EMSB holds successful Virtual Town Hall meeting

The English Montreal School Board held a very successful

Virtual Town Hall meeting for stakeholders and the public on February 10 to present the implementation of the new Transformation Plan.

EMSB Chair Joe Ortona hosted the meeting and Interim Director General Russell Copeman provided a detailed presentation on the objectives and implementation of the Transformation Plan. 

To see Mr. Copeman’s power point presentation click here.

To see the video of the Town Hall click here.

In opening remarks, Mr. Ortona reminded stakeholders that the Transformation Plan was adopted while the Council of Commissioners were in trusteeship. “As Council has said in the past, there are many good elements to the plan, which we are keen to advance,” he said. “But the governance elements need to be tweaked.” 

Mr. Ortona explained that the Transformation Plan limits the number of committees of the Council to three statutory ones: Executive, Human Resource s and Audit. He said that as a starting point the Council plans to add two committees: Finance and Education.  

Mr. Copeman explained that as adopted by the Trustee, the Transformation Plan calls for the phased-in hiring of 25 to 30 people over the coming three years mainly in the departments of Material Resources and Information Technology. The cost of implementation   was estimated by the Trustee at an additional $3 million annually at term, with some long-term savings expected due to a more efficient structure. “This is operating money that the EMSB does not currently have,” Mr. Copeman said. “One approach is to try to secure additional government funding while exploring structural cost saving measures, which will increase efficiency of the administrative services without reducing services to students.” 

Added Mr. Ortona: “I wish to simply state that the Transformation Plan was adopted by the Trustee, but not budgeted. We are determined to be fiscally responsible.”

Mr. Ortona stated that he plans to hold more Virtual Town Hall meetings under different themes this year.

About the English Montreal School Board

With a youth and adult sector population of more than 37,000 students, the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) is the largest English public school board in Quebec. Established on July 1, 1998, when the province created new boards along linguistic lines, our network consists of 77 schools and centres. For more details, visit the EMSB website at www.emsb.qc.ca.