School board meets in Rainy River

Ken Johnston
Editor

The Rainy River District School Board held their regular monthly meeting in Rainy River last Tuesday evening.
The first item on the agenda was to honour two Rainy River High School students for excellence. Shantelle Davidson and Matt Neilson were presented with certificates recognizing the distinct honour they have been given by being invited to compete in a cross country race in Spain this December.
The board then proceeded to deal with the following issues:
•A notice of motion was presented to adopt in principle the addition of a nursery school onto J.W. Walker School in Fort Frances, with the condition that an acceptable financial and operational agreement, at no cost to the board, can be signed between them.
•A safe drinking water policy was adopted that outlines the need to conduct regular testing of school water to protect students and staff.
•A motion was carried to adopt a teacher evaluation process. Supt. of Education Terry Ellwood said that the policy basically follows a generic draft in Bill 110. It will require teachers to go through a formal evaluation process every three years and every year if they are new to the board for their first two years.
According to the new policy, it will provide for the continuous professional growth of its teachers in order to improve instruction and teacher effectiveness and the learning environment. It will monitor the degree to which teachers meet their duties and responsibilities; as outlined in the Education Act.
Rainy River trustee Ron McAlister raised the issue that the cycle of evaluations could overburden the administration at each school, noting that the principal will have to do them. He cited a letter from Peel District School Board in Southern Ontario, noting that perhaps a 5 year cycle would be more workable. However the board opted to proceed with a 3 year cycle.
•McAlister reported to the board that progress is moving ahead quickly on creating a program to eliminate bullying in district schools. He is optimistic that they will will have some affirmative action in place by the end of the year.