You can view the entire Twitter thread here.

Fifteen youth from Limestone District School Board participated in the Focus on Youth program, participating and working at Boys and Girls Club Southeast summer camp locations across our region.

Trustee Gingrich was called upon to Rise and Report from Private Session. A labour update was dicussed. No other business conducted, or motions passed.

A wonderful start-up to the new school year. Congratulations to all Limestone staff, students, and families for an amazing couple of weeks.

We have a great year ahead of us, lots of rewarding work to do, as we continue to make Limestone a great place to learn, work and grow.

Students and staff are already engaged in a number of extra-curriculars, clubs and sports like this week’s soccer tournaments, Terry Fox Runs, football and more. It is a welcome return.

I had the honour of attending the Kick-off for the United Way of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington. Limestone employees are key contributors to the success of the annual campaign. The pandemic, food security and youth homelessness remain urgent needs in our communities.

Our neighbours, our students, and each other, benefit from the more than 75 services and programs offered by United Way agencies throughout our school district. Any assistance we can collectively provide serves to strengthen the community by bringing people and resources together to make positive change.

Friday, September 30, marks the second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and since 2013, Orange Shirt Day. On this day, and throughout the preceding week, schools and school boards across Ontario, including students, staff, and school communities, will be commemorating the tragic history and ongoing legacy of residential schools. We honour First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children and communities impacted by this system.

In closing, I would like to recognize Limestone Facility Services staff who, as reported in tonight’s presentation, were busier than ever over the summer, not only with the typical school repairs and renovations, but also with many projects that improved accessibility for students, families, and staff. My sincere thanks.

Student Trustee Jackson and Kolosov provided the Student Trustee Report:

Trustee Jackson:

On Tuesday September 20th we held our first Inter-School Council Meeting. We began with introductions and identified everyone's roles on their respective student councils, as well as the roles Trustee Kolosov, Trustee Elshrief, Mr. Payne, Mr. Morrow and myself hold on this committee. Mr. Burra joined us for introductions to welcome the student leaders and offer some experience about how great of an opportunity this committee is for expressing student voice and making progress on projects. Many schools have not yet held their first student council meeting, so the majority of this meeting was introductions and identifying goals and what each school is looking forward to this year. Whether that be from the inter-school council or their own schools. A recurring theme throughout this portion of the meeting was the hope for normalcy. It was a shared goal for most schools to work toward bringing back student involvement opportunities like spirit days, clubs, and fundraisers. Others expressed how beneficial it will be to be able to share ideas within the council about how to increase student involvement, because we are all going through the same challenges. While most school councils are just beginning to get back to their normal routines of collaboration and have not yet discussed new projects for the school, there were still a few schools that communicated new projects taking place. Specifically, environmentally friendly initiatives happening at BSS. There was representation from 8 schools at this meeting, and we hope to keep those numbers up and stretch the excitement and determination from these meetings into all future meetings.

Trustee Kolosov:

Over the past several months, our school board’s Indigenous students’ team has introduced several new programs and initiatives. For example, we organized the Clean Water project and Orange shirt day that were very successful and increased the awareness of what happened with the Residential School system in Canada and the importance of reconciliation. We also designed and implemented the Knowledge-Sharing program, which supports Indigenous high school students within the Limestone District School Board by pairing up more senior high school students with the younger students for support and knowledge transfer using the best practices from the Indigenous culture. All these initiatives have helped close the academic achievement gap and increase awareness of the issues faced by the Indigenous students in the community and within our school board. The Knowledge-Sharing Program is starting back up this fall. We have two students who were part of the program in the spring that offered to co-chair the program.

I would like to meet face-to-face with as many Indigenous students within our school board as possible by visiting their schools this fall. These visits present an opportunity for me to hear directly from the students so that I understand exactly what they want to change and what their hopes are at each individual school, both rural and urban. It will also be a great opportunity for the students to put a name to the face as I am new in this role and for me to get to know the students on a personal level, so that their voices can be more accurately represented at the board room table and other discussion venues.

Purpose:

To provide information to Trustees related to the disposition of the Limestone District School

Board (LDSB) owned property located at 38 Cowdy Street, Kingston, ON.

Background:

In November 2012, the Kingston North Public Accommodation Review Committee report was

presented with the recommendation to seek Ministry of Education funding for the construction of a new elementary school. This school was planned to consolidate Frontenac and First Avenue Public Schools. Funding was granted for the building of Molly Brant Elementary School.

First Avenue Public School and Frontenac Public School were officially closed at the conclusion of the 2015‐16 school year and Molly Brant Elementary School was opened in September 2016. First Avenue Public School went through the disposition process and was subsequently sold.

The Ministry of Education provided a temporary identification number for the school facility at 38 Cowdy St., for it to be used for a secondary school site while Kingston Secondary School was being constructed. The Ministry’s temporary naming of this site is QECVI & Holding. Limestone DSB operated programming at the building under the name Katarokwi Learning Centre.

The building is 4530 m2 and the site is .64 hectares. The school yard is partially owned by the Board and an agreement with the City of Kingston provides school use on the adjoining city parkette.

The last Ministry facility condition assessment was done on this property in the 2011‐2015

inspection cycle. The Ministry does not complete inspections on schools that have been closed and are designated holding.

Current Status:

Kingston Secondary School was opened during the school year of 2020‐21.

During the 2021‐22 school year work has been completed to accommodate the Katarokwi

Learning Centre programs at 164 Van Order Drive.

At the conclusion of the 2021‐22 school year, all programming was moved from 38 Cowdy St. to the 164 Van Order Drive location.

The facility at 38 Cowdy St. is now closed and does not have regular custodial staff present.

Recommendations:

That the Limestone District School Board hereby resolves that 38 Cowdy Street is not required for the purposes of the Board; and

That the Board authorize the Superintendent of Business to undertake the notification and

disposition process of 38 Cowdy Street in accordance with the Ministry of Education regulations including but not limited to Ontario Regulation 444/98 – Disposition of Surplus Real Property.

Ontario Regulation 357/06 Honoraria for Board Members requires an outgoing Board to establish an honoraria policy for the new term of Trustees on or before October 15, 2022.

Background:

For a term of office, the honorarium as identified in Ontario Regulation 357/06 for a Trustee of a district school board, in respect of any year their term of office, shall consist of a base amount, enrolment amount, attendance amount and a distance amount.

The Vice‐Chair of the Board and the Chair of the Board receive additional amounts in keeping with the additional added responsibilities.

Base Amount: $5,900 amount limit per Trustee

Enrolment Amount: The enrolment amount limit per Trustee is $1.75 per Average Daily Enrolment (ADE) divided by the number of Board Trustees.

Attendance Amount: $50 per meeting attendance amount limit per Trustee

Beginning in 2006, a maximum amount of $1,200 per Trustee was provided through the Grants for Student Needs allocation and assumes Trustee attendance at two committees of the Board per month, at $50 per meeting.

Distance Amount: N/A

The distance amount applies only to boards with an area greater than 9,000 square kilometers; Limestone DSB area is 7,193 km2 as established in Ontario Regulation 412/00.

Vice‐Chair of the Board: $2,500 plus an enrolment amount of $0.025 per ADE

Chair of the Board: $5,000 plus an enrolment amount of $0.05 per ADE

Current Status:

The Trustee Honoraria policy as set out in Policy 9 (Board Operations), section 27 below aligns with regulation 357/06 and there is no need to adjust the policy.

The honoraria for members of the Board will be set in accordance with the Education Act,

Regulation 357/06 and Ministry funding provisions and shall be as follows:

• a base amount of $5,900 per Trustee plus 100% of the C.P.I. adjustments as permitted by Regulation;
• 100% of the annual enrolment permitted by Regulation;
• an attendance amount of $50 limit per meeting permitted by Regulation, set at $1,200 per Trustee; and
• an additional amount of $5,000 for the Chair of the Board and $2,500 for the Vice‐Chair of the Board

The current honoraria paid to Trustees is as follows:

Trustee $10,820.50

Vice‐Chair $13,798.85

Chair $16,777.20

The honoraria effective November 15, 2022 adjusted for enrolment would be as follows:

Trustee $10,875.00

Vice‐Chair $13,860.00

Chair $16,846.00

The reason for the increase in the above honoraria is the impact of changing enrolment. Regulation 357/06 requires the enrolment amount to be based upon the ADE reflected in the Board’s estimates and submitted to the Ministry.

Recommendations

That the Board approve the following honoraria policy to be effective for the new term of Trustees on November 15, 2022.

Trustee Honoraria, Policy (Board Operations)

The honoraria for members of the Board will be set in accordance with the Education Act, Ontario Regulation 357/06 and Ministry funding provisions and shall be as follows:

• a base amount of $5,900 per Trustee plus 100% of the C.P.I. adjustments as permitted by Regulation;
• 100% of the annual enrolment permitted by regulation;
• an attendance amount of $50 limit per meeting permitted by regulation, set at $1,200 per Trustee; and an additional amount of $5,000 for the Chair of the Board and $2,500 for the Vice‐Chair of the Board.

Purpose

Municipalities and school boards are required to appoint a compliance audit committee by October 1, 2022, in accordance with the Municipal Elections Act to hear and decide on applications for compliance audits of a candidate’s campaign expenses.

Background

Every district school board must appoint a compliance audit committee by October 1, 2022 to hear and decide on applications for compliance audits of a candidate’s campaign expenses.

The responsibilities of the compliance audit committee and the compliance audit process are set out in section 81 of the Municipal Elections Act (see attached).

Members of the committee serve a four‐year term, beginning on November 15, 2022 on an as needed basis. Municipalities and school boards can appoint the same members to their respective audit committees.

Current Status

In August 2022, board staff wrote municipality/townships within our area and requested that the municipality/ township Compliance Audit Committee also serve as the LDSB Compliance Audit Committee for purposes of candidate’s campaign expenses for the 2022 election.

There are 5 districts within the board in which there are a number of candidates running for the position of school board Trustee. In 4 out of 5 areas the Clerk for the municipality/township has agreed to the request for a Joint Compliance Audit Committee for the 2022 elections.

Recommendations

That this report be received for information purposes.