Council Meetings

At its November 8, 2018, meeting, College Council:

• welcomed its newest members Gerry O’Reilly, OCT, in the Supervisory Officer category, and Mary Ellen Gucciardi, OCT, in the English-Language Roman Catholic Board — Secondary category;
• received a quarterly report on operations from the Registrar;
• received a financial report for the third-quarter ending on September 30, 2018;
• received a quarterly report from the Chair of Council;
• approved a professional advisory on Supporting Students’ Mental Health to help Ontario Certified Teachers understand how to assist and support students with mental health concerns;
• directed the Governance Committee to recommend to the Executive Committee a mechanism to identify committee membership opportunities for Council members appointed to Council following each term’s inaugural meeting;
• amended College bylaws to add email as a form of serving notice to College or Council members or the College’s auditor, or serving a hearing notice to a member’s legal counsel if the legal counsel has agreed to accept this mode of communication;
• approved revised College vision and mission statements and strategic priorities as follows:
• amended the College’s vision statement to read “Trusted to regulate the teaching profession in Ontario”;
• amended the College’s mission statement to read “Placing students’ interests and well-being first by regulating and promoting excellence in teaching”; and
• approved strategic priorities for 2018–23 to:
• Strengthen transparency and accountability
• develop objective and subjective key performance indicators for the College that are measurable, observable and perceivable;
• make improvements to the discipline process to better reflect public expectations; and
• use plain language internally and externally in all communications to better connect the public and College members to the work of the College.
• Manage risk more strategically
• focus more on managing risk and less on operational issues at Council meetings;
• increase public awareness of the ongoing professional development activities of all College members;
• annually conduct an environmental risk scan;
• analyze College data and trends as a basis for creating additional guidance and member resources; and
• utilize the recommendations of the 2018 Governance Review to ensure improved governance and oversight.
• Improve stakeholder engagement
• clarify and better communicate the privilege and benefits of self-regulation; and
• enhance the effectiveness of collaboration with government constituent organizations and other regulators.
• directed the Registrar to draft a work plan to implement the 2018–23 strategic plan for Council’s consideration at its May 30, 2019, meeting;
• approved the Vulnerable Sector Check, as set out in the Police Record Checks Reform Act, as the preferred criminal background check, which includes criminal charges, convictions, warrants and court orders, for applicants for certification; and
• recommended that the Minister of Education amend the Teachers’ Qualifications Regulation to require applicants for certification to submit the Criminal Record and Judicial Matters Check, or its equivalent, as set out in the Police Record Checks Reform Act.

At a special December 6, 2018, meeting, College Council:

• approved the College’s 2019 budget of $42,119,402 with an unchanged annual membership fee of $150;
• approved bylaw changes to reflect the College’s refreshed visual identity, and use of the logo and updated wordmark;
• referred a Governance Review Report and its recommendations to the Governance Committee for study and report to Council at its February 28 to March 1, 2019, meeting;
• honoured College scholarship recipients Taylor Crawford from Oshawa, Ont., a teacher candidate in the concurrent education program at Queen’s University, awarded the Joseph W. Atkinson Scholarship for Excellence in Teacher Education; Sarah Salt, from Campbellville, Ont., who is a teacher candidate in the concurrent education program at Brock University, awarded the Ontario College of Teachers Primary/Junior or Junior/Intermediate scholarship; and Luke Sawczak, from Georgetown, Ont., who is a teacher candidate in the consecutive program at the OISE/UT, awarded the Ontario College of Teachers Intermediate/Senior division scholarship.