Effective Date: October 2, 2010
Responsibility: Director of Education
1.0 Rationale
The media can play an important role in the Near North District School Board and system communication with parents, students, school communities and the general public. It is important to not only pursue these opportunities at a Board and school level but to respond to requests from the media to provide views on issues they are covering through radio, television and newspapers and other media means.
2.0 Roles and Responsibilities
The Board, through Governance Process Policy GP#5, Chairperson’s Role, 3.3, designates the chairperson to represent the Board to all outside parties in announcing Board stated positions. This will be facilitated through media releases and news conferences as determined appropriate. Inquiries on Board stated positions from the media will be directed to the Chair through the Director of Education/Information Officer.
The Information Officer will be responsible for issuing system initiated releases of information according to an annual schedule of media releases developed as part of an ongoing communications plan. These will highlight system initiatives and provide up to date information for all stakeholders within the Near North District School Board jurisdiction. Additional media releases will also be provided as incidental issues arise and warrant external promotion within the local media.
All media inquiries requesting administrative or political response shall be directed to the Information Officer. The Information Officer, in turn, will obtain further information from the reporter as to information being sought and refer the matter to the appropriate Principal, Supervisory Officer, Director of Education or Board Chairperson for response.
Principals hold the sole responsibility as spokespersons for their individual school, for creating communication links with their local media personnel and for providing information on school specific activities. In the event the Police or Children’s Aid Society are providing intervention at the school level, the Principal will determine with the appropriate external personnel, the spokesperson and the access the media will have to school premises.
Only personnel explicitly authorized to speak on behalf of the Board or school shall contact the media, unless specific authorization has been given by the Principal of the school or the Director of Education/Designate. No Trustee shall speak on behalf of the Board unless explicitly authorized to do so by the Chair.
The Board does recognize that any individual staff member or Trustee may personally respond to media opinion and that communication should reflect the response is a personal opinion and not that of a particular school or of the Board.
