From the Boardroom - Your 'at a glance' Review of the September 18, 2018 Board Meeting
PRESENTATIONS
Renewing the Promise and Rite of Commissioning
As part of the Rite of Commissioning ceremony, new Student Trustees, Dominique Novelli and Clareynze Ceria were led through the Renewing the Promise - A Pastoral Letter for Catholic Education. Mariette Martineau, Religious Education and Family Life Coordinator invited the students to share their views and insights on a journey through the document. The Student Trustees offered opportunities on how their Catholic education experience can improve. Click here to read more.
Wonder Emporium - Summer Learning Program
Dallis Novelli, Curriculum Coordinator, provided a report on the Wonder Emporium Summer Learning Program that was offered at St. Louis School, Pope John Paul II School and École Ste-Marguerite Bourgeoys during July. Over forty students in grades 1 - 3 participated in the program which focused on literacy, numeracy and physical education. Novelli shared that the theme of the camp was Wonder Emporium and really centered around allowing the students to direct their own learning based on the things they are curious about or want to learn. Novelli explained that the program is funded from the Council of Ontario Directors of Education and is designed to provide students with a learning boost during the summer. Students are selected by their classroom teachers to participate in the program. Click here to see pictures of the program and learn more.
Summer Sports Program
Megan Derouard, Healthy Active Living Lead provided a report on the summer sports camps offered by Kenora Catholic during the summer. This year the board offered the 16th Annual Volleyball Camp, as well as two new camps, the Basketball Skills Camp and the Multi-Sports Program. Derouard shared that the programs were open enrolment which means that students from anywhere could enrol in the program. There were students from Dryden, Kenora, Thunder Bay and Winnipeg. The programs partnered with headline coaches to help students develop sports skills.
Student Trustee Report
Dominique Novelli and Clareynze Ceria provided their first report as the Student Trustee Team for the 2018 - 2019 School Year. They provided an overview of the start of the new school year and activities that happened in September. You can watch their full report on video here:
REPORTS
Staffing Report
Tina Sinclair, Manager of Human Resource Services, provided a report listing all the new hires and promotions throughout the board for the 2018 - 2019 school year.
Emergency Appointments
The trustees approved a motion for Emergency Appointments to allow the Director of Education to appoint a temporary person to teach a class if there are no qualified teachers available. Eikre explained that this motion comes into play in the spring when new teachers graduate from University but are not yet fully qualified through the Ontario College of Teachers. This motion allows the director to utilize these graduates for a period of 10 days as outlined in Regulation 298.
School Improvement Projects
Andrew Poirier, Manager of Operational Services, provided the trustees with the Capital Plan and School Renewal Projects report. The report identifies progress on capital projects over the 2017 - 2018 school year. Poirier identified that the board completed 29 projects in 2017 - 2018 valued at $2.2 million.
Education Funding 2018 - 2019
Alison Smith, Superintendent of Instructional Services provided the trustees with a memorandum entitled Update: Education Funding for 2018 - 2019 dated August 24, 2018. Smith provided a review of the memorandum and identified the impacts on the Kenora Catholic District School Board's funding.
Primary Class Size
Alison Smith provided a Primary Class Size Report identifying that the board is compliant with the legislation in all areas. Annually the Ministry of Education requires that school boards report on the total enrolment in each primary class to ensure compliance with the Primary Class Size legislation. This legislation requires that 90% of the Primary Classes be at or below 20 students and 100% to be at or below 23 students. This does not include Kindergarten classes which are to have an average class size of 26 students. As of September 11, 2018, Kenora Catholic is compliant with all areas of the Primary Class Size legislation. Within all primary classes (Grads 1- 3) 87.5% of classes are under 20 students and all grade 3/4 split classes are below 23 students. The average class size for Kindergarten is 20 students. The average class size for junior/intermediate classes (Grades 4 - 8) are at 22 students.
Borrowing Resolution
The trustees passed a motion to increase the Board's borrowing resolution with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce up to a maximum of $10,000,000.
Ontario Catholic School Trustees' Association Visit on September 27th
Phyllis Eikre, Director of Education, shared on Thursday, September 27th the Kenora Catholic District School Board is welcoming visitors from the Ontario Catholic School Trustees' Association. Beverley Eckensweiler, President and Nick Milanetti, Executive Director will be visiting the Catholic Campus. Click here to learn more about the visit.
November Board Meeting
The trustees passed a motion to move the regular board meeting for Tuesday, November 20th to Tuesday, November 13th to accommodate the submission of the audited financial statements for 2017 - 2018.
Next Board Meeting
The next Board Meeting of the Kenora Catholic District School Board is scheduled for Tuesday, October 16th at 7:00 p.m. at the Catholic Education Center in Kenora with video conferencing available from St. John School in Red Lake. Everyone is welcome to attend. Click here to see when all the meetings are scheduled for 2018 - 2019.