Under Regulation 464/97, Section 9 (8) “The committee shall meet at least 10 times in each school year.”  Typically, school boards hold SEAC meetings each month during the school year from September to June.

Section 10(1) the school board is required to make available the “personnel and facilities” for the “proper functioning of the committee.”  SEAC members require a number of supports to effectively conduct business.

For most school boards, SEAC members meet together in one location on a monthly basis; for others, face to face meetings are less frequent, and business is conducted via teleconferences.  Some SEACs also rotate locations in order to enable SEAC members to visit different facilities and programs within the school board, or to facilitate members who live in different parts of the board.

Effective Practices to support SEAC members in remote locations include:

  • Providing teleconference facilities for some or all of the SEAC members to participate from their homes, or locations distant from the meeting.
  • Distributing materials well in advance of the meeting.
  • Allowing SEAC members access to schools or school board facilities equipped with high speed internet, teleconference and/or webcast capacity.
  • Alternating SEAC Meeting locations within the school board boundaries.
  • Providing travel expenses to compensate volunteers for costs associated with travelling to meetings.
  • Promoting car pooling with staff or other SEAC members to reduce travel costs.
  • Identifying alternate meeting dates for inclement weather.

In planning for SEAC Meetings it is also important to support SEAC participation by providing audio-visual equipment, microphones and sound systems, computers, desks or work spaces.

The school board must also provide the additional accommodations that individual SEAC members with a disability may require in order to participate in the meeting.  School boards may need to ensure that meetings are held in accessible locations, and that specialized resources, including large print, electronic or Braille versions of documents, closed captioning or sign language interpreters, are obtained to accommodate SEAC members.