Staff
The Rainy River District School Board will see the layout of their meeting agenda altered starting tonight as trustees move to hold their usual in-camera session at the beginning of meetings from now on.
In-camera sessions for the board’s monthly meetings now run from 6-6:45 p.m., with trustees rising and reporting to the regular meeting and public afterwards.
In the past, in-camera sessions were held at the end of the meetings, following all of the presentations and reports.
The change comes following last month’s meeting where trustees voted to alter January’s agenda and move the in-camera session to after the presentations by board staff and students but before committee and administrative reports.
“The board met in-camera [that] evening so that the new trustees [could] be updated on the ongoing litigation and personnel matter that deals with the missing school-generated funds from Fort Frances High School,” stated board chair Mike Lewis, as recorded in January’s board meeting minutes which still are to be approved at tonight’s meeting.
“I am certain that all board members, as well as the general public, are anxious for this matter to be concluded as expeditiously as possible,” he added.
The length of that in-camera session meant the board returned to the public session at 10:15 p.m. to continue on with the remaining portion of the meeting, including committee and policy reports.
Trustee Earl Klyne said he was not able to attend the remaining portion of the meeting.
The yet-to-be approved minutes noted that as per Bylaw 4.11, a resolution was put forward to extend the adjournment time of the Jan. 4 regular board meeting to 11:30 p.m. (resolution #18).
Trustee Dan Belluz was opposed to the extension of the adjournment and left the meeting, the unapproved minutes noted.
Meanwhile, during tonight’s meeting, a recognition of excellence will be presented to Crossroads School in Devlin for its “Spend Time Together and Read” (STTAR) program.
This program was established after the school received a Parents Reaching Out (PRO) grant of $1,000 from the Ministry of Education.
As part of this program, the Crossroads School library has been open every Wednesday from 6-8 p.m. since early January so parents and students can access the books and resources together.
The grant money has been used to purchase resources on a wide variety of parenting issues, as well as on novels for parents to sign out.
The library’s computer lab, including software the children are using to learn, also will be open so students can work on projects with their parents.
Also tonight will be a presentation on the Early Primary Collaborative Inquiry—an ongoing project examining how “play and inquiry-based learning” impacts the achievement of children in Junior Kindergarten-Grade 2.
This month’s meeting will take place at the board office, which currently is located in the old Robert Moore School here.
