Two new beach volleyball courts will appear at St. Francis Sports Field this spring after the Town of Fort Frances received permission from the Northwest Catholic District School Board at the board’s meeting here Saturday morning.
In an effort to expand the number and type of recreational services offered here, the town will build two courts south of the parking lot and east of the south soccer field next year.
“I thought it would be a good idea to move the volleyball court in front of the Sportsplex over to where all the other sports, like soccer, football and baseball, are,” said Megan Reid of Fort Frances Community Services.
Reid mentioned that she would be working to get together a volleyball league together by next summer.
The project itself will consist of four permanent poles being put in the ground, and the removal of some sod, which will be replaced with sand. The town will assume all costs to complete this project, and will be responsible for the maintenance of the courts.
What the cost of the project will be, however, has yet to be determined.
The board also refused the Rainy River District School Board’s offer to take the old Fort Frances High School building off its hands.
“At this point, the high school is so huge, maintaining it would be an exorbitant expense,” noted Carol Lynne Oldale, Director of Education of the board.
It is Ministry of Education policy for a board to offer up its surplus real property to other area school boards once the property is no longer in use.
In other business, the board signed a three-year tuition agreement with the Seven Generations Institute, formerly known as the Rainy Lake Ojibway Education Authority, setting conditions by which First Nation student tuition fees will be paid.
The agreement covers tuition fees for Seine River, Nickousemencaning, Big Grassy, Big Island, Lac La Croix, Naicatchewenin and Stanjikoming First Nations.
The agreement also reestablished the rights of First Nation students attending a school under the board, and holds the board to providing such special programming as Native as second language courses and other cultural studies.
The board will also regularly submit reports to the institute related to special services provided to First Nation students.
Further business at the board meeting included:
•the appointment of Cheryl Lovisa as delegate with the Ontario School Boards’ Insurance Exchange;
•the appointment of Lee Ellen Gervasi as community representative to the special education advisory committee;
•an amendment to the OMERS pension plan;
•a report on cash disbursements for June, July and August;
•amendments to the trustee travel and professional development policy to further encourage the attendance of trustees at conferences;
•the rescinding of the occasional teachers policies of the former Dryden District Roman-Catholic Separate School Board and Fort Frances-Rainy River District RCSS Board, as the these polices are now governed by OECTA.