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SD44 Board Meeting – Feb 16, 2016

A few quick comments about last nights meeting:

  • Balancing student safety with board policy, union concerns and privacy issues continues to be a concern. Karen Nordquist continues to press the issue with some support from a few trustees. The BC Student Alliance was in attendance with their comments on the issue. Amanda Nichol spoke to the issue on behalf of NorthVan Pac. Trustee Christie Sacré​ opening remarks included an apology for the issues in the last meeting.
  • Some trustees spoke to a misunderstanding in the community with regard to the Argyle rebuild project. Argyle will be rebuilt, the only question is if we’ll receive all the bells and whistles or a simplified project that still mostly meets our needs. If I remember correctly the difference in cost between the bare-bones rebuild and the bells and whistles rebuild is about $3 million dollars. Funding for this last bit was based on the Braemar sale which fell through recently.
  • Trustees spent a full 45 minutes discussing Trustee Higgins’ proposal. The intent of the proposal was to request staff provide information about possible private funding for last $3 million in the project. A variety of concerns were discussed, and the proposal was eventually shot down on a tie with Trustee Christie Sacré​, Trustee Franci Stratton and Trustee Cyndi Gerlach voting against.
  • Teachers continue to be concerned about cold buildings on Mondays. Apparently the air temperature is comfortable when schools open, however surface temperatures can still frigid. The strategic energy management plan has a goal of reducing power usage by 20% overall and the cold classrooms are a side effect of this effort.
  • Click here to see the meeting playlist on youtube where you can quickly skip to the sections that interest you. You can also watch the embedded video below or click around to scan the playlist.