REGULAR Board Meeting
Tuesday, June 2, 2015 @ 6:15 p.m.
Location:
Schumacher Board Office, Board Room
153 Croatia Avenue, Schumacher
MISSION STATEMENT:
Together, we inspire innovation and a passion for learning in every student.
Schumacher Board Office
Temporary location: Queen Elizabeth Site, 383 Birch Street, Timmins, ON
MISSION STATEMENT:
Together, we inspire innovation and a passion for learning in every student.
AGENDA
Page(s) 1) CALL TO ORDER
2) REGULAR SESSION
3) ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA
4) CONFLICT OF INTEREST
5) PRESENTATION
6) APPROVAL OF MINUTES - Regular Meeting, May 19, 2015 ... 3-7
7) BUSINESS AND/OR QUESTIONS ARISING OUT OF MINUTES i) Report on Meeting with Minister’s office (May 26th)
ii) Dates and Agenda for local meetings with municipal councils
iii) Setting of 2015-2016 Board meeting dates... attachment
8) UNFINISHED BUSINESS i) Community hubs
9) ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS
i) IT report ... 8 ii) Public Concerns Policy (new – 2nd and third reading) ... 9 & attachment
Page(s)
10) COMMITTEE REPORTS
11) OTHER BUSINESS
i) OSTA report (J. Belanger & K .McDowell)
12) ONTARIO PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION
13) MINISTRY OF EDUCATION i) Memo 2015: B11:
Capital Funding for New Construction of Child Care ... attachment ii) Memo 2015: B12:
Request for 2015 Capital Priorities Business Cases ... attachment
14) CORRESPONDENCE
15) ITEMS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS
MINUTES of the Regular Meeting of District School Board Ontario North East was held at 6:30 p.m. in the Schumacher Board Office on May 19, 2015.
TRUSTEES PRESENT:
Doug Shearer (Chair)
Bob Brush (Vice-Chair)
Heather Bozzer Bruce Cutten Dennis Draves Tom Henderson Wayne Major Peter Osterberg Rosemary Pochopsky TRUSTEES ABSENT: Howard Archibald Saunders Porter
STUDENT TRUSTEES PRESENT:
Jenna Belanger (TDSS) Kara McDowell (TH&VS)
STUDENT TRUSTEES ABSENT:
ADMINISTRATION PRESENT:
Linda Knight - Director of Education Jo-Anne Plaunt - Superintendent of Schools Michelle Leigh - Superintendent of Schools
Paul Langis - Acting Superintendent of Schools
Jim Rowe - Senior Manager of Human Resources
ADMINISTRATION ABSENT:
Pearl Fong-West - Superintendent of Business/Finance and Treasurer
RECORDING SECRETARY
Susan Allen
GUESTS
Wayne Snider, reporter
REGULAR SESSION
The meeting was called to order at 6:34 p.m.
5880-15 MAJOR/SHEARER: THAT this Board resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole.
5881-15 DRAVES/POCHOPSKY: THAT this Board resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole, (In-Camera).
CARRIED 5882-15 OSTERBERG/DRAVES: THAT this Board reconvene in regular session.
CARRIED
ADOPTION OF AGENDA
5883-15 CUTTEN/HENDERSON: THAT the Agenda for the Regular Board Meeting dated May 19, 2015 be approved, with the following additions:
Under Administrative Reports:
o Staffing Under Correspondence: o JHK community CARRIED CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Trustees were asked to declare conflicts of interest as they arise.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF May 5, 2015
5884-15 POCHOPSKY/BRUSH: THAT the Board approve the minutes of the Regular Board meeting held May 5, 2015.
CARRIED
BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Capital Planning Schedule
5885-15 BOZZER/POCHOPSKY: THAT the discussion and update on the capital planning schedule be received.
CARRIED
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS
iPad 1:1 Project
5886-15 CUTTEN/MAJOR: THAT the Board receive the update on the iPad 1:1 project.
CARRIED Cash Disbursements
5887-15 BOZZER/BRUSH: THAT the Board accept the report on cash
disbursements for the month of April, 2015 in the amount of $11,798,674.21.
Community Planning and Partnerships Policy
5888-15 DRAVES/POCHOPSKY: THAT the Board approve the second and third (final) reading of the new Community Planning and
Partnerships Policy 2.2.2.
CARRIED Public Concerns Policy
5889-15 DRAVES/BOZZER: THAT the Board approve the first reading of the new Public Concern Policy.
CARRIED
Staffing/Personnel
5890-15 OSTERBERG/BRUSH: THAT Tanya Vincze be appointed Principal Of Timmins Centennial Public School commencing July 1, 2015.
CARRIED
5891-15 BRUSH/OSTERBERG: THAT Rosemary Quinn be appointed Principal of W. Earle Miller Public School commencing July 1, 2015.
CARRIED
5892-15 BOZZER/BRUSH: THAT Patricia Chertow be appointed Principal of Schumacher Public School commencing July 1, 2015.
CARRIED
5893-15 BOZZER/BRUSH: THAT Shawn Donovan be appointed Vice-Principal of R. Ross Beattie Public School commencing July 1, 2015.
CARRIED
5894-15 MAJOR/BRUSH: THAT Lisa Yee be appointed to the position of System Principal of Student Success commencing July 1, 2015.
CARRIED
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC)
5895-15 DRAVES/OSTERBERG: THAT the minutes of the Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC) for the meeting held April 1, 2015 be received.
CARRIED Parent Involvement Committee (PIC)
5896-15 MAJOR/CUTTEN: THAT the minutes of the Parent Involvement Committee (PIC) for the meeting held January 19, 2015 be received.
OTHER BUSINESS
Elk Lake meeting
5897-15 MAJOR/BOZZER THAT the report on the Elk Lake visit be received.
CARRIED
School Board Efficiencies and Modernization (SBEM)
5898-15 HENDERSON/CUTTEN: THAT the report on the School Board Efficiencies and Modernization (SBEM) meeting held May 12, 2015 be received.
CARRIED Deloitte Ministry Report – Transportation Feasibility
5899-15 CUTTEN/DRAVES: THAT the Deloitte report for the Ministry of Education, entitled Feasibility Study of the Consolidation of the NE Tri-Board Student Transportation (NETST) and the Conseil scolaire catholique de district des Grandes Rivieres’ Transportation Services (CSCDGR), be received.
CARRIED
ONTARIO PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
5900-15 HENDERSON/POCHOPSKY: THAT the Board receive the following Ministry correspondence:
Minister’s letter re: Accommodation for Curriculum
CARRIED CORRESPONDENCE
5901-15 BRUSH/DRAVES: THAT the correspondence (via email to trustees) from JH Kennedy representative T. Peever be received.
CARRIED
With concern expressed, discussion ensued regarding the presentation made at the May 5th Board meeting and this email from JH Kennedy / Matheson representative T. Peever with respect to the transitioning of the Grade 7/8 students to IFSS.
5902-15 OSTERBERG/BOZZER: NOTICE OF MOTION for June 16, 2015:
THAT the Board rescind Motion # 5819-15 (April 7, 2015):
PORTER/MAJOR: THAT, commencing September 1, 2015, Joseph H.
Junior Kindergarten to Grade Six dual track (FRI and ENG) school.
After a more lengthy discussion, this notice of motion was withdrawn.
WITHDRAWN
ITEMS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS:
1. Report on meeting with Minister (May 26, Toronto)
2. Dates and agendas for upcoming meetings with local municipal councils
ADJOURNMENT
5903-15 MAJOR/DRAVES: THAT we do now adjourn.
CARRIED
The meeting was adjourned at 8:12 p.m.
IT Department Board Report - May 26, 2015
Wireless Network Upgrade in Progress
Our iPad Pilot Project taught us very early in the pilot, that our present wireless network is inadequate to the needs of a full-scale 1:1 iPad deployment in our schools. For example, in a school that had 12 wireless access points for general internet access, we actually needed 22 access points to provide sufficient wireless bandwidth for classrooms full of iPads. Our testing has shown that we need one wireless access point in each classroom, to service the needs of the class iPads. We ordered 350 new wireless access points (AP’s), and since receiving them in April, our technicians have begun installing new AP’s in secondary school classrooms. We estimate that we have completed the installation of 25% of the access points so far. At this rate, we will have all access points installed in all secondary schools by the start of school in September.
Teacher iPad Training Ongoing
In April and May we completed several more iPad training days for teachers. There are about 100 teachers remaining to be trained, and there are several training days scheduled in June. The teachers were taught by Certified Apple Trainers, who are themselves teachers in other educational institutions. This approach provides relevance and context for our own teachers, and they can benefit from the experience of the Apple Trainers in their own classrooms.
An Apple training session for principals and VP’s scheduled in May, was cancelled due to union job action taking place.
WAN RFP Underway
In late April, we issued an RFP for the upgrade of our Wide Area Network (WAN) in schools. The WAN is the interconnection of schools and board offices together, using fibre optic cables. Our current WAN provides for 10 MBPS (Megabits Per Second) speed to most elementary schools, and 100 MBPS to secondary schools. Our new WAN will provide much faster bandwidth than that, providing our schools with much faster access to the internet and to servers within our own network. The WAN upgrade will also speed up our network backups, and will improve the reliability of our phone and video conference systems in schools. The RFP evaluation takes place in June, and any equipment upgrades that are necessary to increase the WAN speed, will take place over the summer. The upgraded WAN will be ready for September.
Not directly related to the WAN upgrade, is our plan to increase the internet bandwidth to our schools. Teachers and students are finding that access to the internet in schools is quite slow at present, because of the large number of devices competing for limited internet bandwidth. This is also because teachers are using internet resources much more today than in the past. For September, we will increase our internet speed from 200 MBPS to 1000 MBPS. This substantial increase in bandwidth will make the internet much more responsive for students and staff - particularly important for education using iPads. The Internet RFP took place in the summer of 2013.
Network Cabinet Installations
We completed our network upgrade in November, and there are still a few finishing touches that need to be made in our network. The new network switches are larger and heavier than the ones they replaced. Over the summer if we have time, we will replace the undersized equipment racks, with enclosed cabinets. This will provide more secure and quieter mounting locations for our network equipment.
TO THE CHAIR AND MEMBERS OF Agenda Ref. No. 2015-06-02
DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD ONTARIO NORTH EAST
RE: NEW POLICY: Public Concerns
Background
The Public Sector, and MPP Accountability and Transparency Act , 2014(Bill8), which included amendments to the Ombudsman Act to expand the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman to include municipalities, school boards and universities was passed by Legislation on December 11, 2014. It is anticipated that these amendments will be proclaimed to come into force in early 2015/16 school year.
This will authorize the Ombudsman to investigate complaints by a person affected by a decision, recommendation, act or omission by a school board.
However, the Ombudsman will only have authority to investigate once an internal review or appeal process established by legislation (e.g. Special Education Appeal Board), or a by- law or resolution of the school board has been exhausted or has expired.
RECOMMENDATION
THAT District School Board Ontario North East approve the second and third (final) readings of the Public Concern Policy. Respectfully submitted, Linda L. Knight Director of Education
