Minutes of Regular School
Board Meeting
December 14, 2004
7:20 PM
Location: Albatross
Motel, Gander
Present:
Mr. Bill Sceviour (Chair) Mr.
Randell Mercer, Director
Mr. Clar Brown Mr.
Charlie McCormack
Mr. Randy Edison Mr. Shawn Brace
Mr. Terry Brown Ms. Claudine Wells
Mr. Scott Pritchett Ms.
Marina Hewlett
Mr. Gerald Hounsell Ms.
Bonnie Lane-McCarthy
Ms. Carolyn Andrews
Ms. Linda Cutler
Regrets:
Ms. Lisa Wheeler
1. Approval of
Agenda
At the Chair’s request to
review the agenda, items 4.3, 4.4 and 4.5 were deferred since committee
meetings had not taken place or reports were not available.
Additions to the agenda –
Item 4.7 Report of Executive Committee and 6.4 Atlantic Conference School
Board.
2. Minutes of Meetings
2.1 Regular Meeting – November 18,
2004
2.2 Special Meeting – November 24, 2004
Motion: to accept the minutes of the
November 18, 2004 and November 24, 2004 meetings as circulated.
(Hounsell/Edison). Carried
3. Business Arising
3.1 Agenda Items
It was agreed that board
members would post agenda items at a designated site on the web portal for the
January 18, 2005 meeting with the Minister of Education.
4. Reports
4.1 Finance-Property Committee
Committee Chair, Scott
Pritchett reported on the proceedings of the committee meeting held on December
14, 2004.
·
Reimbursement of consumable items to board members - this item will be
tabled to the next meeting of the Board for further discussion.
·
Auditor General Review 2003 - The report will be tabled for a later
meeting.
·
Audited Financial Statements – June 30, 2004
- The Audited Financial Statements for the
former School District #6 has been received.
- The Audited Financial Statements for the
former School District #5 has not been received.
- Both sets of Audited Financial Statements
will be presented at the Finance & Property Committee Meeting on January
10, 2005 by the auditing firms that were engaged by the respective school
boards.
·
The Finance & Property Committee will meet with members of the Town
of Summerford to clarify issues related to the ownership of the water line.
·
Presentation of the capital applications for funding from the
Educational Investment Corporation (EIC).
Motion: to approve the capital applications
and assigned priorities for EIC funding for the Nova Central School District
for 2005-06 as presented..
(Pritchett/Cutler). Carried.
·
Clar Brown requested that the minutes of this meeting officially record
the boards concerns related to environmental issues associated with underground
tanks and associated contaminated soil.
·
A new furnace has been ordered for Point Leamington Academy. Delivery time will be approximately 10
weeks.
4.2 Governance/System Review Committee
·
Committee Chair, Terry Brown, reported on the proceedings of the committee
meeting held on December 14, 2004.
·
A map was circulated that outlines the division of the Nova Central
School District into the eleven electoral zones that are being recommended for
approval by the committee.
·
The committee’s recommendation was tabled for a decision by the Board
at the January 18, 2005, giving board members an opportunity to examine and
review the proposal in preparation for a vote on the resolution.
·
Board members were asked to forward feedback to the committee chair,
Terry Brown.
4.6 NLSBA News
·
The Chair, Bill Sceviour, referred board members to the information
update forwarded to them regarding the proposed restructured NLSBA.
·
All five school districts will have to support the finalized structure
in order for NLSBA to continue to exist.
4.7 Executive Committee
·
Committee Chair, Bill Sceviour, reported on the proceedings of the
December 7, 2004 committee meeting.
·
Additional names of persons to be considered for appointment to the
Nova Central School Board has been submitted to the Minister.
·
School Board Retreat to be held on the evening of January 14th
and January 15th respectively.
·
The location is to be determined.
·
The Minutes of the Executive Committee were posted which included the
committee member’s discussion on the procedures to be followed for board
meetings.
·
Reference was made to the differences in the role of the executive
committee with the two former boards.
·
Proposal that there will be four
standing board committees in the future to correspond with the four divisions,
which comprise the Nova Central district organizational structure.
· The current interim board committees would develop, for presentation to the interim Governance/System Review Committee, proposed terms of reference for the four committees. The interim Finance/ Property Committee will undertake this task with respect to the proposed Finance/Property Committee. The interim Programming/Personnel Committee will undertake this task with respect to each of the proposed Personnel, Programming, and Student Support Services Committees. The interim Governance/System Review Committee will incorporate this work within the proposed Constitution, By-laws and Board Operational Policies that it has been tasked to bring forward for consideration by the board
·
Senior Management members will be assigned the responsibility of
recording minutes at board meetings, as was the practice of the former school
district #6.
5. Correspondence
·
The Chair, Bill Sceviour reported that a letter was received from NLTA
regarding the liaison committee in which five members were identified to
represent the NLTA. They are as
follows: Wade Verge, Gail Jarvis, Rick
Duffy, Tim Howse and Ron Dawe.
·
A letter of resignation from the School Board was received from Gregory
Roberts in which he stated that personal work commitments was the reason for
the resignation.
·
A letter was received from the Auditor General with respect to the
audit of 2002-2003, which was completed for the former Lewisporte/Gander School
District. The Auditor General requested
that the board review the report. The
report will be released to the public.
Officials from the school board will be invited to meet with a committee
of the House of Assembly to discuss the report.
6. New Business
6.1 Professional Development Program
– Item deferred
6.2 PISA Assessment Results –
Item deferred
6.3 Trustee Resignation – as
reported under Correspondence.
Motion: to accept the resignation of Mr. Greg Roberts as a trustee of the Nova Central School District and to inform the Minister of Education in accordance with the provisions of the Schools Act 1997. (Hounsell/Andrews). Carried.
6.4 Atlantic Conference
·
The Chair requested direction from the board members regarding trustee
attendance at the various national and provincial conferences including CSBA.
·
Sufficient funds have been allocated for the Director, Board Chair and
interested trustees to attend conferences.
·
The consensus of the group was that the Atlantic Conference may be more
pertinent for the Professional Development of Nova Central trustees.
·
All board members who were present with the exception of Linda Cutler
and Terry Brown are interested in attending the Atlantic Conference.
·
The Director agreed to check out the best possible airline fares.
·
The Chair will discuss the Atlantic Conference with Lisa Wheeler.
7. Closed Session
Motion: to move into Closed Session. (Edison/Cutler). Carried.
Motion: to move out of Closed Session. (Edison/Brown). Carried.
8. Date of Next Meeting
The date of the next meeting
will be January 18th, 2005.
The Minister of Education will be in attendance.
9. Adjournment
Motion: to adjourn the meeting. (Edison/Pritchett).
_____________________________ ______________________________
William Sceviour Marina
Hewlett
Chair Recorder
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