School District No.59 (Peace River South) BOARD OF EDUCATION OF SCHOOL DISTRICT NO.59 11600 7 TH Street, Dawson Creek, BC V1G 4R8 Open Session Minutes DATE & TIME: - 1:00 PM PLACE: PRESENT: School Board Office Dawson Creek Trustees: T. Ziemer Chair C. Hillton Vice-Chair R. Powell S. Berringer A. Smith W. Ezeard N. Soontiens L. Lambie, Superintendent C. Clouthier, Assistant Superintendent M. Panoulias, Secretary-Treasurer R. Schwartz, Recording Secretary Guests: E. Fitzpatrick (PRSTA) Media: APPROVAL OF AGENDA Additions: R6.4 Crescent Park Property Update Deletions: (2018-01-004) MOVED/SECONDED Berringer/Powell THAT, the Regular Meeting agenda be approved as amended. 1.0 ITEMS FOR ADOPTION R1.1 Regular Board Meeting Minutes November 29, 2017 The chair asked for any corrections to the minutes. (2018-01-005) The chair declared the minutes of the open meeting November 29, 2017 approved as distributed. Page 1 of 5
R1.2 Excerpts Closed Board Meeting November 29, 2017 (2018-01-006) The chair declared the excerpts of the closed meeting on November 29, 2017 approved as distributed. 2.0 BUSINESS ARISING 3.0 ESSENTIAL ITEMS 4.0 PRESENTATIONS 5.0 REPORTS FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS R5.1 School/Student News The Superintendent reported the following news: Little Prairie Elementary School announced they will be installing two playgrounds this summer The install of the additional portables at Devereaux and Moberly Lake are complete Ecole Frank Ross and Little Prairie Elementary are sending teachers to the literacy summit being held in Vancouver. Staff from Canalta Elementary will be presenting at the summit. Little Prairie presented at the last literacy summit held in Calgary. Margo Southall is back in the district to present workshops on literacy Canalta and Pouce Coupe are collaborating on an Olympics themed project Teacher Librarian training is continuing for teachers stepping into those positions FSA results have been published for the 2016-17 school year. Schools also have access to the data from the fall 2017 assessment already and are able to review the data specific to schools, grades and individual students. This data will be released to the public at a later date. R5.2 Student Discipline Report The student discipline report for the months of November and December were reviewed. Following is a breakdown of the main offences: November 2017 total: 39 o Fighting: 11 o Safety of Others: 10 o Non-Compliance: 7 December 2017 total: 11 o Safety of Others: 6 o Fighting: 4 R5.3 Personnel Appointments The Superintendent announced the following appointments effective August 1, 2018. o Mr. Paul Chisholm, District Principal (full-time) o Mrs. Jan Proulx, District Principal (full-time) R5.4 Field Trip The Board reviewed a recommendation to provide final approval for the Grade 8 and Grade 9 French Immersion field trip to Quebec. (2018-01-007) MOVED/SECONDED Powell/Hillton Page 2 of 5
THAT, the Board give final approval to proceed with the French Immersion trip to Quebec as planned.. 6.0 REPORTS FROM THE SECRETARY TREASURER R6.1 Finance Reports The Secretary Treasurer presented the monthly finance reports for December 2017. The school and revenue reports were discussed. The expense reports were not prepared for this month but will be available at the next board meeting. Many of the schools have surplus budgets due to vacant staffing positions. R6.2 Amended Operating Grant 2017-18 The Secretary Treasurer presented the Amended Operating Grant for the 2017-18 year. The student base allocation increased by $1.04 million, this is in direct relation to the increase in student enrolment. This increase in funding resulted in the loss of $1.38 million in funding protection. The loss of funding protection has contributed to the district s deficit financial position. The Administration team has met to strategize how to deal with the current deficit and how the district moves forward with a potential further funding decline of the remaining $1.26 million in funding protection. Funding protection for the district will continue to decline if the enrolment increases for the 2018/19 school year. The Ministry is revising the funding formula to be implemented beginning in 2019-2020 school year. At this time, the Secretary Treasurer is unsure of how the new formula may affect the district; the district will continue budgeting as is until the new formula is announced. R6.3 Amended Budget/Bylaw 2017-18 The Secretary Treasurer presented a summary of the changes from the preliminary operating budget to the amended operating budget: Increase in total revenue: $206,000 Increase in transfers from reserve: $167,000 Increase in total expenses: ($732,000) (note: district expenses decreased by $231,000 and school expenses increased by $963,000 mainly due to enrolment increases) Increase in capital expenses: ($376,000) Total Increase in Deficit: ($735,000) The total surplus appropriation is $1,880,000 (operating budget deficit, board approved projects, and school reserves). The Secretary-Treasurer is confident there will continue to be savings through to the end of the school year and the district will end the year financially with a lower deficit than being presented; however, the board will be required to move funds from reserves to balance the budget. (2018-01-008) MOVED/SECONDED Berringer/Soontiens THAT, the School District No. 59 (Peace River South) Amended Budget Bylaw for the fiscal year 2017-18 showing the estimated revenues and expenditures for the 2017-18 fiscal year and the total budget bylaw amount of $53,906,643 for the 2017-18 fiscal year be read a first time. Page 3 of 5
(2018-01-009) MOVED/SECONDED Powell/Ezeard THAT, the School District No. 59 (Peace River South) Amended Budget Bylaw for the fiscal year 2017-18 showing the estimated revenues and expenditures for the 2017-18 fiscal year and the total budget bylaw amount of $53,906,643 for the 2017-18 fiscal year be read a first time. (2018-01-010) MOVED/SECONDED Hillton/Smith That the Board move into the committee of the whole The board discussed the option of budgeting for the building of a mezzanine in the facilities warehouse. The Secretary Treasurer reported to the board that the $300,000 funding for the mezzanine project was being paid for out of prior year operating surpluses. The board also discussed the amount of the deficit and options available. (2018-01-011) MOVED/SECONDED Soontiens/Ezeard That the Board moved out of the committee of a whole R6.4 Crescent Park Property Update The Secretary Treasurer reported the district will not be proceeding with the project to change the boundary lines of Crescent Park Elementary School as the estimated costs were high. 7.0 TRUSTEE ITEMS R7.2 BCSTA Update N. Soontiens Trustee Soontiens reported on the latest news and events of BCSTA. Trustee Soontiens and Trustee Berringer attended the BCSTA NIB meeting in Prince George last week. 8.0 COMMITTEE REPORTS R8.1 - Policy Committee R8.1.1 - Policies for Adoption The policy committee brought forward the following policies for adoption: (2018-01-012) MOVED/SECONDED Smith/Hillton THAT, the Board approve the following policies and regulations as presented: o o Policy & Regulation 2050: Inaugural Meeting Policy 2051: Organizational Meeting 9.0 DIARY Page 4 of 5
10.0 NOTICE OF MOTION 11.0 QUESTION PERIOD No questions were brought forward. 12.0 FUTURE BUSINESS R12.1 Round Table Meeting February 7, 2018 Dawson Creek R12.2 Regular Board Meeting February 21, 2018 Dawson Creek ADJOURNMENT (2018-01-013) MOVED Ezeard THAT, the Regular Meeting be terminated. (2:35 PM) CERTIFIED CORRECT: (T. Ziemer) Board Chair (M. Panoulias) Secretary Treasurer Page 5 of 5