Boardroom Briefs May 21, 2025

Trustee Elliott provided the Private Session report for May 21, 2025:

At the Special Meeting of the Board, April 16, 2025: Director Burra provided a property of the board update.

At the Special Meeting of the Board, May 1, 2025: Director Burra provided a legal and property of the board update, which resulted in a motion passed.

At the Audit Committee, May 5, 2025: Superintendent Young and Director Burra provided a property of the board update.

Earlier this evening during Private Session:

The private session minutes were approved from the following:

• The April 16, 2025, Special Meeting of the Board (Private Session Only)
• The April 23, 2025, Regular Board Meeting (Private)
• The May 1, 2025, Special Meeting of the Board (Private Session Only)
• The May 5, 2025, Audit Committee Meeting (Private)
  

Associate Superintendent Gollogly provided a Safe Schools update.

Associate Superintendent McKenna provided a personnel update.

Director Burra provided personnel update.

There was no other business conducted, or motions passed in Private Session.

Vice-Chair Godkin provided the following report:

"Good evening Trustees, senior staff, students, families, and members of the public.

As we approach the final stretch of the school year, I want to acknowledge the many events and celebrations taking place across our schools this month—from arts showcases and athletic achievements to community partnerships and year-end preparations. These moments reflect the vibrancy and dedication of our students, staff, and families.

One exceptional event was the Human Library evening hosted by the School Advisory Council at Polson Park Public School on the evening of May 14. Students, staff, and community members had the opportunity to meet and learn from several school neighbours. A Human Library invites people to “borrow” human books—individuals who share their lived experiences through personal dialogue. The goal is to encourage new perspectives, foster learning and unlearning in a safe space, and promote inclusive communities. Congratulations to the organizers for a meaningful and successful event.

Looking ahead, National AccessAbility Week will be observed from May 25 to 31. This is a time to recognize the contributions of Canadians with disabilities and to renew our commitment to removing barriers to accessibility. In keeping with that commitment, I look forward to both of tonight’s reports – one being an update on the LDSB’s Multi-Year Accessibility Plan, presented by Superintendent Gillam.

As always, I extend my best wishes to all students, staff, and families for a successful and fulfilling final month of the school year. 
 
That concludes my report."

Director Krishna Burra provided the following report:

"Good evening Trustees and the viewing public.

It is hard to believe that we are already past the middle of May and less than six weeks remain in the 2024-2025 school year. As everyone knows, this is a very busy season in schools across the board. The annual Science Fair and Heritage Fair occurred in recent weeks. A full range of secondary athletics’ seasons are underway and now all elementary schools are in the thick of a very hectic track and field season. Thinking back to where we were only a few years ago, it is wonderful that the wide range of student activities and experiences are alive and well in Limestone. We know these types of activities and experiences are critical for student well-being and engagement.

As Trustees know, it is also a busy season for us as we prepare budgets for the 2025-2026 school year, and there are several upcoming budget meetings as part of our annual budget process. Last week, the Ontario government released provincial budget. However, we are still awaiting specific budget information for Limestone that will allow for further analysis and action. I think it is fair to say we do have some concerns as it relates to still waiting for budgetary information and the specific implications for Limestone. As Trustees know, transportation funding, special education funding, staff replacement costs, and increasing, unfunded statutory benefits are four areas of concern in recent years, and we are certain all four areas will continue to be pressure points moving into the next school year.

As Trustees are also aware, based on the OPSBA budget analysis, while there has been an increase in overall total dollars in education, there has been a decline when you take into account inflation. Consequently, we will continue to feel a strain and tightening of our financial resources and flexibility to make any local, funding decisions.

Tonight’s award celebration of the Limestone Student Achievers is yet another reminder of the important work we do to support the education of local children and youth, and placing focus on the students we serve. The 11 students we honoured this evening are exceptional young people that we can expect to see phenomenal things from in the next chapters of their lives. While it is wonderful that we annually honour the Limestone Student Achievers in May, we also will be honouring almost 2,000 Grade 12 graduates at the end of June. Before those end-of-year graduations, we will have an opportunity at the June 4 Education, Policy, and Operations Committee meeting to celebrate and honour the Skills Ontario Competition winners.

As a short preview, Limestone had 26 secondary students representing eight schools compete in the provincial championships last week. In addition, we had 24 elementary students representing four schools also attend. LDSB secondary students won two bronze awards: one in auto paint, and one in auto collision. Also of note, a former LDSB grad who took part in the post-secondary competition came away with a gold in Heavy Equipment.

While writing my monthly Director’s Report for this meeting, like all others, I am reminded of the many, many fantastic things happening in schools to help support Limestone students. This does not mean things are always perfect, but taking a step back and seeing what is occurring in schools every day for the benefit of students is an important perspective to maintain when we see challenges.

The cyber incident we experienced in recent weeks is a prime example of a challenge we have faced. While some aspects went well in terms of restoration of services in a relatively short period of time, this incident also led to significant exposure of student and staff data. While we continue to believe the risks of data leakage or exposure are low, it is always a concern when personal information and data is stolen and potentially made more publicly available. Limestone is the latest example of a school board that has been victimized in such a way, joining many other school boards in recent years, other public sector entities, private companies, and individuals who have suffered a similar fate. While some things went relatively well under very challenging circumstances, this incident re-emphasizes the need for us to continue to prioritize cyber security measures and learn from this experience in terms of mitigating the likelihood of any similar circumstances emerging in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead. All of us have been impacted to varying degrees by this cyber incident. On behalf of Limestone, I do apologize to the LDSB community that this occurred.

Speaking of recent challenges, I do have to mention the tragedy that struck the Fairfield Elementary School area and the greater community late last week with the death of a Grade 8 student. It is tragedies like this that put everything in perspective and force us to value the simple things that we frequently take for granted in our busy lives. I think I speak for all of us in saying our thoughts are with the impacted family and the wider community during this difficult time.

I should also note that the flag at the Education Centre continues to be at half-mast in honouring former Frontenac County Board of Education Director Reg Shadbolt. Mr. Shadbolt was the Director of Education from for the former Frontenac County Board of Education in the 1980s, and has been very active in the community since his retirement: helping found the Eastern Ontario Staff Development Network in the early 1990s, supporting the local Boys and Girls Club for decades, and, among others, being an active Rotarian in the community. I had the pleasure of taking Reg out to visit GREC in the spring of 2023, a relatively new build he had not seen in a community he helped serve during his career. He was always very sharp and was a wonderful storyteller. I had the good fortune of getting to know Reg and I know the local community will miss his continuing presence.

I would like to highlight a recent event from this past long weekend that my entire family helped support. Local Rotary Clubs sponsored a pre-packaged food event at the Community Food Redistribution Warehouse, where approximately 70-80 people assembled a few thousand meals to be provided to those in need in the community. For a couple hours with a large group of Rotarians, some current and former students, and some current and former staff members, helped assemble the meals for local distribution. I was happy to support the event with my family and working with all of the other volunteers of all ages to help those in need.

In closing, I would like to highlight a few upcoming events: LDSB will again be participating in the Greater Napanee Pride Parade May 31, and the Kingston Pride Parade on June 14. We are encouraging LDSB families, students, and staff to walk with us again. We need to continue our journey to have everyone see themselves in Limestone. We still have much work ahead of us, but events like this are important steps on that path. And finally, Trustees will receive an e-mail later this week with graduation dates and times in the last few school days of June for planning purposes.

That concludes my report for this evening, Chair Godkin. Thank you."

Trustee McGregor provided an OPSBA report.

As all Student Trustees sent their regrets, there was no Student Trustee report.

The report and presentation updated the Trustees on the Multi-Year Accessibility Plan 2023 to 2026, which is mandated by Ontario Regulation 191/11 Integrated Accessibility Standards and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), 2005.

The LDSB Multi-Year Accessibility Plan is developed in accordance with the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation under the AODA. It incorporates the intentions of the board to meet its obligations under the Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2001.

Furthermore, in 2017, two standards development committees were established to address barriers facing students: one focused on K-12, and another focused on postsecondary education. The K-12 Accessibility Standards recommendations are designed to reduce and prevent accessibility barriers in the publicly funded education system. These standards set out the K-12 Standards Committee’s initial recommendations for a proposed education accessibility standard. In anticipation of many, if not all of these recommendations becoming finalized, the LDSB Accessibility Committee has decided to include our work on these standards in our Multi-Year Plan.

The Multi-Year Accessibility Plan describes the measure that the board will take over the three-year period from January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2026, to identify, remove, and prevent barriers to people with disabilities who work, learn, and participate in the school board community and environment including students, staff, parents and caregivers, volunteers, and visitors to the board and its schools. The LDSB is committed to the continual improvement of access to school board facilities, policies, programs, practices, and services for people with disabilities. More information is available at the following LDSB web page: Accessibility.

Furthermore, this plan aims to:

• Describe the process by which LDSB will identify, remove, and prevent barriers.
• Review yearly efforts to remove and prevent barriers.
• Describe the measures LDSB will take during the period of January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2026, to identify, remove, and prevent barriers.
• Describe how LDSB will make this Multi-Year Accessibility Plan available to the public.
• Make a commitment to provide an annual status report on the board’s implementation of the Multi-Year Accessibility Plan.
• Make a commitment to review and update this Multi-Year Accessibility Plan at least once every three years.

Here is an example of some of the work that has been completed at Limestone schools:

The LDSB Accessibility Planning Committee includes a diverse group of members from various roles and organizations. These include:

• Board staff: Superintendent, Principal of Educational Services, Assistant Manager of Facility Services, Capital Project Coordinator, Principal, Blind/Low Vision Teacher, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Teacher, Special Education Coordinator, ETFO, Human Rights Officer, Human Resources, Communications, and a student
• Tri-Board: CEO, Safety Officer
• Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC)
• KidsInclusive, CNIB, Canadian Hearing Services
• Parents/caregivers and community members with disabilities

The Accessibility Committee is responsible for establishing, reviewing, and updating the Accessibility Plan in consultation with individuals with disabilities, the SEAC, and other interest holder groups, including those previously noted. The Committee also works to ensure that all policies, procedures, and practices align with the principles of accessibility and inclusive/universal design.

Recently, the Committee has committed to embedding the K-12 Education Accessibility Standards into its work. This commitment aims to enhance access to facilities, policies, programs, practices, and services for students, staff, parents/caregivers, volunteers, visitors, and community members to the greatest extent possible.

Additionally, the Committee is responsible for the ongoing identification of barriers and for incorporating these into the Multi-Year Accessibility Plan wherever practicable.

The principles of inclusive practice, freedom from barriers, and accessible environments inform all policies, programs, procedures, and services of the LDSB. Through the Multi-Year Accessibility Planning process under the AODA, the LDSB regularly assesses its programming, policies, and practices to ensure continuous improvement in accessibility. This process is further informed by feedback from the LDSB SEAC.

Barrier identification methodologies and the corresponding actions are outlined in the table below:

The full report is available in the Agenda Package.

The report and presentation updated the Trustees on the Indigenous Education Board Action Plan (BAP), which is Ministry mandated, and how the BAP supports the goals of the LDSB Strategic Plan.

Funding information for Indigenous Education for the 2024/25 academic year was shared with school boards in Spring 2024 as part of the Core Funding announcement. Limestone District School Board received just over $2.2 million to support Indigenous education initiatives for the year.

The majority of this funding is allocated to the Board Action Plan (BAP), with approximately $200,000 designated specifically for the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit (FNMI) Studies component. In addition, Limestone received Responsive Education Program (REP) funding for 2024/25. Through this stream, the Indigenous elementary program, Bridge, operating at Katarokwi Learning Centre, was allocated $150,000.

Indigenous Education funding is enveloped, meaning it must be used exclusively to support Indigenous education initiatives through the BAP or the FNMI Studies component.

In 2023-2024, significant structural changes were made to strengthen the role and function of the Indigenous Education Committee (IEC). Membership for the IEC was established through an expressions of interest process and is now composed exclusively of community members, representatives from organizations that support Indigenous peoples, and parents/caregivers. The IEC is recognized as an autonomous committee of the Board and plays an active role in guiding the development of the BAP, ensuring it is constructed in a culturally respectful and responsive manner. The IEC also receives regular updates on the progress of BAP initiatives.

School boards are required to develop Board Action Plans (BAPs) on Indigenous Education to guide the allocation of resources and supports aimed at improving the engagement, learning, achievement, and well-being of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit students. The goal of the BAP is to foster learning environments where Indigenous students are supported to thrive and reach their full potential. To ensure the BAP is reflective of local Indigenous demographics and community partnerships, it is expected that school boards co-plan and co-develop BAP initiatives in collaboration with their Indigenous Education Council (IEC), ensuring that all learners see themselves and their cultures reflected in the learning experience.

Highlights of the 2024/25 LDSB Board Action Plan includes:

• Staffing of the Indigenous Education Team – Vice Principal of Indigenous Education, FNMI Consultant & Grad Coach, Elementary
• Re-engagement Teacher, Land-Based Learning Teacher, Indigenous Student Support Counselor
• Indigenous Student Leadership Circle (ISLC)
• Land-Based Learning PD for staff
• Mohawk and Anishinaabemowin Language Programming
• NBE3U/C/E & NAC classroom support and PD
• School Based Projects & Events
• Indigenous Family Nights
• Indigenous Community Members/Knowledge Keepers Support in schools
• Resource Purchases/Development
• Grad Coach and Pathway Support – Recognition of Experiential Learning Pilot (RELC)
• River and Bridge Programs
• Student/Family Supports

In addition to actively constructing, monitoring, and adjusting the Board Action Plan (BAP), the Indigenous Education Council (IEC) has played a key role in supporting Indigenous education across the district throughout the 2024–25 school year. This has included a comprehensive review of the IEC’s Terms of Reference and ongoing collaboration with the Indigenous Education Team. Attendance at IEC meetings has remained consistently high, with members fully engaged in supporting current BAP initiatives while also identifying new priorities for the future.

The full report is available in the Agenda Package.