Superior-Greenstone DSB Holds Inaugural Board Meeting
Superior-Greenstone DSB Board of Trustees. Submitted photo, click to enlarge.
MARATHON, ON – The Superior-Greenstone District School Board held its Inaugural Board Meeting on Friday, December 5 where several new Board members were welcomed. The municipal elections held last October, resulted in the three new Board members including Tara Pitre representing Red Rock/Dorion, Allison Pelletier, representative of Greenstone and Margaret McIntyre, one of the two trustees representing Marathon.
Joining their new colleagues were returning members Kimberley Figliomeni (Terrace Bay/Schreiber), Matt Fisher (Nipigon), Aaron MacGregor (Manitouwadge), Mark Mannisto (Greenstone), Pinky McRae (Marathon) and Student Trustee Cassidy Houston. Together this group will represent their constituents and work with Superior-Greenstone DSB Senior Administration in the delivery of quality education for students over the next four years.
An interesting fact about this new Board is that it includes two people, who only two or three years ago were Student Trustees on the Board. Aaron MacGregor, a former Manitouwadge High School Student Trustee and Allison Pelletier formerly of Geraldton Composite High School Student Trustee are back; both as publicly elected trustees.
After the election, Pelletier said with enthusiasm, “I am so thrilled and excited for the term ahead! “Pelletier served two terms as a Student Trustee before moving onto her post-secondary education. Returning from her studies and with municipal election nominations in full swing, she filed her nomination papers. Being one of three candidates in the Greenstone ward, she was elected. ”I always knew I would be back, the Board interests me too much to leave!” said Pelletier.
Before starting any business and in order to declare the Board legally constituted, Board members were sworn in after which the Executive Officer elections took place. Trustee Pinky McRae was acclaimed as 2015 Board Chair, while Trustee Mark Mannisto was acclaimed to the office of Board Vice-Chair. The acclamations lead both these individuals into their fifth consecutive years as officers of the Board.
Upon assuming the chair, McRae said, “I’ll try to do my best to keep this board focused and I am very excited to work with everybody for another term. This is a great group of people and that’s the key, one person doesn’t make a board. We have built and must continue to build strong relationships so we can do great things for our students.”
Two other executive positions of the Board determined by acclamation were Kimberley Figliomeni as Education Chair and Mark Mannisto as Chair of the Business/Negotiation Committee. With the election matters concluded Board Chair McRae moved on the organizational portion of the meeting and the task of appointing trustees to the various statutory and standing committees of the Board. Appointments to the Board Statutory Committees carrying a mandate for the Board term which ends on November 30, 2018 included the following groups.
Appointed to the Audit Committee are Mark Mannisto, Margaret McIntyre and Aaron MacGregor. The Special Education Advisory Committee members are Kimberley Figliomeni and Allison Pelletier, while alternate members are Matthew Fisher and Margaret McIntyre.
Once the organizational portion was complete, the regular section of Board meeting got underway where general business, including the 2015 Regular Board meetings schedule was approved. The Board approved a meeting schedule that sees its Regular Board meetings happen on the fourth Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. The one exception is the December 2016 meeting which is set on the first Monday being December 7.
The Board incorporated some site rotations into its schedule. For several years the Board has named Marathon Board Office as its only designated meeting site, however in 2015 it has planned four meetings off site in the school communities to including the high schools in Manitouwadge, Geraldton, Terrace Bay and Nipigon.
