Board Meeting Update #160: November 19, 2018

Posted on 11/19/2018

This update provides a summary of the Public Meeting of Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board held Monday, November 19, 2018 at Marmora Public School. It is an unofficial summary of the meeting; official minutes will be approved at the next meeting in November 2019.

Lucille Kyle, Chair of the Board, acknowledged that the meeting is taking place on the land of the Anishinaabe people.

Character Moment of Reflection

Each Board meeting opens with a Character Moment of Reflection. At Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board, Growing with Character is our intentional focus on creating safe, caring, respectful and inclusive learning environments where students develop the foundation for good character. Growing with Character is the foundation of the school board strategic plan. Through Growing with Character, we model, teach and expect demonstrations of our eight character traits which are: caring, cooperation, honesty, humour, integrity, respect, responsibility and trustworthiness.

This evening Ryan Gentle, Student Trustee, Trenton High School, asked all to reflect on Cooperation: We work as a team for a common good. We value the opinions of others and show a willingness to work together towards a common goal.

Presentations

Marmora Public School Early ON partnership

This presentation described partnerships between and among pre-school-aged children, their families, community partners and Marmora Public School. Gateway Community Health Centre and Family Space offer programming and play groups for young children and their families in the school on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Partnerships with families and communities are essential to our work: they provide high-quality inclusive child care programs and services that are child and family centred. This approach also supports a school first philosophy as schools become a hub within their community. Through these interactions, children in playgroups, Kindergarten readiness programs and their families experience seamless transitions that support a continuum of care. They have access to dieticians, budgeting resources, transportation, social workers and counsellors, income tax preparation, good food boxes/good baby boxes, oral health resources and much more.

Thank you to presenters Rob Lake, Principal, Marmora Public School; Heather McMaster, Early Years Lead; Sheri Williams and Rene Young from Gateway Community Health Centre; and Kelly Allan and Tina Kinmond from Family Space.

Group pic

Thank you to presenters from Marmora Public School, Family Space, Gateway Community Health Centre for presenting at tonight' s Board meeting.

HPEDSB received two national BRAVO! Awards through the Canadian Association of Communicators in Education

Learning & Leadership is one of four HPEDSB strategic plan priorities. This presentation showcased two national awards received from the Canadian Association of Communicators in Education. CACE is a national organization of professional communicators in education.

The prestigious BRAVO! Awards are presented annually. The HPEDSB projects that received awards were: 1) Say and Do Nice Things campaign; and 2) Well-Being in Schools Video.

Congratulations to Laina Andrews, Superintendent of Education; Kerry Donnell, Communications Officer; Ken Dostaler, System Lead, Equity and Inclusive Education; Tina Elliott, System Lead, Student Services; and Sherry Rivers, Digital Communications Analyst.

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Congratulations to the team who worked on the 2017 Say and Do Nice Things campaign, winning a national BRAVO! Award for their exemplary communications work.

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Congratulations to the team who created the Well-Being in Schools video in 2017. They were awarded a national BRAVO! Award for their exemplary communications work.

Report from Committee of the Whole Board

Four items were discussed at the Committee of the Whole Board meeting:

Lease of Sir Winston Churchill Public School to Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board
Disposal of surplus property: Queen Elizabeth School (Picton)
Disposal of surplus property: Quinte Secondary School
Recommendations for acting superintendents

These meetings are closed to the public as provided by s. 207 (2) of the Education Act.

Recommendations

2018-2019 Board policy review, Part A

Policies are reviewed every three years to ensure they are still relevant and have been implemented effectively. Changes to legislation and new guidelines also necessitate updates to current policy.

Board members approved revisions and updates were made to the following policies to comply with legislation or regulations:

Policy 3-C: Student Representation on Board
Policy 3-H: Filling Vacancies on the Board
Policy 4: Corporate Board Job Description
Policy 9: Role of the Board Member

Recommendation to approve all outstanding minutes

The new Board of Trustees will be organized on December 3, 2018 and no meetings of trustees are planned prior to this organizational meeting.

Public and closed meeting minutes from the June Budget Committee meeting, November Committee of the Whole Board meeting, November Public Board meeting, November Student Enrolment School Capacity Committee, November Audit Committee, November Executive Committee, November Program and Human Resources Committee, November Operations and Finance Committee, must be approved prior to the end of the term of the current Board.

According to Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised, where there is a change or replacement of a portion of the membership, a committee is appointed and authorized for the purpose of approving all outstanding minutes.

Board members approved assigning the Executive Committee for this purpose.

2017-2018 Financial Statements and BDO LLP Auditor' s Report

Board members approved the Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ending August 31, 2018. The Consolidated Financial Statements reflect the board' s financial results for the 2017-2018 fiscal year.

During the year the board expended $25,460,297 on capital asset acquisition/construction. These expenditures are funded through a variety of sources including capital priorities, school condition improvement, and school renewal grants.

The audited financial statements result in an in-year surplus of $4,776,343 and a corresponding in-year surplus for Ministry compliance reporting purposes of $2,942,554.

The original budget plan for 2017-18 was forecast to have a balanced budget with a very small surplus of $3,065, as required by the board' s mandated Multi-Year Financial Recovery Plan.

The board has met or exceeded its targets under the Multi-Year Financial Recovery Plan for the 2017-2018 year.

The in-year surplus is due to a number of factors, rather than a single cause. The major factors are listed below:

decrease in teaching staff costs related to unpaid days and budgeted average salaries;
reduction in actual staff replacement costs compared to budget;
lower than anticipated payouts for unused vacation carried over from prior year;
difficulties in filling some positions with qualified staff resulting in some extended;
vacancies of varying periods throughout the year; and
decreased overall spending in services and supplies.

Textbook approval

The Ministry of Education website for Curriculum Centre Learning Resources lists textbooks/novels approved for use in schools by the Minster of Education under the Education Act. HPEDSB Procedure 210: Textbook/Learning Material Selection, Purchase and Approval, sets out expectations for principals and teachers to follow when such materials are not found on the list provided by the Minister, subject to Board approval.

Board members approved the following novels for use in secondary schools:

The Marrow Thieves by Cheri Dimaline, for Grades 11 and 12
Medicine Walk by Richard, for Grades 11 and 12
Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson, for Grades 11 and 12

Trustee kilometrage rate

Board members approved the reimbursement rate for trustees travel in personal automobiles at $0.55 per kilometre for the first 5,000 kilometres, and $0.49 per kilometre after that, effective November 1, 2018.

Information

Calendar of events

A number of district and school events (Pdf) are scheduled for December 2018.

Upcoming events include the following:

December 2: PECI Winter Challenge (for secondary school students)
December 3: Harry J. Clarke Junior Choir, performing at Chapters Belleville, 6:00 p.m.
December 4: Grade 7 and 8 Entrepreneur Night, Prince of Wales Public School
December 5: Junior Drumming Concert, Prince Charles Public School (Trenton), 6:30 p.m.
December 18:
- Festive Concert, Foxboro Public School, 6:30 p.m.
- Terrific Kids Assembly, Athol-South Marysburgh Public School
- Festive Family Night, Massassaga-Rednersville Public School
- Holiday School Lunch, Sophiasburgh Central School

Report from the Chair
Lucille Kyle, Chair of the Board, recognized outgoing trustees by presenting them with a memory box. Thank you to trustees who have served on the Board:

Tom Biniaris, represented Trenton & CFB Trenton
Justin Bray, represented Southeast Hastings
Dwayne Inch, represented South Prince Edward County
Dave Patterson, represented Belleville/Thurlow
Jim Williams, represented Sidney & Frankford

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Congratulations to outgoing trustees: Jim Williams, represented Sidney & Frankford; Tom Biniaris, represented Trenton & CFB Trenton; Dave Patterson, represented Belleville/Thurlow; Justin Bray, represented Southeast Hastings; and Dwayne Inch, represented South Prince Edward County, pictured with Lucille Kyle, Chair of the Board and Mandy Savery-Whiteway, Director of Education.

Report from the Audit Committee