Public board to elect new chair, vice-chair

The Rainy River District School Board will elect a new chair and vice-chair for the next term at its inaugural meeting here tonight.
Prior to that, the board’s trustees will be sworn into office—with some new faces around the table.
Acclaimed is Fort Frances trustee Donna Dittaro, taking the place of Gord McBride, who did not seek re-election. Dittaro had served as a public school board trustee in the past.
Also new to the board this year is Glenda Belluz, representing Alberton and La Vallee. Belluz beat Barb Everett in last month’s election and takes the place of Martin Darrah, who did not seek re-election this time around.
Returning to the board are current chair Ron McAlister (Rainy River), current vice-chair Margaret Heyens (Emo), Dan Belluz (Fort Frances), and Judy Eluik (Atikokan).
The board’s First Nations representative is James Leonard while its student trustee is Jenna Nowak.
Also at tonight’s meeting, the board will recognize the staff and students of J.W. Walker School for their efforts in “Connecting to Afghanistan.”
As previously reported in the Times, students there had the opportunity to speak to Cpl. Andrew Mcleod, a member of the Canadian Armed Forces stationed in Afghanistan, via videoconference back on Nov. 3.
Students had been talking about Canada’s role in Afghanistan in their classrooms prior to the videoconference.
The school is hoping to set up similar videoconferences with personnel stationed in other parts of the world, with the co-operation of the Canadian Armed Forces.
As reported last week, the board also is offering the use of its videoconferencing equipment to the public from Dec. 18-22 so that district residents may connect with family members stationed abroad prior to Christmas.
Also at tonight’s meeting, the public board will vote on whether to approve the Honeywell Energy Retrofit and Renewal Project at a cost of $2,534,118 plus GST.
As first reported in the Nov. 22 edition of the Times, the board’s finance committee heard a report from Honeywell representatives on various changes and upgrades needed to make its schools more efficient in their use of energy, as well as more environmentally friendly.
Should the board agree to sign a 10-year contract, Honeywell would guarantee $162,473 a year in utility and operational savings for the board’s investment.
About $900,000 of the cost would be covered by the Good Places to Learn grant while another $582,773 would come from School Renewal Funding.
The local board would have to finance the remaining $1.1 million. That money could come from the board’s existing reserves or through external financing.
The finance committee is recommending the board approve the plan.
Tonight’s meeting gets underway at 7 p.m. at Robert Moore School.