New three month limit for SPERD electronic meetings

St. Paul Education is bringing in a three month limit for how long the video of their live streamed meetings will remain available online.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the board has been live streaming their meetings to a YouTube channel with a combination of people distanced in the SPERD board room and participating from their homes via zoom.

The Town of St. Paul has a similar policy, while the County of St. Paul does not keep the video record available once the live stream is finished.

Div. A Trustee Lorne Young was in support of the three-month policy.

“I think that gives ample time for people to go back and look at it if they didn’t have a chance on the meeting day. And I think after that point, I think they should just be taken down,” said Young, noting his intent was that the video would also be removed from the local SPERD servers after three months.

Board chair Heather Starosielski pointed out the official record of the board meetings is the minutes, which are available for download from the website for years after the fact.

A motion by Young directing administration to look at the process for removing the videos after three months carried with unanimous support.

Cafeteria rent waived

Rent for the cafeteria spaces in Racette School and St. Paul Regional High School will be waived for the month of December following a discussion at the SPERD board Dec. 9.

DAC Catering, which holds the lease for both spaces, made the request following the return to at-home learning Nov. 30.

“They did note in their letter that they have seen a decrease in sales even prior to that,” said Starosielski, who also noted the company has been unable to cater the outside events they ordinarily would.

“They are still agreeing to contribute their portion of the agreement we have with regards to the heat exchange system of $200 per month,” said Starosielski.

Trustee for the Glen Avon Ward Justin Anderson said he would support waiving the rent for December.

“They’re a great community partner. If we go in to another scenario three, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it but for right now I think it’s fair to support,” said Anderson.

After some discussion confirming that the motion was only for the month of December, trustees voted in favour of waiving the rent for DAC Catering.

Trustee nominations open Jan. 4

Nomination papers for school board trustee positions will be available from the SPERD website as of January 4.

The St. Paul Education board is composed of six trustees from five wards. Their elections are typically held in conjunction with the municipal elections.

According to Board Chair Heather Starosielski, they have been receiving new information about procedures for the upcoming election almost weekly.

“We don’t have a complete package per se yet, but we will have the nomination paper there if somebody is itching to start putting their name forward,” said Starosielski.

She noted the board has not yet hired a returning officer for the election, but until one is hired nomination papers can be turned in to Secretary-Treasurer Jean Champagne at the SPERD office.