1. Accident debriefing – we continue to monitor levels of support and
debrief the incident at Racette on Oct. 25. We are extremely grateful to emergency
services, Racette staff, volunteers and the outpouring of support from
communities near and far. The division is still providing support as needed –
trauma response worker is coming in once a week, regular counseling support is
in place. We continue to review the protocol followed that day and will make
changes, if necessary. In the next 2-4 week period, we will be having a meeting
with all Racette students, parents and staff to determine if and when the
Racette family is ready to move back to the temporary Racette 2. As for
speeding up the modernization of Racette’s home school, the government says they
aren't hopeful due to shortage of materials and delayed material orders, as
well as scheduling for subtrades. The division is currently checking to see the
earliest we could move students into the school, even if the project isn't
entirely complete.
2. FSLW municipal support - Family School Liaison Workers in our schools
provide a wide variety of services, including individual and group counseling,
crisis management, case consultation and initiating referrals to other
agencies. The workers are closely involved with families and provide ongoing
support to students regarding personal and social skills development. After
taking over the FSLW program from local municipalities and enhancing it, our
costs to maintain the program in each of our schools increases each year. We
are thankful to the support from our local municipalities who offset a portion
of the budget by making contributions to the program each year.
3. Policy review - Trustees reviewed Policies 2 and 6 in regards to
role of the board and role of the vice chair.
4. Expense disclosure – New provincial legislation
requires the government to post all travel and hosting expense details online
for ministers, deputies and assistant deputies. What will this look like
for school boards? Our public audited financial statements presently detail the
salaries and expenses of trustees, superintendent and secretary-treasurer. The
division already follows a strict personal expense reimbursement code with many
checks and balances. The new guidelines mostly seek to facilitate transparency
and access to information. Administration will be reviewing best practices and
will bring forward recommendations to commence in the 2013-14 school year.
5. Bishop ordination & Board meeting change - The Board will be
attending the Episcopal Ordination of the Most Reverend Paul Terrio, the new
Bishop for St. Paul, on Dec. 12 at 2:00 p.m. Therefore, December’s Board of
Trustees meeting has been changed to take place on Tuesday, December 11 at
12:30 p.m.
6. Superintendents Report:
- bus survey - master copy available
for trustees to view - transportation department is reviewing and will give
individual bus drivers copies of their anonymous survey results within the next
month - final report thereafter
- school logic - creating some
snags, but staff are working through the software changes
- records management - storage
should be made according to provincial standards - will start destroying
student records documents beyond 30 years - policy says 20 years - all other
items will be destroyed according to policy
- tell them from me student
survey – students in Grade 4 – 12 will be taking part in a division-wide provincial
survey
- Facebook online - pilot
schools - Mallaig, Myrnam, Regional High School, Two Hills School and Ashmont
Secondary - even though people can make comments, there will be people
monitoring the sites 24/7 - feedback on the amount of time monitoring and any
negative comments
- career fairs in January -
staff attending
- healthy school grant - received $50,000 for wellness fund -
schools applied for specific programming needs, but there will also be some
funding available for all schools to enhance breakfast programs
7. Financial report – St. Paul Education’s audited financial reports were
given an extension to December. In the new Education Act, schools boards will
be mandated to have an audit committee with outside members (ie. community rep
and post-secondary rep). Across the province, there are requests for 300
modular classrooms, but only have budget for 45. More joint construction
projects taking place, combining schools with community facilities (ie.
libraries, community centres, etc.),
8. Capital projects:
- FG Miller - progression as
scheduled
- TH Mennonite - still hasn't
gone to tender due to further drawing changes - should go to tender this week -
anticipating spring start - Sept. 2014 completion date - drawings delayed due
to differences in elevation and the water level
- Racette - inquiry to speed up
renovation - word so far says they aren't hopeful due to material orders and
scheduling for subtrades as well - checking to see the earliest we could move
students into the school, even if the project isn't entirely complete.
9. Goodfish Lake update – all local, provincial and federal parties
were invited to a facilitated discussion on October 18 to begin a process of
addressing the transportation issues in the area. Although the federal partners
did not attend, the meeting was considered a good first step in finding a
resolution to both transportation and other educational issues.
