Catholic ratepayers keep say on “multi-use”

Catholic ratepayers may have lost their voice on the local public school board but they will still hold some clout on the “multi-use” steering committee, trustees decided last night.
The make-up of the steering committee was brought up at last night’s regular board meeting by trustee Dennis Brunn.
“We obviously need to appoint new trustees,” he said. “Do we wish to approach the separate board for representation?”
Linda Pruys, a former separate school trustee on the public board, used to sit on the “multi-use” steering committee. But her seat went by the wayside when the Fort Frances-Rainy River Board of Education merged with its Atikokan counterpart.
Trustees were very open to the idea of maintaining a Catholic school ratepayer on the committee from the word go.
“I think their input would be necessary,” trustee Frank Sheppard noted.
Trustees decided to send an invitation to the Northwest Catholic District School Board to join the steering committee.
“If they wish to appoint someone, we’d be happy to have them on board,” chairman Gord McBride said.
In other news, a report released from the Education Improvement Commission on the roles of school boards and trustees “isn’t asking us to do which we already didn’t do before,” McBride remarked.
He said the report recommended boards and trustees be leaders–and provide direction on all policies. The report also stressed trustee accountability to the public.
To achieve that accountability, McBride said the government will develop a school board “report card.” Trustees also will have to develop a “vision” for their board, he added.
Also at last night’s meeting:
othe issue of putting video surveillance cameras on school buses was moved to the committee of the whole meeting Jan. 20, at which time trustees will try to ascertain if there’s a need for them;
oEducation Director Wayne McAndrew informed trustees that $175 million has been made available from the Ministry of Education and Training to cover transition costs (though application forms for the funding have not come out yet);
otrustees accepted the resignations of native language teacher Wilfred Cyr, educational assistant Pamela Pearson, teacher Kathryn Karchuk, and secretary Shirley Ellen;
oLaurie Holliday, Mike Krassey, Sherree Martin, and Andrea Perry were hired as classroom teachers; and
otrustees appointed Terrance Stinson to the position of casual bus driver, conditional upon providing the required documentation.