Regional Office, Barrhead –
School board chooses Chair and Vice chair
At their organizational meeting, the board elected Trustee Jennifer Tuininga to serve as Chair and Trustee Wendy Scinski as Vice chair. Read more in division news. A number of board committee appointments were also made at the meeting.
School board will wait to make decision on honorariums
In 2017 the federal government announced that the historical non-taxable allowance for school board trustees and municipal councillors will end on January 1, 2019. Currently, one-third of trustee honorariums are not subject to tax. Based on an annual honorarium of $20,000, the impact of the change for an individual trustee would be approximately $1,400 – $1,600 per year.
The board decided to defer making a decision on honorarium rates until later in 2018, when the impact of the federal government’s decision is better known.
Board refines travel ban list
In October 2016 the school board suspended authorization of international field trips to all of Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia for two full school years, until August 2018.
Assistant Superintendent of Education Services Mark Thiesen provided an update for the board on international travel conditions. Following his report, the board voted to extend the travel ban until August 2020, with some changes. While Africa, the Middle East and Asia remain off limits, the board will now consider approving trips to Europe. They also added the Indian subcontinent to the travel ban list.
Although a specific country may not be included in the travel ban list, approval is still subject to the guidelines in AP 60-03 Field Trips, Excursions, National and International Tours.
Division begins work on Indigenous Elder Protocol
Assistant Superintendent Thiesen also provided an update on the status of an Indigenous Elder Protocol, intended to help guide schools in their engagement with the Indigenous community. The school division will seek input from Elders in the community as part of the next steps.
Internal Audit and Commodity Purchasing Consortium Reports
Assistant Secretary Treasurer Grant Widdup presented the following reports to the board:
- Annual Internal Audit Assurance Report
- Commodity Purchasing Consortium Information Report
PHPS purchases natural gas and energy as a member of the consortium. Energy for the division schools have been received from the Bull Creek Wind Power Project since January 2016.
Guiding, clarifying and refining through Administrative Procedures
Over 25 new, amended and deleted administrative procedures were presented to the board as information items. Among them include:
- NEW Public Sector Purchasing Code of Ethics
- REVISED Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection)
- REVISED Nepotism
The next school board meeting is on Wednesday, September 12, 2018 at the PHPS Regional Office in Barrhead starting at 9:30 am. The public is welcome to attend.