Dissension and discord appear to be rising between some school councils and the Department of Education.

In documents obtained by the Star, representatives from the F.H. Collins Secondary School Council, Porter Creek Secondary School Council and the Vanier Catholic Secondary School Council expressed their unhappiness and concerns with what they call a lack of consultation by the government.

The letter is signed by Sandra Henderson, the F.H. Collins Secondary School Council chair; Dale Cheeseman, the Porter Creek Secondary School Council chair, and Cynthia Lyslo – the Vanier Catholic Secondary School Council chair.

The council chairs sent a joint letter dated Nov. 26 to Education Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee and various other department officials.

“Thank you for your letter of November 20, 2020, and your invitation for school councils to contact your office with any issues or concerns. This invitation is timely, as several issues have come up in recent weeks that we would like to bring to your attention,” the letter reads.

“However, our concern is that while we are told that our input and perspective are valued, recent actions and decisions have caused us to question many of the recent statements made supporting our role in the education system.

“The weekly, biweekly and now monthly Zoom calls with the deputy minister are appreciated; it is our opinion, however, that they cannot be defined as consultations,” the letter says.

“Consultation is the process of discussing an issue with another to obtain their advice and thoughts about that issue. To date, we do not believe this has occurred.”

The councils describe the regular sessions as an “information-sharing exercise from the department versus a genuine attempt to ask councils for their input or potential concerns, especially at the high school level.”

Among the complaints, the council representatives noted “we are disappointed that the recent announcement to continue with the current half-day in-class model for Grades 10-12 during the second semester was made again without consultation.

“At our last meeting on October 28 with both yourself and the deputy minister, our understanding was that a separate meeting would be arranged to discuss the next steps and communications regarding a decision to either maintain half days or return to full-day classes. That did not happen.”

The letter goes on to state, “as you are aware, our obligation as school council members is to our parent communities and ensuring that our school administrators are fully supported.

“Learning that none of our administrators or staff was made aware of these decisions before public announcements were made only adds to our concern and frustration.

“Families and others concerned about our high school students are looking to us to respond to the media and statements in the legislature regarding the lack of consultation with school councils,” the letter adds.

“At this point, we do not believe our response would be favourable, and we desire to do what we can to correct that.

“We therefore respectfully request a meeting with you and the deputy minister to address these important issues while finding a positive path for working together in the future.”

McPhee responded to the letter on Dec. 7.

“I want to assure you that we do value and carefully consider the meaningful input and perspectives of school councils and all our partners in education,” the minister wrote.

“I welcome the opportunity to meet with school councils and members to discuss how we can better collaborate and clarify our respective roles to meet the needs of our school communities during our response and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and well into the future,” an excerpt of her letter reads.

In the legislature on Thursday afternoon, McPhee fielded more questions from the Yukon Party about the letter.

She later spoke to the media about the issue, and downplayed the letter.

“It expressed some concern about the decisions that have had to be made,” McPhee said.

She told reporters a meeting with the school councils had been set up for an undisclosed date in January.

“I told them if they are dissatisfied with the current situation, then how do you want us to work together? I look forward to having that meeting with the three school councils.

“COVID-19 has meant that sometimes decisions need to be made quite quickly, without consulting absolutely everyone.” McPhee said.

“It’s always a complicated arrangement, but we have always had absolute commitment to school councils. We are very keen to work with them, and school councils have been very respected in this process.”