THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF SCHOOL DISTRICT 68

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR BOARD MEETING

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

6:00 P.m. - 9:00 P.m.

BOARD ROOM

395 Wakesiah Avenue

Nanaimo, BC V9R 3K6

Trustees

• G. Keller, Vice Chair
• N. Bailey, Vice Chair
• T. Brzovic
• T. Harris
• L. Lee
• C. Morvay
• L. Pellegrin
• T. Rokeby
• M. Robinson

Staff

• R. Gray, Superintendent/CEO
• M. Walsh, Secretary-Treasurer
• K. Matthews, Manager Admin. Services
• G. Robinson, Ex. Dir. Communications

​​

---

1.

CALL TO ORDER

The Chair will call the meeting to order. With great respect and humility, we acknowledge and honour the lands of the Snuneymuxw people. The Snuneymuxw people maintain their profound, unique and spiritual connection to the land through ageless traditions, teachings, stewardship and expressions of reciprocity.

The Chair called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm.

2.

TRANSFER OF ITEMS TO OPEN MEETING AGENDA

There were none.

3.

ADDITIONS

Trustee Keller presented a Notice of Motion for New Business.

4.

DELETIONS

There were none.

5.

CHANGE IN ORDER

That New Business be moved to follow Announcements and Reminders.

6.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

• R24/12/18-01
  IT WAS MOVED BY Trustee Brzovic
  IT WAS SECONDED BY Trustee Robinson

  That the Agenda be approved.

  CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

7.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

• R24/12/18-02
  IT WAS MOVED BY Trustee Lee
  IT WAS SECONDED BY Trustee Harris

  That the minutes from the Regular Board of Education meeting held on November 27, 2024, and the Annual General Meeting held on December 4, 2024, be adopted.

  CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

8.

SECTION 72(3) REPORT

8.1

Section 72(3) Report 

• R24/12/18-03
  IT WAS MOVED BY Trustee Brzovic
  IT WAS SECONDED BY Trustee Lee

  That the Section 72(3) Report from the Closed Board of Education meeting on November 27, 2024 and the Special Closed Board of Education meetings held on December 4, 2024, be received.

  CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

9.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS

Winter Break - Schools closed from December 21- January 5, 2025

Next Public Board of Education Meeting: January 29, 2025

10.

NEW BUSINESS

• R24/12/18-04
  IT WAS MOVED BY Trustee Keller
  IT WAS SECONDED BY Trustee Rokeby

  That the Board of Education of School District No. 68 (Nanaimo-Ladysmith) direct staff to promote enrolment of Late French Immersion for the 2025-2026 school year and to report back to the Board in the fall of 2025 for review and further consideration.

  CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

11.

PRESENTATIONS

11.1

NDTA, Jo Cornthwaite and Megan Simmer

Re: Late French Immersion Program

Jo Cornthwaite expressed support for the Late French Immersion Program and thanked the Board for their decision.

12.

CORRESPONDENCE

12.1

NALT, Nanaimo & Area Land Trust

Re: School Water Stewards Program & Environmental Stewardship Action Plan 

• R24/12/18-05
  IT WAS MOVED BY Trustee Keller
  IT WAS SECONDED BY Trustee Brzovic

  That the Board of Education of School District No. 68 (Nanaimo-Ladysmith) refer the correspondence from NALT to the Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Advisory Committee for discussion. 

  CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

12.2

Late French Immersion 

Correspondence from: S. Smith; W. Litchfield; R. Mann; A. Capadouca; A. Lee; N. Jensen; K. Collins; Student Email; M. Bodie; D. Ruffell; J. Ruffell P. Leather; L'Association des francophones de Nanaimo; C. Haley; M. Fukunaga; R. West; A. Vanin; A Hughes (President of Canadian Parents for French); C. Meunier; C. Wakely; D. Boulton; D. Redden; E. Foster; J. Stanley; L. Gilfoy; N. Dickson; S. Madjzoub; T. Fontaine; T. Oke; R.Boar; M. Dubois (President La Federation des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique)

• R24/12/18-06
  IT WAS MOVED BY Trustee Robinson
  IT WAS SECONDED BY Trustee Harris

  That the Board of Education of School District No. 68 (Nanaimo-Ladysmith) refer the correspondence regarding Late French Immersion to be received and filed.

  CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

13.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

13.1

Business Committee

• R24/12/18-07
  IT WAS MOVED BY Trustee Robinson
  IT WAS SECONDED BY Trustee Lee

  That the Board of Education of School District No. 68 (Nanaimo-Ladysmith) approve the School District Statement of Financial Information (SOFI Report), as presented, for the year ending June 30, 2024.

  CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
• IT WAS MOVED BY Trustee Robinson
  IT WAS SECONDED BY Trustee Keller

  That the Board of Education of School District No. 68 (Nanaimo-Ladysmith) approve the temporary suspension of the Business Committee and Education Committee to be replaced with a single once a month public Committee of the Whole entitled “Strategic Directions Committee” and a monthly Board working session entitled “Professional Learning Working Group” effective January 2025 and that the Board review the temporary structure in May 2025.
• R24/12/18-08
  IT WAS MOVED BY Trustee Morvay
  IT WAS SECONDED BY Trustee Harris

  Motion to Amend:

  That the Board of Education of School District No. 68 (Nanaimo-Ladysmith) approve the temporary suspension of the Business Committee and Education Committee to be replaced with a single once a month public Committee of the Whole entitled “Strategic Directions Committee” and a monthly Board working session entitled “Professional Learning Working Group” effective January 2025 and that the Board review the temporary structure in May 2025 and to accept the temporary amendment to Policies 2.5. and 2.6

  CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
• R24/12/18-09

  ON THE MOTION AS AMENDED:

  That the Board of Education of School District No. 68 (Nanaimo-Ladysmith) approve the temporary suspension of the Business Committee and Education Committee to be replaced with a single once a month public Committee of the Whole entitled “Strategic Directions Committee” and a monthly Board working session entitled “Professional Learning Working Group” effective January 2025 and that the Board review the temporary structure in May 2025 and to accept the temporary amendment to Policies 2.5. and 2.6.

  CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
• R24/12/18-10
  IT WAS MOVED BY Trustee Robinson
  IT WAS SECONDED BY Trustee Brzovic

  That the Board of Education of School District No. 68 (Nanaimo-Ladysmith) approve the joint agreement with the City of Nanaimo to use the Multi-Purpose Space and washrooms at Ecole Hammond Bay Elementary on a non-exclusive basis for community purposes, and that the Secretary-Treasurer is authorized to execute the documents including such terms as the Secretary-Treasurer may consider advisable.

  CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

13.2

Education Committee

There were none.

14.

SENIOR STAFF REPORTS

14.1

Robyn Gray

Re: Superintendent's Report

Robyn Gray presented her Superintendent's report and acknowledged the hard work of staff in the busy weeks leading up to winter break. She  also acknowledged the work and thanked the volunteers of the Christmas Toy Drive. 

15.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

16.

FOR INFORMATION

16.1

Board Motions Report

The Board Motions Report was received as information.

16.2

Trustee Committee Reports

17.

QUESTION PERIOD

Question Period is intended to enable the public to obtain clarifying information regarding a current agenda item.

Individuals wishing to ask questions of the Board upon completion of Committee and Board sessions shall do so in writing on the form provided which includes their name, street address and email address.  The individual will be asked to verify his/her self and be afforded the opportunity to read out their own question.  Each individual shall be limited to one follow-up question upon receiving a response. Forms are available in the information rack near the entrance of the Board Room.

If the meeting is being held online, individuals wishing to ask questions of the Board shall type their question in the Q&A compose box on the right side of the screen and then select send. Your question will be read by the Board or Committee Chair.

Questions and responses will be included in the video of the meeting and the meeting minutes and will be part of the public record.

 

There were two questions this evening:

1.  Will there be consultation with Quarterway parents about promotion of the program and value of the program?  Answer: Given the emergent nature of the motion, staff have not had a chance to consider what the consultation would look like and will commit to talking to the school and parents so they are aware of what that process will look like.  

2.  Is the NDTA invited to the new committee meetings and to the PLWG? Answer: The Strategic Directions Committee will be inclusive of the education and business committees so the regular seats of the NDTA would be included as they always have been.  In regards to the PLWG, this working group is about professional learning of the Board.  Possibly at a future meeting the NDTA would be invited to share their processes and procedures with regards to how the Union serves its members with the Board.

18.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 6:46 pm.

• R24/12/18-11
  IT WAS MOVED BY Trustee Robinson
  IT WAS SECONDED BY Trustee Brzovic

  That the meeting be adjourned.

  CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY