Council of Commissioners of Riverside School Board

Transcription

1 Council of Commissioners of Riverside School Board Minutes of the proceedings of a regular session of the Council of Commissioners for Riverside School Board held at the Administration Centre, 299 Sir-Wilfrid-Laurier Blvd., St. Lambert, Québec on March 21, The Secretary General established that quorum was met and Chairman Jim Munro, called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: M. Bell M. Gour M. Bennett D. Horrocks K. Cameron D. Lamoureux P. D Avignon M. L Heureux H. Dumont P. Morrison J. Munro N. Nichols G. Sastre D. Smith F. White Parent Commissioners: P. Chouinard, T. Neal Also present Kevin Lukian, Director General Kathleen Balfour, Secretary General Germen Brière, Director of Financial Resources Pierre Farmer, Director of Material Resources Maria Nasso-Maselli, Director of Elementary Schools Stephen Lessard, Director-Secondary Schools/Adult Education Frances Weiser, Director of Human Resources Apologies : F. Blais, L. Cuffling, J. Hobbs, R. Shaver, R. Tomalty ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA: IT WAS MOVED by Commissioner P. Chouinard, and seconded by Commissioner P. D Avignon, that the agenda be adopted with the addition of 9.1 Notice of Motion. PRESENTATION BY STUDENTS AND TEACHERS FROM HRHS: We thank the teachers and students from Heritage Regional High School who gave us a presentation on their educational/humanitarian trip to Guatemala. The video, the poems and the stories presented by the students were evidence of a well-organized project that took two years of preparation and planning. Bravo! PUBLIC QUESTIONS: (7:30) Mrs. K. Armistead, Chair of the Governing Board of Heritage Regional High School, had a question about the transportation statistics related to students from the West End. Mr. P. Paradis, Parent Representative from St. Lawrence School, requested that he be kept informed any follow-up on his recommendation regarding Epipens. He also had a question concerning policies for consultation. (7:40) ADOPTION OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD FEBRUARY 21, 2006: IT WAS MOVED by Commissioner D. Smith, and seconded by Commissioner N. Nichols, that the Minutes of the meeting held February 21, 2006 be adopted

2 BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES The Director General followed up on the following items: Renaming of the PACE program; Agreement protocol with the City of Otterburn Park; Emphyteutic lease, Town of St. Bruno; Sale of the Nadeu Street property; Special budget re capital projects. CHAIRMAN AND DIRECTOR GENERAL Chair s report A meeting took place that included representation from all interested groups in the matter of the sale of land in St. Lambert to allow for the construction of a CHSLD. Director General s report 40 th Anniversary French Immersion Gala; Bell Regional Science Fair; Youth Symposium on Entrepreneur-ship; RTL bus incident at Centennial student incurred injuries to her ankle but, fortunately, these proved to be minor; Five expulsions took place since last month. Parents Committee - Report by P. Chouinard: March 6 meeting was held at Chambly Academy; Parents as Partners - Homework strate-gies, the Reform, Project 10; Policy on the Allocation of Resources ; FCPPQ convention in May; Next meeting April 3 at St. Mary s School. REPORTS (non-voting items only) Executive Committee - Report by L. Cuffling: No report. K. Cameron requested a copy of the Ethics Review Committee Report. Advisory Committee on Transportation Report by L. Cuffling: No report. Adult and Vocational Education Committee Report by M. Bell: No report. The Chair was pleased that authorization for the health options has now been received. Education Committee-Report by P. Chouinard: Policy on Financial Contributions from Parents; Policy on the Evaluation of Student Learning; Policy on Arts and Culture; Next meeting - April 10,

3 Financial and Material Resources Committee - Report by P. Morrison: March 13, 2006; Printing machine tenders; Loan for energy conservation; Triennial Plan ; Budget parameters ; Measures to balance budget ; Mixing Boxes at HRHS; Vandalism at HRHS; Material Resources team update; CRHS land sale; Next meetings - April 11 and 25, 2006 at 6 p.m. Human Resources Committee - Report by G. Sastre: Administrative structure; Reception for retiring employees and employees with 25 years of service; Position of Superintendent of Transportation; Hiring policy; Retirement of the Director of Human Resources - the Chair of this committee as well as the Chair and Vice-Chair of Council expressed their gratitude to Mrs. Frances Weiser for her many years of dedication to the school board and wished her a very happy and long retirement. QESBA Report by D. Horrocks : Document on regionalization; Enforcement of the non-smoking law; Focus groups on the future of English schooling; Town Hall meeting in New Carlisle, in Gaspé June; Constitution President and Vice-President positions to be filled; Next meeting - May 5, Ad Hoc Committees - Marketing Report by H. Dumont: No report. Meeting next Wednesday. Ad Hoc Committee on Elementary Liaison Report by D. Horrocks: Joint meeting with Secondary Liaison committee on March 15, 2006; Project YIELD discussed the timing of this presentation. Ad Hoc Committee on Secondary Liaison Report by J. Munro: See above. Ad Hoc Committees on Health and Safety Report by K. Cameron:

4 March 21 st at 5 p.m.; Costs related to accidents are relatively low; Good practices; Resource for texts of laws; Sharing information with other boards; Recommendation re Epipens; Reference to health and safety in legal contractual agreements; Reference book; Draft policy for consultation planned for the end of this year; Existing policies related to health and safety topics. Report on the process of dividing the board s territory into electoral divisions - The Secretary General reported that: The letter was sent on February 22 nd to the Minister of Education, Leisure and Sports requesting the derogation allowing Riverside to remain at the current 19 electoral divisions. A confirmation or receipt of our letter was received on March 6 th. To date we have not received the Minister s decision. On February 28 th the Secretary General and a technician from the Transporta-tion Department attended the training session for the use of the software to be used in this process. NEW BUSINESS Resolution HR SCHOOL CALENDAR ADULT AND CAREER EDUCATION: WHEREAS the required consultation process has taken place concerning the Calendars for Adult Education (General Education and Vocational Education) for : IT WAS MOVED by Commissioner T. Neal, and seconded by Commissioner D. Smith, that said calendars be adopted as presented and that a copy be attached to and form an integral part of the Minutes of the Proceedings of this meeting. Resolution HR RESIGNATION OF A DIRECTOR: WHEREAS the Director of Human Resources has submitted her resignation for purposes of retirement: IT WAS MOVED by Commissioner G. Sastre, and seconded by Commissioner D. Lamoureux, that the resignation for purposes of retirement of Mrs. Frances Weiser, Director of Human Resources, be accepted with regret effective September 8 th, Resolution B RESOLUTION CONCERNING FUNDING FOR THE 90 MINUTES OF ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONAL TIME AT ELEMENTARY IN 2006: WHEREAS the government of Quebec has adopted changes to the Basic School Regulation which

5 prescribe the addition of 90 minutes per week of additional instructional time at the elementary level, beginning with school reopening in Fall 2006; WHEREAS the government of Quebec has acknowledged that there will be additional costs associated with the implementation of this measure; WHEREAS the government of Quebec has repeatedly assured the funding will be available to cover these additional costs; and WHEREAS Quebec s English school boards have undertaken extensive preparations for the delivery of this new measure, in a manner consistent with the regulation and in accordance with the pedagogical priorities expressed by our educational communities: IT WAS MOVED by Commissioner D. Horrocks, and seconded by Commissioner F. White, that Riverside School Board call upon the Government of Quebec to provide, as promised, all the necessary funds for the delivery of the 90 additional minutes of instructional time at the elementary level; and THAT no budgetary compressions be imposed by the Government of Quebec that offset this promised additional funding. Resolution F DEPOSIT OF THE REVISED BUDGET: IT WAS MOVED by Commissioner F. White, and seconded by Commissioner P. D Avignon, that the Council of Commissioners receive the attached Revised Budget , which was reviewed by the Finance Committee at its last meeting. Resolution F AWARDING OF A CONTRACT FOR THE PURCHASE AND SERVICE OF HIGH VOLUME PHOTOCOPIERS AT THE PRINTING CENTER LOCATED AT HERITAGE REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL: WHEREAS the present seven-year rental and service contract with the Xerox Company will come to an end on April 5 th 2006; WHEREAS a public tender was published for the purchase of high volume photocopiers with five-year service contracts; WHEREAS the results of the recent call for tender are as follows: Supplier Equipment Price Cost/copy Volume 30M/5yrs Estimated total costs Minolta* Bizhop 105x1 $51,740 $ $153,000 $204,740 Toshiba* e-studio 85x2 $29,386 $ $192,000 $221,386 Sharp* ARM70 70x4 $41,640 $ $180,000 $221,640 Ricoh Aficio 90x2 $57,322 $ $168,000 $225,322 CopiCom Océ 110x1 $54,995 $ $180,000 $234,995 Canon ImageR 105x2 $80,093 $ $171,000 $251,092 Xerox Nuvera 120x1 $69,995 $ $195,000 $264,

6 * Does not meet minimal requirements based on the weighted scores of the evaluation criteria. WHEREAS the analysis and review of the proposals led to the rejection of three bids since they did not meet the minimum requirements; WHEREAS the Financial and Material Resources Committee approved the choice made; and WHEREAS that the services offered by the printing centre are self-financing: IT WAS MOVED by Commissioner P. D Avignon, seconded by Commissioner D. Lamoureux, that Riverside School Board award both a purchase contract and a service contract to Ricoh Canada for the following: 2 Ricoh Aficio 2090 photocopiers, operating in tandem, at the submitted price of $57,322.00, plus taxes; and a five-year maintenance and service contract at $.0056 per copy, plus taxes. AND that the Director General be authorized to sign the contract to that effect. Resolution MR AWARDING OF A CONTRACT FOR UPDATING VENTILATION SYSTEMS AT HERITAGE REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL: WHEREAS the MELS has allocated the funding to proceed with the updating of the ventilation systems at Heritage Regional High School; WHEREAS the results of the recent public call for tenders is as follows: Air Ambiant - (not in conformity) Névé Réfrigération Mécanique Rojec - (not in conformity) Ventilabec Inc. Ventilation Manic Entreprises L.S. (1997) Inc. $433, $436, $441, $457, $488, $506, WHEREAS further to the analysis performed by the professional firm, Ecosystem, the lowest bidder has been declared not to be in conformity; WHEREAS the second lowest bid is found to be in conformity; IT WAS MOVED by Commissioner D. Lamoureux, and seconded by Commissioner P. Chouinard, that Riverside School Board accept the recommendation of the professional firm, Ecosystem, to award the contract for the updating of the ventilation systems at Heritage Regional High School to Névé Réfrigération, the lowest bidder in conformity, for the amount of $436, including all taxes; AND that the Director General be authorized to sign the contract to that effect

7 OTHER BUSINESS 9.1 Commissioner K. Cameron gave a notice of motion for the next meeting of Council in April with respect to an invitation to Mrs. Fatima Houda-Pepin, MNA for LaPinière, to meet with the Council. Correspondence - As listed in Appendix A to these Minutes. Copies available to the public. PUBLIC QUESTIONS : (9 :00) Mr. Macdonald of the HRHS Governing Board wondered when work would begin on the ventilation system at the school. It was stated that this would take place between June 30 th and August 15 th. (9:01) ROUND OF APPLAUSE Commissioner Lamoureux offered congratulations to the hockey teams for raising $800 for breast cancer research. Commissioner D Avignon offered congratulations to the girls basketball team at St. Johns School. Commissioners Cameron and Gour attended a luncheon hosted by Mrs. Houda-Pepin where the ambassador for Haiti was a guest. This took place as an event during the Semaine de la francophonie. Our commissioners mentioned the upcoming Riverside gala for French Immersion. Commissioner Bennett enjoyed the comedy evening organized by St. Lawrence School. Commissioner Neal reminded the assembly that the Harold Napper Multi-Cultural show will take place on Saturday, April 8 th at 7 p.m. Food will be served at the intermission. Commissioner Smith mentioned the South Shore Amie Québec presentation and panel discussion on English psychiatric services for children, at the Centre Champlain in Brossard, on April 19 th. The Chairman mentioned the public speaking contest at 11:30 am on April 7 th at the Holiday Inn on Viger Street in Montreal. CLOSING: IT WAS MOVED by Commissioner G. Sastre, and seconded by Commissioner T. Neal, at 9:10, that the meeting be closed. Jim Munro, Chairman Kathleen Balfour, Secretary General