By Walter Byj
December 3, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
It had all the signs of being a routine election. Each December, the Halton District School Board votes for the upcoming years Chair and Vice-Chair. This is an annual process with the 11 Halton District School Board trustees choosing from within their colleagues for these roles.
Only two trustees put forth their name for the position of Chair, current Chair Kelly Amos (Oakville) and Vice-Chair Amy Collard (Burlington). After the usual speeches stating their attributes for the chair position, the trustees voted and chose to re-elect Trustee Amos for an additional year as chair.
Kelly Moss – re-elected as Chair of the public school board
Amos has served in the role of Chair of the Board since 2013, and has previously fulfilled the role of Vice-Chair as well as serving on a number of Board committees including Communications, the Halton Learning Foundation and as founding chair of the Board’s Parent Involvement Committee (PIC) in 2006. She served her first term from 2000-2003 (after being appointed in September 2000 prior to being elected in the November 2000 municipal election), and was re-elected in 2003. She returned as a trustee when elected in the 2010 municipal election, and was re-elected in 2014.
“The upcoming year will have both challenges and opportunities,” says Amos, “but by working collaboratively with each other to seek out information and find the best possible solutions; by working with our senior staff to create new goals for our Multi-Year Plan and the annual Operational Plans; by engaging our parent communities and working with our provincial and municipal partners, I believe we have the collective knowledge, diverse opinions and perspectives that can only help this Board grow stronger – to continue its position as a leading board in this province.”
Amy Collard – acclaimed as a trustee in two elections – but fails to hold her positions on the school board.
This was followed by the vote for Vice-Chair. Trustee Collard put forth her name to keep her current position and was faced by only one opponent, trustee Kim Graves Milton). After counting the votes, it was announced that there would be a new Vice-Chair, Kim Graves.
Kim Graves, school board trustee for Milton, elected by her peers as vice chair of the school board.
Graves was elected as a Milton trustee in the November 2014 municipal election, after being initially appointed when a trustee vacancy arose in July of that year. Graves defined herself as a trustee who wanted to take a collaborative approach to her role of Vice-Chair.
Continuing with regular business, the board ratified the following action items;
• 2014-15 Financial Statements/Surplus Balance
• Trustee Professional Development( to cover costs in attending the Ontario Public School Board Association Public Symposium in January 2016)
• Policy Development and Review Policy (Approval of the revised Board Governance Policy that has been posted on the board website for 25 days for public input).
• Correspondence re Polling Station Security (Approval by the board for the chair to write to the Ministry stating safety concerns during elections on school property and requesting funds for security. Letter to be shared with municipalities and Catholic school board).
There was plenty of discussion in regards to any potential boundary changes for the year 2016-2017. Tom Thomson Public School was originally identified as potentially running out of space, but with the current review on French Immersion it was felt by staff that any decision be delayed until the following year as Tom Thomson could accommodate students for the 2016-2017 school year.
There was brief discussion as to how incoming Syrian refugees would affect enrollment at Tom Thomson but the consensus was that it was too early to forecast the number of refuges that would arrive in Burlington and where they would live.
Director Miller stated that Associate Director of Education, David Boag, would assume his position as chair of the Program Viability Committee. Although Miller will no longer be chair, he will still be involved.
Stuart Miller – Director of Education for the Halton District School Board
Miller also announced the retirement of Superintendent of Education (K-Grade 8) Tricia Dyson. He spoke very highly of her contributions to the Halton board said that although she will be sorely missed, he wished her well in her new retirement even suggesting that she run for a trustee position.
The Board now has two superintendent positions to fill and with advertisements being posted on Thursday with interviews scheduled for January 7th and 8th. The plan is to have the new Superintendents starting on February 1st.
Prior to the start of the meeting, there was a strong rumour that additional agreements union agreements were reached within the Halton board. Just awaiting for the media release with the details.
Trustees will hold their second December meeting on Wednesday, December 16, 2015 beginning at 7 p.m. at the JW Singleton Education Centre, Burlington.
The regular schedule of Board meetings will resume in January, with the first meeting slated for Wednesday, January 6, 2016. The entire upcoming meeting schedule for the Halton District School Board posted on the Board’s website at: www.hdsb.ca
Perhaps by the end of 2016 there will be at least some improvement on the Board of Education’s web site.
