Minutes of Regular Board Meeting
October 27, 2005
Location:
Present:
Mr. Bill Sceviour Mr.
Mr. Peter Budgell Ms.
Ms. Kim Cheeks Ms. Bonnie Lane McCarthy (Recorder)
Mr. John George Mr. Charlie McCormack
Mr. Peter Gibbons Mr. Shawn Brace
Mr. Newman Harris Ms.
Mr. Thomas Kendell
Mr.
Mr. Kerry Noble
Mr.
Ms. Audrey Whiteway
Mr. Greg Woolfrey
Regrets:
Mr.
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.
Mr. Bill Sceviour Brown/Pritchett
1st Vice Chair
Mr. John George Langdon/Kendell
2nd Vice Chair
Mr.
Treasurer
Mr.
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.
Nominations from floor for 1st. Vice Chair:
Dr.
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.
Dr.
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.
Nominations from the floor for Secretary
Mr.
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
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.
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
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.
Mr. Newman Harris
Ms. Audrey Whiteway
Mr. Shawn Brace, Assistant Director, Finance (non-voting)
Mr. Randell Mercer, Director (ex-officio)
Mr.
Personnel
Mr. Kerry Noble (Chair)
Mr.
Mr. Peter Budgell
Ms. Claudine Wells, Assistant Director, Personnel (non-voting)
Mr. Randell Mercer, Director (ex-officio)
Mr.
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.
Student Support Services
Mr. Peter Gibbons (Chair)
Dr. Greg Woolfrey
Mr.
Ms.
Mr. Randell Mercer, Director (ex-officio)
Mr.
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
The School Board is a part of
The Atlantic School Boards Conference will be held on January 26, 27 and
28, 2006 in
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.
_________________________ _______________________
Chair Recorder
BLMcC/fg