry of Education.
“Moving forward, public school board trustees will solely focused on governance and, therefore, will not need to meet as a whole as frequently,” Schoular said in response to The Leader on clarifications to the story. “Bringing the Board of Trustees together to meet as a whole on a quarterly basis aligns with the common practices of other large-scale organizations like ours. “
Schoular added that the changes to trustee meetings, moving from twice a month to monthly (10 meetings total,) and now to quarterly, will save the board money.
“These changes have reduced meeting costs by more than $40,000 in trustee expenses alone — almost the equivalent salary of a classroom Educational Assistant,” he explained. “These funds will be put directly into classrooms to benefit students and educators.”
The board’s legislated special committee meetings including the Audit Committee and the Special Education Advisory Committee, among others, will see the same level of participation by trustees as before.
Further changes proposed moved the time of meetings from 6:30 p.m. to 1 p.m.
Trustee David McDonald (Ward 9) spoke during the meeting against the changes saying that the time would limit people considering serving as trustee in the future.
“I think in fairness of people looking to run as trustee and in fairness and transparency, 1 p.m. is not a good time to hold board business when it is considered to be public,” he said.
Trustee John McAllister (Ward 4) supported McDonald’s amendment to hold meetings at 6:30 p.m.
Trustee Corina Parisien echoed McDonald saying that the board should be accessible, and that a 1 p.m. meeting is not accessible.
Trustees supported the evening meeting time. The changes go into effect immediately. The UCDSB did not provide dates or months for when in each quarter their meetings will be held.
At the end of the meeting, trustees also appointed a replacement trustee to serve out the balance of the 2022-26 term of Todd Robertson. Robertson resigned his position as trustee for Perth area. He himself was a replacement trustee for Carole Dufort in Fall 2025.
Dr. Tara Barton-Maclaren was the sole applicant for the position and previously served as a member of the board’s Parent Involvement Committee.
This is the fourth trustee replacement that has taken place during this term.
Editor’s Note — This story has been corrected to reflect a change from the board meeting agenda, which stated five meetings per year, to the approved resolution by the trustee board to quarterly meetings. Additional clarifications have been made with comments provided to The Leader by UCDSB Chair Jamie Schoular on the meeting change and the cost savings.
By Phillip Blancher, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on Jun 19, 2026 at 09:47
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