September School Board Meeting Notes

Last Night I attended the September School Board meeting, the first of this school year.

The meeting covered a lot of board business quickly but several items caught my attention including the carbon capital projects, a revised capital projects plan, a board ethics policy and new surplus lands policy.

A new boiler for Brooksbank!
First of these was the $264,000 energy efficiency upgrade to a boiler at Brooksbank Elementary.  This is a significant event because the funds from this have come from the funds the District would have in previous years have to use to buy carbon offsets.  The irony of carbon offsets was that school districts were being required to using their funds to buy offsets, thereby paying for other organizations to reduce their carbon footprint rather than spending those funds on projects that could reduce that of the schools. As a result of lobbying by School District's province-wide, including North Vancouver, the Ministry has changed this policy to enable schools to use the funds for their own carbon-footprint reduction projects. This new boiler is the first of these projects approved under this new policy and we expect we will see many more.

Capital Projects Plan
The School District has been asked to submit its priorities for major capital projects to the Ministry. Due to the timeline for this given by the Ministry, rather than consult first, the board has taken the unusual of approving the tentative list of project priorities at this meeting with a plan to consult with the public to review the list at next Tuesday's Finance and Facilities meeting.  

The Ministry completed a Provincial seismic risk assessment for all schools this summer.
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/capitalplanning/seismic/ 

The guidance from the Ministry is that they want to focus on smaller capital projects first (buses, mechanical upgrades) and then on high-risk seismic upgrades with a plan to upgrade all high-risk facilities over the next 10 years.

Based on this guidance the School District has moved Argyle and Handsworth upgrades/replacements up to their top priorities while Seymour Heights replacement has moved down to third on the list. The full list will be discussed at the Finance and Facilities meeting and is available in the board meeting package

Board Ethics Policy
The School Board is a public body and has a high behaviour and ethical standards. After long review the board has approved a formal standards document to help everyone understand what the expectations are of board members. This is a very helpful set of guidelines as each new board every few years needs to ensure its members can work together effectively and respectfully and with a document in place it will be easier for each new board to establish its standards of behaviour and for the public to understand what those standards are.

Land Use Policy Revisions
The public land use discussions last year have lead to a revised policy and set of guidelines for how the school board should evaluate the options for the use of surplus lands and facilities.  The new guidelines more strongly reflect a desire to consult with the community, retain the lands if possible and to allow the proceeds to be used for long-term funding as well as capital needs.

REVISED Guiding Principles (September 2012)

The North Vancouver Board of Education will consider the following guiding principles in

the management of its land assets:

1. Recognizing that all School District properties are valued community assets, we

will consult with the community as part of our process to realize the maximum

social and financial value of these assets.

2. Balancing current and future School District needs by aligning our decisionmaking

with our Strategic Plan and implementing options ranging from short,

medium and long-term leases. Retaining properties and limiting outright sales will

provide flexibility to accommodate potential future enrolment growth.

3. Obtaining maximum financial returns while pursuing creative, holistic solutions for

broad-based community objectives of affordable housing, recreation, green

space, childcare and other emerging community needs. We will do this with

consideration of the Official Community Plans of the respective municipality.

4. Repurposing School District lands through the strategic use of long term land

leases to address evolving community needs such as affordable housing,

recreation, green space, and childcare.

5. Giving preference to proposals that support the Board of Education's strategic

goals and priorities, where all other criteria have been met, for the lease/sale of

properties.

6. Managing proceeds from land leases and sales to further enhance the student

learning experience. We will do this, in part, by directing proceeds to support a

significant endowment fund for the School District.

7. Directing proceeds and endowment funds, where necessary, to adequately fund

capital projects that are not eligible for government funding.

Based on my experience of last years consultation process these revised guidelines strongly reflect the community input given to the Board while providing them with the flexibility to consider all options and needs where necessary. With the RFP process underway to find uses for Monteray, Plymouth, Keith Lynn, and Ridgeway Annex the board will soon have a chance to apply these new guidelines.