School board updates code of conduct, votes to dock truant trustees’ pay

A Winnipeg school board will begin docking the pay of trustees who have spotty attendance records.

Following a contentious debate on Tuesday, the Louis Riel School Division board of trustees updated its code of conduct.

The changes will require a trustee — each of whom earn about $30,000 per year – to forfeit $500 if they miss more than three public meetings over the course of a year.

Every additional absence will result in an identical penalty until the board’s annual governance cycle resets during back-to-school season.

“I hope we don’t have to use it,” rookie trustee Peter Bjornson told a full boardroom in making the case for his motion on Tuesday.

“We’re voted in — or we’re in by acclamation — but either way, when you put your name forward, you run for office, you know what you’re signing up for.”

Bjornson is the most recent addition to the nine-seat board, although the former MLA and NDP education minister is no stranger to elected office.

He told the Free Press that he was met with concerns about trustee attendance rates when he was door-knocking in the fall.

The rookie trustee won an Oct. 25 byelection.

Several months earlier, a mother in the division penned a letter to Education Minister Tracy Schmidt outlining frustrations about her representatives’ participation in public meetings.

Ward 4 trustees Pamela Kolochuk and Chipalo Simunyola both sent regrets for more than a quarter of all meetings in 2024-25.

Kolochuk missed seven of them. Simunyola missed six.

Sia Erlendson, a mother of two, called on the province to intervene to bolster attendance in May.

At the time, Schmidt, who previously practised employment law, cautioned the public about making assumptions related to an employee’s absence.

Erlendson described the board’s updated code of conduct as “a major victory in accountability.”

“It’s hard to be effective in any role if you consistently miss meetings,” she said.

The new attendance penalties apply to regular and special meetings. Combined, 22 of those events are on the 2025-26 schedule between Sept. 2 and June 16.

Critics argued that being a trustee isn’t a full-time job and punishing members who fail to join meetings will discourage qualified candidates from running in the future, but the motion passed 6-2.

Kolochuk and Simuyola both voted against it.

Kolochuk, who is the chief executive officer of Peak of the Market, has racked up three absences — the most of all trustees — so far this year.

“Not having a perfect attendance record doesn’t mean that I’m not committed to the job and the community that I serve,” Kolochuk said.

Whether it’s helping schools with grant-writing or supporting constituents with transportation issues, there’s plenty of behind-the-scenes work as a trustee, she said.

Kolochuk cited her travel-packed work schedule as the reason she often misses meetings; the CEO tuned into Tuesday’s board meeting virtually from the Palm Springs International Airport.

Simunyola indicated he supported “the spirit of the motion” on Tuesday.

He voiced concerns about how the board will determine what absences are excusable. “I’m trying to understand who’s going to be the HR,” he said.

Each board member is expected to earn $29,000 in 2026. The chair receives an additional $8,800. The vice-chair’s bonus is $4,400.

Chair Sandy Nemeth said the board still needs to “flush out” the fine print of this new policy.

“There is a desire to ensure that the board is whole and meeting as a group of nine, as much as possible, recognizing all the other tugs on our time,” Nemeth said.

Alan Campbell, president of the Manitoba School Boards Association, said the board’s new penalty clause is a first of its kind in the province.

The Public Schools Act empowers boards to declare a vacancy if a trustee is absent from four consecutive regular meetings or for a period of three months without authorization.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca