The board of trustees of the South East Cornerstone Public School Division spent little time in passing motions that will allow a series of school roof repairs to move forward now that provincial funding has been approved.
Clark Roofing of Saskatoon captured two contracts for roof repairs at Redvers and Stoughton schools. The Redvers project is in the amount of $124,000 and was the lowest of three bids, while the Stoughton contract was for $315,435.
School facilities in Wapella and Wawota are also about to receive major roof repairs with Flynn Canada of Regina gaining those contracts. The Wapella contract is for $83,400 in refurbishment for a failing roof, while Wawota's school roof will be repaired by Flynn at a cost of $306,505.
In all instances, the lowest of the bids were accepted.
Carol Flynn, the trustee for the Moosomin, Rocanville and Wapella regions, stated that she could assure trustees and the public that the Flynn company named in the two contracts had no connection to her family and therefore there were no conflict of interest concerns to be declared prior to the vote.
The trustees also passed a couple of motions to accommodate the sale of school division-owned properties in Lake Alma and Tribune, with both small sections of land being purchased by the respective villages for one dollar each. The Lake Alma lots consisted of raw land, while Tribune's properties included two buildings that were in total disrepair and unusable in any form. The trustees said it had been indicated to them that the buildings would be torn down in order to accommodate the development of two residential lots.
In other boardroom news, the trustees voted to reject a motion to allow a Wapella-based family to enrol their second child in a Moosomin school.
Chairman Harold Laich said the board needed to cite the reasoning that included the fact that McLeod Elementary School in Moosomin is already at 114 per cent of capacity and even with the addition of a portable classroom, it remains well above capacity levels while the Wapella School did not have that problem.
Trustees Audrey Trombley and Carol Flynn said the family involved had been told that when the board approved the transfer of the older child a couple of years ago, the decision did not include the possibility of allowing the next child to also be automatically transferred out of the Wapella attendance area.
"We must remain consistent with policy and based on facts, I have to vote to deny the request for the transfer," said Flynn.
Laich said he would be informing the parents of the decision.
"I'm voting to support the motion to deny only on the fact that McLeod is full. Otherwise, we may have been duty-bound to grant their request. It's unfortunate we can't honour it," said Weyburn trustee Bryan Wilson.
Estevan trustee Janet Foord noted that a similar difficult decision had to be made regarding a request for a student to enrol at Spruce Ridge School for the same reason.
The board of trustees will hold their next regular public business session on June 20 in Weyburn.
