The board of trustees of the South East Cornerstone Public School Division got back to a normal flow of general business on Aug. 21 when they met in the division's head office in Weyburn following a one-month summer break.
Not everything was normal though, as trustees took notice of a small floral bouquet that was placed in front of the conference table chair that had been occupied by Weyburn trustee Len Williams for the past 12 years. Williams died this summer following a battle with cancer. His absence was noted with a minute of silent tribute from his fellow trustees and chairman Harold Laich. It was only about a year ago when these trustees were called upon to pay a similar silent tribute to a former colleague, Garry Hammett, who died in a vehicle accident.
The trustees quickly and efficiently established a nomination and by-election date for a replacement, as required by provincial legislation, setting Sept. 17 as the nomination deadline and Oct. 22 as the election day in Weyburn if more than one candidate steps forward to fill the role left vacated by Williams's death.
The regular business portion of the meeting was conducted in rapid order, taking less than 30 minutes to complete as there were no presentations or delegations to contend with during the start-up session.
A new technology strategic plan is being rolled out with five high level goals for teachers to become familiar with the system, the trustees learned.
Trustee Carol Flynn provided background information on the formation of a new sub-committee that will provide background information for the governance/human resources committee that was established in March.
"It's not being formed to make decisions or set policy but to do the background work for recommendations," said Flynn.
The committee will look at such things as governance policies, government structure, new trustee training, compensation for senior leaders and director/CEO, board member and chairman evaluations, a code of conduct, and emergency plans to replace senior leaders in the event of unexpected circumstances that might require such action.
The trustees also re-scheduled their September meeting, deciding to hold it on Sept. 15 rather than Sept. 18, which would be the traditional meeting date, due to the fact that director of education Lynn Little has a Regina-based meeting to attend on Sept. 18.
The board has also scheduled a special open meeting for Oct. 2 to provide information regarding school review results.
The notice of school reviews sets the stage for a series of investigations into schools that qualify for scrutiny due to declining enrollments. Last academic year, the division had three schools that qualified for review that could have led to closure, but declined to do so, posing the argument that all three had shown enrollment improvements and were so close to meeting the minimum requirements they felt it made sense to provide them with the comfort of knowing their programs and facilities were not going to be shut down.
They are now required to once again revisit that decision partially based on 2014-15 school enrollment numbers that will be known shortly after the division's 38 schools re-open for a new academic year on Sept. 2.
