Minutes of Regular
Board Meeting
March 21, 2006
7:00 PM
Location: Regional Office, Grand Falls-Windsor
Present:
Mr.
Mr.
Mr. Peter Budgell Ms. Bonnie Lane McCarthy
Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
Mr. Bill Sceviour Regrets:
Mr.
Mr.
Ms.
Mr.
Ms.
Mr.
Mr.
1. Approval of Agenda
Motion: to approve the agenda as
circulated. (Woolfrey/George). Carried.
2. Minutes of Meetings
2.1 Regular Meeting February 21st
2006
Motion: to accept the minutes of the February
21st, 2006 as circulated. (Gibbons/Harris). Carried.
The Minutes were posted on the web-site and sent out by mail prior to
the Board Meeting.
3. Business Arising:
3.1 Tabled Motion – Smoking on Board Property
Motion: that
the tabled motion be lifted in order for the motion to be discussed. (Sceviour/Pritchett)
Mr. Mercer provided the Board with a summary of feedback he received on the smoking issue from school principals. This is predominately a high school issue. The District has 39 high schools and only 14 have designated smoking areas. Since September of this school year several of the 14 schools have already initiated a plan to eliminate the designated smoking area.
A summary of the feedback:
Mr. Hannaford expressed concern with the wording of the motion. He would prefer to see the wording “smoke-free students”. He also expressed concern about supervision and discipline. He would prefer a more “enabling” motion.
Ms. Cheeks explained she has been directly involved in this issue in her work with the Central Health Board and she feels the Board needs a very firm position and this policy statement does that.
Mr. Kendell pointed to the media coverage of the Board’s News Release concerning smoking and the coverage of the smoking cessation program at Exploits Valley High.
Dr. Woolfrey spoke in support of a clear, strong motion on smoking.
Mr. Pritchett spoke in support of the motion as presented.
Mr. Langdon asked if there would be a consistent set of consequences across all schools.
Mr. Mercer spoke about the different points of view principals have in addressing infractions and how best to creatively deal with challenges the smoking ban may create for school administrators. The intent will be to work with smokers to stop smoking.
Motion: All
schools and all other school board facilities, inclusive of grounds and board
owned vehicles are designated as smoke-free areas, effective not later than
September 1, 2006. The principal, in the
case of schools and associated grounds, and the Assistant Director – Finance,
in the case of other school board facilities, associated grounds and board
owned vehicles, will undertake to ensure that appropriate communication and/or
signage are in place to inform students, employees and visitors of this
ban. (Sceviour/Noble). Carried.
4. Committee
Reports/Updates
4.1 Executive Committee (see attached report)
Mr. Kendell presented the Executive Committee Report.
Motion: to
recommend to the Board that the Chair, the Director and a maximum of three (3)
other trustees compose the Board’s delegation to the annual
4.2 Finance/Property Committee (see attached report)
A letter was received from Mr. White accepting responsibility of oil tank.
Motion: (to
replace earlier motion on sale of
To accept the bid of $35,000 from Mr. White for the purchase of
There was an additional concern about two water lines. Mr. White has agreed to leave the water lines in place, and he will notify the families to have the water checked for safety purposes.
The District is still working on resolving this property issue.
Auditor
General’s Report
Mr. Pritchett explained how the Auditor General reports leave the appearance of school boards with huge deficits when, in fact, they are actually in an operating surplus. This is the result primarily of the reporting procedure re summer salary payments and severance accrual and not related to annual operating deficits.
Freedom of Information – Report (see attached report)
Motion: to
accept the Quarterly Financial Report of the Board as presented. (Pritchett/Harris). Carried.
4.3 Personnel Committee – (see attached
report)
Mr. Noble referred the Board members to information in the closed session folder.
Motion: the
Director write a letter to the Department of Education requesting that new
curriculum/programming only be introduced after appropriate instructional
materials and in-service have been provided to teacher. (Noble/Whiteway). Carried.
Motion: to accept the staffing appointments as per the reports presented. (Noble/Cheeks). Carried.
4.4 Programs Committee (see attached report)
Mr. Sceviour presented the report.
Motion: to table the revised policy - School Sport Code of Conduct. (Sceviour/George). Carried.
Mr. Sceviour recommended that CDLI be placed on the next Board Meeting agenda.
4.5 Student Support Services Committee – (see attached report)
Mr.
4.6 NLSBA Update
Mr. Mercer presented the NLSBA update. A draft NLSBA budget was presented at the last school board meeting. Mr. Brian Shortall requested boards vote to accept or reject the proposed budget.
Motion: that the Board approve the NLSBA Budget 2006-2007 as presented. (Sceviour/George). Carried.
A new committee, School Board Election Review Committee has been set up by NLSBA. Mr. Kendell has been appointed to this Committee.
4.7 Director’s Report (see attached report)
Budget Announcement on Teachers Staying in the System
While the Director was absent from the table for a media interview on the Smoking Policy, Mr. Kendell went through the recent press release from the Minister of Education announcing that there will be no reduction in the number of teachers attached to the system for 2006-07. It was agreed that this is good news for the next school year; however, we are yet to receive details that might affect deployment.
Mr. Mercer presented his report. The focus of the report addresses the school staffing process and the shortage of district staff. In regards to the latter item, he also drew the trustees’ attention to the reference in the management letter provided by the Board’s Auditors.
Mr. Mercer distributed a separate document - Student Transportation Report – School Bus Safety/Inspections. (see attached). He suggested that trustees review this report. It is a very timely update given a recent incident in the Eastern District.
He also presented a report on the schools’ participation in the Kiwanis Music Festival. (see attached)
Mr. Noble congratulated the Board on the posting of the Agenda and Director’s Report in a timely fashion.
Ms.
5. New Business
5.1 Trustee Appointment
Motion: to
appoint Mr. Bob Hannaford to the Programs Committee. (Kendell/George). Carried.
5.2 Atlantic Conference – Delegate Reports
The Atlantic Conference took place
in
Peter Gibbons
Bill Sceviour
Hubert Langdon
John George
Newman Harris
Tom Kendell
Peter Budgell
Mr. Kendell had handed out a copy of a presentation on “The Trustee in White Water”.
There was a round-the-table verbal report on the Conference by the attending trustees.
The trustees who attended found the Conference worthwhile and extremely informative. They felt it is very worthwhile for trustees to attend these sessions.
5.3 CSBA Congress 2006
Mr. Kendell referenced the earlier motion re delegates to the CSBA Congress and undertook to determine the list of approved delegates.
He asked for a show of hands of those interested in attending.
Bill Sceviour,
5.4 2005 Auditor General’s Report
Mr. Mercer spoke to the Report. He explained how the Auditor General’s Report is compiled and informed the Board of provisions for follow-up.
5.5 Trustee Forum
Mr. Kendell noted that there has been some concern about trustees bringing things to the Board table. He posed the idea that there be a half hour set aside at Board meetings to allow trustees to raise issues of concern to them.
Mr. Budgell suggested that Board members present issues to the relevant committee and the committee would decide if it should come to the Board table.
Mr. Brown supported this concept.
Mr. Langdon suggested he was not comfortable with committees making too many decisions. He felt this would undermine the authority of the Board. He wondered who would drive the Board agenda? He felt items should come to the Board first and then go to the committees.
Mr. Hannaford supported Mr. Langdon’s position and said he wanted issues to be dealt with publicly at the Board table.
Mr. George wondered how the Board could deal effectively with all the issues at the Board table given the huge scope and time required for the depth of treatment. He did agree that Board members should be able to bring issues forward to be dealt with by the Board. However, he does support the committee structure.
Mr. Noble said there is a list of agenda items. However he said the list remains very long. He recommended that the chairs of the committees canvass trustees to see if there are topics they want addressed.
Mr. Brown said if we follow Mr. Langdon’s suggestion there would not be time to deal with the issue.
Mr. Gibbons echoed Mr. Brown’s concern.
Ms. Cheeks supported Mr. Langdon’s position.
Mr. Pritchett reminded trustees that the committees do not make decisions. They do the work and bring a recommendation to the Board. The Board always makes the decisions; the committees do the legwork.
Mr. Harris suggested the Board will have to meet weekly if we do not use the committee structure to do the work.
Mr. Sceviour pointed out that the committee structure evolved because the Board Meetings could not deal with all the issues.
Ms. Whiteway said the whole point of the committees is to enable the Board to get the greatest amount of work done.
Dr. Woolfrey supports the committee structure, but feels the reports and information must be out earlier.
5.6 Trustee Orientation
Mr. Mercer reviewed the process completed up to this point in time with the newly elected Board (i.e. the weekend orientation session in November and the provision of the Orientation Binder). He noted that a further orientation session has been discussed by the Executive Committee. He has followed up with the Executive Director, NLSBA to assist in providing support in trustee orientation. Mr. Brian Shortall has agreed to facilitate a retreat using the document “Excellence in Governance for School Board Trustees”. A copy is in each trustee’s binder.
5.7 Closed Session
Motion: to extend the meeting to 10:30 PM and enter closed session. (Woolfrey/Brown). Carried.
Motion: to
come out of closed session (Sceviour/Langdon).
Carried.
6. Date of Next Meeting
The next regular meeting of the
Board will be held on April 25th, 2006, 7:00 PM, District Office,
7. Adjournment
Motion: to adjourn the meeting at 11:15 PM. (Sceviour/Langdon). Carried
_____________________________ ____________________________
Chair Recorder
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