AGENDA School Board Meeting
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AGENDA School Board Meeting Wednesday, January 25, 2012 6:00 pm Board Chambers 33 Spectacle Lake Drive Dartmouth, NS 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 3. AWARDS / PRESENTATIONS (Normally awards and presentations will be limited to 5 minutes – the Chair may extend the time limit under unique circumstances.) 3.1 Student Calendar Artwork Presentation - Stacey Toth, Consultant, Safe Schools 4. PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS 4.1 Start2Finish Running and Reading Clubs – Silvia Ruegger 4.2 Dalhousie University and Imhotep Legacy – Barb Hamilton-Hinch 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES/BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES December 14, 2011 (Regular Board) 6. CORRESPONDENCE 7. CHAIR’S REPORT 8 SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT Halifax Regional School Board The HRSB would appreciate the support of the public and staff in creating a scent-reduced environment at all 33 Spectacle Lake Drive meetings. Please turn off your cell phone. Usage is restricted to outside the Board Chambers. Thank you. Dartmouth NS B3B 1X7 T 902 464-2000 Ext. 2321 F 902 464-2420 9. ITEMS FOR DECISION 9.1 Board Member David Finlayson’s motion: Whereas C.P. Allen is the only Halifax Regional School Board high school without wireless internet; and whereas the school will most likely still be used by Halifax Regional School Board after C.P. Allen moves to their new location; move that the Board look at immediate installation of wireless internet to support flexible student learning. 9.2 Report #12-01-1327 – Renaming of Cornwallis Junior High – Danielle McNeil-Hessian, Director, School Administration 9.3 September 28, 2011 Regular Board Meeting - It was moved and seconded (Cameron/Yee) that the Board approve the Ad hoc Governance Report and its recommendations with a trial period to the end of December, and a decision to be made in January 2012 on the process. (CARRIED) Motion on processes of the Governing Board. 9.4 Report #12-01-1328 - Electoral Boundary Review – Charles Clattenburg, Director, Operation Services, and Jill McGillicuddy, Planner 10. COMMITTEE REPORTS (Committee reports will be limited to 5 minutes – the Chair may extend the time limit under unique circumstances.) 10.1 Audit Committee 10.2 Nova Scotia School Boards Association 11. INFORMATION ITEMS 12. NOTICE OF MOTION 13. DATE OF NEXT MEETING Board Meeting – February 22, 2012 Halifax Regional School Board The HRSB would appreciate the support of the public and staff in creating a scent-reduced environment at all 33 Spectacle Lake Drive meetings. Please turn off your cell phone. Usage is restricted to outside the Board Chambers. Thank you. Dartmouth NS B3B 1X7 T 902 464-2000 Ext. 2321 F 902 464-2420 14. IN-CAMERA 14.1 NSUPE Ratification – Mike Christie, Director, Human Resource Services 15. ADJOURNMENT Halifax Regional School Board The HRSB would appreciate the support of the public and staff in creating a scent-reduced environment at all 33 Spectacle Lake Drive meetings. Please turn off your cell phone. Usage is restricted to outside the Board Chambers. Thank you. Dartmouth NS B3B 1X7 T 902 464-2000 Ext. 2321 F 902 464-2420 Public × Report No: 12-01-1327 Private Date: January 6, 2012 HALIFAX REGIONAL SCHOOL BOARD Renaming of Cornwallis Junior High School PURPOSE: This report is presented to the board for approval and forwarding to the Department of Education. BUSINESS PLAN GOAL: N/A BACKGROUND: On June 22, 2011, Board Member Kirk Arsenault provided the following notice of motion: WHEREAS the naming of a school after Edward Cornwallis is deeply offensive to members of our Mi'kmaq communities and to Nova Scotians generally who believe school names should recognize persons whose contributions to society are unblemished by acts repugnant to the values we wish our schools to embody and represent; and WHEREAS Edward Cornwallis, as Governor of Nova Scotia, authorized the killing of Mi’kmaq persons, including women and children, and offered a bounty for such killing, this board finds the naming of a public school after him to be inappropriate and unacceptable; and WHEREAS the Native Council of Nova Scotia, representing the off- reserve Mi'kmaq communities of Nova Scotia, has unanimously passed a motion requesting that the name of the school be changed; and WHEREAS the policy of the Halifax Regional School Board, Code A.001 "Naming School Facilities" , specifies in clause 5.0 that "When a school and/or a community group wishes to rename a school facility a rationale for a change must be approved by the Board prior to the initiation of the process;" BE IT RESOLVED that the Halifax Regional School Board advise the Cornwallis Junior High School Community, through its Principal, that the name of the school is no longer acceptable to the Board and the Board invites the community to propose an alternative name for the school. It was moved and seconded (Arsenault/Cameron) that the Board advise the Cornwallis Junior High School Community, through its Principal, that the name of the school is no longer acceptable to the Board and the Board invites the community to propose an alternative name for the school. (CARRIED) CONTENT: A consultation process was followed within the guidelines outlined by the Board. An overview of the process and supporting details are attached. COST: N/A FUNDING: N/A TIMELINE: The new name for the school will be in effect for opening in September 2012. APPENDICES: Appendix A: Renaming Process Appendix B: Recommendation for the Renaming of Cornwallis Junior High School RECOMMENDATIONS: The School Advisory Council recommends that the Board approve the renaming of Cornwallis Junior High School as “Halifax Central Junior High School”. COMMUNICATIONS: Forwarded to the Department of Education after Board approval. From: For further information please contact Danielle McNeil-Hessian, Director – School Administration by way of email at [email protected]. To: Senior Staff January 9, 2012 Board January 25, 2012 Filename: Senior Staff Report.Halifax Central Junior High Date:: 6 January 2012 Appendix A Renaming Process for Cornwallis Junior High School On December 5, 2011 the Cornwallis Junior High School Advisory Council met to review the submissions received and to reach an agreement on a recommendation of a new name for the school. The council members did a complete review of all the submissions and consensually agreed upon that one name be recommended to the Halifax Regional School Board. The recommendation was reached in the following manner: There were 132 individual submissions and School Advisory Council members were given time to read all of the submissions. To assist in their reading of the submissions, booklets were make available which grouped duplicate submissions. When all members announced that they had completed the reading, then the next phase of the meeting proceeded. All Council members were then asked to put a forward their three top selections including the rationale for the choice. From this exercise, a short list of potential names was created. These selections were open to discussion by all members. The selections were either geographic in nature which included landmarks or personal in nature with most being personal names of individuals. The discussion that followed eliminated the personal names of individuals and this was based on the decision of the School Board to remove the name Cornwallis from the school. The name of any individual may be subject to future scrutiny which might make it inappropriate for the name of a school. The geographic names were discussed and the council members eliminated those names which they felt did not best identify the location of the school and its catchment area. The potential names for selection was reduced to four and these included; Founders Junior High School, Cornwall Junior High School, Preston Street Junior High School and Halifax Central Junior High School. A map of the Halifax Peninsula and school catchment area was used as part of the selection process. The school is almost exactly located in the centre of the Halifax Peninsula including its surrounding catchment area. Council members also noted that many recent new school names selected in both our board and other school boards have been geographic in nature (i.e. Bedford South School). It was agreed that Halifax Central Junior School would be the School Advisory Council recommendation as it best described our location and would serve the school well without any future need to be changed due to any controversy. Names Submitted Total – 132 Names Vincent Coleman Junior High Coleman Junior High School SS Mont -Blanc Jubilee Junction Junior High Preston St. Junior High South Central Junior High Halifax South Junior High South End Junior High Halifax Central Junior High Central Junior High Queen Elizabeth Junior High Campbell Junior High Pierre Trudeau Junior High Sir John David Sparrow Thompson Junior High Kim Campbell Junior High C.V. Harris Junior High Stephen Binney Junior High Joseph Howe Junior High Sir John Thompson Junior High Preston Junior High Preston Street Junior High Halifax Preston Junior High Alexander Keith Junior High Alexander Keith Academy Osprey Junior High School Peregrine Junior High Nathan Smith Memorial Junior High Angus J Walters Junior High Willard Boyle Junior High Michael Franklin Junior High Oswald Avery Junior High Rose Fortune Junior High George Dixon Junior High Stephen Binney Junior High Angela Ozmon Junior High Nancy Garapick Junior High Garapick Junior High Grambell Junior High Muriel Duckworth Junior High Duckworth Academy William Hall Junior High Anne Murray Junior High Donald Hebb Junior High Helen Creighton Junior High Isaac Newton Junior High Mayflower Junior High Halifax Harbour Junior High Northwest Arm Junior High Camp Hill Junior High Conrose Junior High Jubilee Junior High Quinpool Junior High Waegwoltic Junior High Cornwall Junior High Jack Layton Junior High Layton Junior High Boston Junior High Founders Junior High REPORT RECOMMENDATION FOR THE RENAMING OF CORNWALLIS JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL DECEMBER 9, 2011 BACKGROUND On June 22, 2011, the Halifax Regional School Board passed a motion that required the renaming of Cornwallis Junior High.