Minutes of Regular Board Meeting

October 27, 2005

Location:          Gander Office

Present:

Mr. Bill Sceviour                                              Mr. Randell Mercer, Director

Mr. Peter Budgell                                             Ms. Claudine Wells

Ms. Kim Cheeks                                              Ms. Bonnie Lane McCarthy (Recorder)

Mr. John George                                              Mr. Charlie McCormack

Mr. Peter Gibbons                                            Mr. Shawn Brace

Mr. Newman Harris                                         Ms. Marina Hewlett

Mr. Thomas Kendell

Mr. Hubert Langdon

Mr. Kerry Noble

Mr. Scott Pritchett

Ms. Audrey Whiteway

Mr. Greg Woolfrey

Regrets:

Mr. Clar Brown

This being the first meeting of the newly elected board it was convened by the Director, Mr. Randell Mercer.

1.         Approval of Agenda

Motion:           to approve the agenda as circulated and amended.  (Pritchett/George).  Carried.

“Closed Session” was added as item 7.6 to the Agenda.

2.         Election of Officers

Mr. Mercer reviewed policy 203 – “Election of Officers”.  This board has five table officers.  They include the Chair, 1st Vice Chair, 2nd Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer.

For any executive position that required a vote it was agreed that only the name of the winner and not the vote count would be announced.  If there was a tie there would be a second round of voting.  If the tie still existed then it would be decided with the flip of a coin.

Motion:           to have all positions of the board declared vacant.  (Kendell/Gibbons).  Carried.

Motion:           to have Bonnie Lane-McCarthy and Shawn Brace act as scrutineers.  (Woolfrey/Budgell)  Carried.

The following nominations were submitted prior to the meeting:

Chair                                                                            Nominated by

Mr. Thomas Kendell                                                     Budgell/Langdon

Mr. Bill Sceviour                                                          Brown/Pritchett

1st Vice Chair

Mr. John George                                                          Langdon/Kendell

2nd Vice Chair

Mr. Hubert Langdon                                                     George/Kendell

Treasurer

Mr. Scott Pritchett                                                        Gibbons/Kendell

Secretary

Mr. Kerry Noble                                                          Cheeks/Kendell

The Director then proceeded to carry out the elections.  He called for nominations three times from the floor for each position commencing with the Chair.

Nominations from floor for Chair

There were no nominations from the floor for Chair

Motion:           to cease nominations for Chair.  (Gibbons/Woolfrey).  Carried.

Mr. Thomas Kendell was elected as Chair.

Nominations from floor for 1st. Vice Chair:

Dr. Greg Woolfrey was nominated by Mr. Peter Budgell and seconded by Mr. Thomas Kendell.

Mr. Bill Sceviour was nominated by Mrs. Audrey Whiteway and seconded by Mr. Peter Gibbons.

Motion:           to cease nominations for 1st Vice Chair.  (Noble/Budgell)  Carried.

Mr. Bill Sceviour was elected as 1st Vice Chair.

Nominations from floor for 2nd Vice Chair:

Mr. Peter Gibbons was nominated by Mrs. Audrey Whiteway and seconded by Mr. Scott Pritchett.

Dr. Greg Woolfrey was nominated by Mr. Peter Budgell and seconded by Mr. Thomas Kendell.

Motion:           to cease nominations for 2nd Vice Chair.  (Budgell/Pritchett).  Carried.

Mr. Peter Gibbons was elected as 2nd Vice Chair.

Nominations from the floor for Treasurer from floor

            There were no nominations from the floor.

Motion:           to cease nominations for Treasurer.  (George/Harris).  Carried.

Mr. Scott Pritchett was declared Treasurer by acclamation.

Nominations from the floor for Secretary

Mr. Hubert Langdon was nominated by Mr. Thomas Kendell and seconded by Mr. John George.

Motion:           to cease nominations for Secretary.  (Kendell/Pritchett).  Carried.

Mr. Kerry Noble was elected Secretary.

Motion:           to destroy the ballots.  (Gibbons/Kendell)  Carried.

3.         Minutes of Meetings

            3.1       Regular Meeting September 28, 2005

Motion:           to accept the minutes of the September 28, 2005 as circulated. (Sceviour/Pritchett).Carried.

4.         Business Arising:

            4.1       Feedback on Trustee Orientation Session

Mr. Mercer reported that there were many positive comments re the trustee orientation session held in Gander on October 14 and 15, 2005.

The orientation process for trustees will take place over a period of time.  Mr. Mercer informed the Board that there is a possibility that the Minister of Education, the Honourable Tom Hedderson and the Executive Officer of NLSBA, Mr. Brian Shortall would be attending the next regular meeting of the Board.  Both individuals are expected to confirm their visits shortly.

5.         Committee Reports/Updates

            No reports

6.         Correspondence

6.1       Letter from NLTA – Liaison Committee Appointments

Correspondence from the NLTA named the following teachers to the School Board-Teacher Liaison Committee:

Mr. Ron Dawe

Mr. Rick Duffy

Mr. Rick LeDrew

Mr. Wade Verge

Ms. Gail Jarvis

Mr. Dawe will be acting as chair on behalf of the teachers.  In accordance with Article 5.03 a meeting is to be held by November 30, 2005.

This correspondence was forwarded to the Personnel Committee.  The school board representation for the School Board-Teacher Liaison Committee will be selected by the Personnel Committee.

6.2       Letter from Mr. Robert Elliott – Trustee Resignation

Motion:           to accept the resignation of Mr. Robert Elliott.  (Woolfrey/George).  Carried.

7.         New Business

7.1       Presentation – School System Restructuring Plan

Mr. Mercer presented the School System Restructuring plan for the District.  Since there wasn’t enough time for the complete presentation, it will be continued at another meeting.

Motion:           to extend the meeting by 15 minutes (Sceviour/Gibbons).  Carried.

7.2       School Board Election Process

In the District there were 85 polling stations.  At each station there was a Deputy Returning Officer and a Poll Clerk.  Mr. Brace held training sessions throughout the District that were attended by all Deputy Returning Offices and Poll Clerks.  Each Deputy Returning Officer was given a package of material that contained the regulations that needed to be followed the contents of which were reviewed during the training session.  This review included the requirement to initial each ballot. 

The School Board elections were held on September 27, 2005.  After the results were reported there was a three vote difference between the top two candidates in Zone 9.  Mr. Peter Gibbons was declared elected.  Ms. Sandra Cooze, who trailed Mr. Gibbons by three votes, asked for a recount.  This recount was conducted at the District office in Gander on October 4th at 2:00 P.M.  Present for the recount were Mr. Shawn Brace, Returning Officer for the elections, Ms. Marie White, Administrative Assistant – Finance, Mr. Peter Gibbons and Ms. Sandra Cooze.

In Zone 9 there were 11 polling stations.  At the training session for this Zone there were 11 Deputy Returning Officers and 11 Poll Clerks present.  Mr. Brace has asked each Deputy Returning Officer for a written statement regarding the training.  Out of the 11 Deputy Returning Officers only one said they felt they were not adequately trained. 

Mr. Brace said if he had to go through this process again that he would have followed the same procedure that he used. 

During the recount it was determined that 3 or the 11 polls were rejected in full since no ballots were initialed.  One other poll was partially rejected for the same reason.

Dr. Greg Woolfrey expressed concern that approximately 1/3 of the votes cast were rejected as rejected ballots as a result of the recount.  However, this did not change the outcome of the original count where these rejected ballots were included.

7.3       Committees

There are five standing committees of the Board.  They are the Executive Committee, the Finance and Property Committee, the Personnel committee, the Program Committee and the Student Support Services Committee.  Each committee is chaired by an executive member.  The following is a list of the committees and their members:

Finance & Property

Mr. Scott Pritchett (Chair)

Mr. Newman Harris

Ms. Audrey Whiteway

Mr. Shawn Brace, Assistant Director, Finance (non-voting)

Mr. Randell Mercer, Director (ex-officio)

Mr. Thomas Kendell, Chair (ex-officio)

Personnel

Mr. Kerry Noble (Chair)

Mr. Hubert Langdon

Mr. Peter Budgell

Ms. Claudine Wells, Assistant Director, Personnel (non-voting)

Mr. Randell Mercer, Director (ex-officio)

Mr. Thomas Kendell, Chair (ex-officio)

Programs

Mr. Bill Sceviour (Chair)

Mr. John George

Ms. Kim Cheeks

Mr. Charlie McCormack, Assistant Director, Programs (non-voting)

Mr. Randell Mercer, Director (ex-officio)

Mr. Thomas Kendell, Chair (ex-officio)

Student Support Services

Mr. Peter Gibbons (Chair)

Dr. Greg Woolfrey

Mr. Clar Brown

Ms. Marina Hewlett, (SEO, Student Support Services) (non-voting)

Mr. Randell Mercer, Director (ex-officio)

Mr. Thomas Kendell, Chair (ex-officio)

Each committee will meet approximately within two weeks following

the Board meeting.

Motion:           to accept the members of  the committees.  (Woolfrey/

Budgell).  Carried.

7.4       Board Photos

Mr. Jim Mahoney took photos of the Board Trustees.

7.5       Atlantic School Boards Conference

The School Board is a part of Newfoundland and Labrador School Boards Association (NLSBA).  NLSBA is part of the Atlantic School Boards affiliates.  Each year there is an Atlantic Conference.

The Atlantic School Boards Conference will be held on January 26, 27 and 28, 2006 in Corner Brook.  Any trustee interested in attending is to notify Ms. Florence Granville by Friday, November 4, 2005.

7.6       Closed Session

Deferred to next meeting.

8.         Date of Next Meeting

The next regular meeting of the Board will be held on November 22, 2005 in Grand Falls-Windsor at the Regional Office.

9.         Adjournment

Motion:           to adjourn the meeting at 10:25 PM (Pritchett/George).  Carried.

_________________________                                  _______________________

Thomas Kendell                                                           Bonnie Lane-McCarthy

Chair                                                                            Recorder

BLMcC/fg