Boardroom Briefs: October 29, 2025

During private session following at the October 1 Education, Policy, and Operations Committee Meeting:

• Trustee McGregor provided an OPSBA update

There was no other business conducted, or motions passed in Private Session.

Earlier this evening during Private Session:

The private session minutes were approved from the following:

• September 15, 2025, Audit Committee Meeting
• September 17, 2025, Regular Board Meeting
• October 1, 2025, EPOC Meeting

Superintendent Young provided a property and legal update.

Trustees discussed some Personnel updates.

There was no other business conducted, or motions passed in Private Session.

Chair McGregor provided the following report:

"I would like to begin my report tonight by extending a heartfelt thank you to everyone across Limestone who continues to create meaningful learning opportunities for students both inside and outside of the classroom. Your efforts are helping to shape inspired learners across the district.

This week, Limestone was honoured to host a special Breakfast with Aaliyah Edwards, WNBA athlete and proud Limestone graduate. Aaliyah’s visit was an incredible opportunity for students to hear directly from a role model who embodies perseverance, leadership, and community spirit. We are deeply grateful to Aaliyah for taking the time to give back to the Limestone community.

Limestone students also participated in Girls in Trades, a full-day event hosted by the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program at St. Lawrence College. Students explored hands-on learning in wind turbine technology, electrical, plumbing, carpentry, hairstyling, esthetics, brick and stonework, and millwork. This event is one of many that help inspire the next generation of tradeswomen and expanded career possibilities for Limestone students.

Looking ahead, National Skilled Trade and Technology Week is next week – a celebration of student exploration and opportunities in skilled trades and technology. We look forward to highlighting the many ways students can engage with and pursue these pathways.

Earlier today, Limestone hosted the Black, Indigenous, and Racialized Career Day for secondary students. This event was designed to amplify diverse voices and break down barriers by showcasing successful professionals from a wide range of industries. Students had the opportunity to learn about scholarship opportunities, post-secondary planning with guidance counsellors, Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program, the new Queen’s Black Mentorship Program, Specialist High Skills Major, and local employers and career pathways, and featured an inspiring group of panelists from the local community.

The event was made possible through the support of the Kingston Native Centre and Language Nest, St. Lawrence College, Specialist High Skills Major, Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program, and Queen’s University.

Thank you again to all Limestone employees, partners, and community members who continue to support students in discovering their passions and building their futures.

This concludes my report." 

Director Burra provided the following report:

"Good evening Trustees and members of the viewing public. I have several updates I would like to share with you this evening.

Thank you, Chair McGregor, for your comments regarding Aaliyah Edward’s visit with students earlier this week, the recent Girls in Trades event, the Black, Indigenous, and Racialized Career Day for secondary students that occurred earlier today, and for reminding everyone of National Skilled Trade and Technology Week next week. These are all great events that benefit a range of Limestone students, and are just some highlights of different learning opportunities provided to students.

As a reminder to Trustees and the viewing public, we are in the midst of the fall 2025 United Way fundraising campaign. Given continuing, significant economic dislocation, housing costs, and food security concerns, it is critical for those that can support this campaign to do so, to help support some of the most vulnerable children, youth, and families in the region. Limestone is a proud contributor to this annual campaign. I should note that it was my pleasure to help support the United Way engaging with the secondary Interschool Council members last week. The Interschool Council is comprised of Student Trustees and student leaders from across LDSB secondary schools. This engagement is a new Youth United campaign to increase youth awareness of the United Way and partners who receive funding to support members of the community in need. The Interschool Council went on an abbreviated ‘Seeing is Believing’ tour for student leaders to see examples of services that exist in our communities to support a range of needs. I am sure we will hear about this from Student Trustees. I look forward to seeing how this initiative evolves and the difference students, and schools, can make in this year’s campaign.

Tonight we have three reports for Trustees, one for action related to a financial update, and an information update related to Limestone’s Equity Action Plan. Part of that report will include a presentation that includes greatly valued partners in support of this work.

This evening, Trustees will also see an interim update report for the LDSB Strategic Plan, 2024-2028. The report this evening will focus on our continued focus on goals outlined in the Strategic Plan and the high impact strategies we are utilizing to support the goals. Given the province has yet to release the 2024-2025 EQAO results that we have to include as part of our assessment of the Strategic Plan, tonight’s report is interim and we will bring it back once we have the EQAO results and other data to support our monitoring of the plan. Our current focus continues to be on improving teaching and learning in classrooms. These points of emphasis are critical components of the provincial and board priorities, but also integral to our equity work in ensuring that each Limestone student has the skills and confidence to access their pathway of choice as they navigate through their K-12 schooling. The stakes of our work are incredibly high, and we have a legal and moral responsibility to ensure that we maintain focused attention on student achievement.

It is also important for us all to remember the importance of this data particularly when it is triangulated, or overlaid, with Student Census data. As Trustees are aware, we have the second Limestone Student Census coming up in just a few weeks. Once we have the results and analysis of the Student Census data, we will have very rich information about specific groups of students in Limestone and their experiences. I look forward to continuing our critical work in Limestone with the new Strategic Plan as we move into the future, doing the best we can to make a difference in the lives of the students we serve.

Thank you, Chair McGregor. That completes my update for this evening."

Chair McGregor provided an OPSBA report.

Student Trustee Ismail provided the Student Trustees' Report:

"Good afternoon, Trustees and members of the public,

We held our Interschool Council (ISC) meeting October 21, chaired by Mia Comeau and Rachel Kolosov. Our meeting consisted of a tour of three United Way KFL&A partner agencies for student representatives to better understand and gain new perspectives on the youth in our communities and local initiatives that support youth and families across the LDSB.

To begin our day, ISC members and guests visited Youth Diversion, where Executive Director Shawn Quigley led an interactive session focused on understanding the importance of support systems in our lives. This experience helped student representatives reflect on the ways Youth Diversion’s prevention and intervention programs help students overcome challenges they may face and contribute to student well-being across our board.

Our next stop was the Food Sharing Project, where ISC members learned from Andy Mills about how the organization supports equitable access to nutrition across many schools. Students were able to see the large-scale community effort that aims to help all students learn and thrive.

And lastly, we visited the BGC South East, where we toured their facilities, including a robotics rink, gym, a new STEM lab, and many study and quiet spaces. The centre also offers accessible and structured programs that create a supportive environment for youth to develop skills and relationships with their peers and mentors.

We discussed our schools involvement in the Youth United initiative, and schools are at different stages of launching fundraising efforts and building awareness to encourage registrations within their student bodies.

The Interschool Council is looking forward to building connections between our schools and local community organizations that put tremendous effort in supporting student well-being.

This concludes our October ISC meeting. Thank you." 

The purpose of this report was to provide Trustees with the latest financial information related to the Board's accumulated surplus, and propose additional investments in Limestone District School Board for 2025-2026.

For a full look at background information assembled from the 2024-2025 Year End Consolidated Financial Statements, please visit page 25 in the Board Meeting Agenda.

For the 2024-2025 fiscal year, Limestone District School Board ended the year with its accumulated surplus at $1.6M higher than projected. The revised estimates projected the accumulated surplus to be $10.2M at the end of August 31, 2025. The actual accumulated surplus at August 31, 2025 was $11.8M as shown above. It is proposed that $500,000 of the additional surplus be reinvested back into school programs.

At the June 11, 2025 Board meeting, Trustees approved the following programs to be supported by spending Accumulated Surplus.

Expenses
Equity and Inclusion Positions - Human Rights Officer and Teachers: $320,000
Short-Term Educational Assistants: $925,000
Additional IT Devices and Technology: $800,000
Cyber Security: $350,000
Educational Software: $140,000
Total Expenses: $2,535,000

As part of a calculated and planned draw down of the accumulated surplus, the projects listed below are proposed as additional investments into Limestone District School Board schools. These proposed investments are one-time expenditures that will not contribute to structural deficits within the organization. These investments are strategically placed in Special Education and Math/IT.

New Expenses - for Approval
Special Education Short-Term Staff Investment: $400,000
Mathematics and IT Equipment Investment: $100,000
Total Expenses: $500,000

For full report, please visit pages 25 to 27 in the Board Meeting Agenda.

The purpose of this report was to provide Trustees with an update on the LDSB Equity Team Action Plan, 2025-2028, and progress being made toward established goals.

The LDSB Equity Action Plan 2nd Edition, 2020-2024, was last shared with Trustees at the October 2, 2024, Education, Policy, and Operations Committee (EPOC) meeting. On an annual basis, outcomes will be shared with Trustees at the start of each new school year. An updated plan has been developed, renamed the Equity Team Action Plan, 2025-2028.

Currently, recognizing the importance of this work, the following areas of focus within the Equity Team Action Plan were highlighted for Trustees, to provide a snapshot of the progress being made in Limestone:

• Addressing Discriminatory Language: Student Modules (Elementary)
• Guide on Human Rights Expectations in LDSB for Families and Caregivers
• Supporting Human Rights and Equity in Rural Schools
• Tracking Our Commitment to Black Student Equity: OHRC Dreams Delayed Action Items
• KASSAA and Human Rights Presentations
• Anti-Black Racism Module

At the end of the 2025-2028 Equity Action Plan cycle, the Community Equity Advisory Committee will review the progress made towards achieving the goals outlined herein.

For full report with details of each area, please visit pages 28 to 34 in the Board Meeting Agenda.

The purpose of this report was to provide Trustees an end-of-year status report on the 2024-2025 Strategic Plan.

Senior Staff presented an end-of-school-year Strategic Plan Overview (included in the Board Meeting Agenda starting on page 37). To assist Trustees with ongoing monitoring, a “traffic light” system has been in place to evaluate the progress. To note, Senior Staff will bring forward additional data once 2024-2025 EQAO data is released by the provincial government. Without the EQAO data, the Senior Team is currently missing a large number of indicators that are legislatively required to be included as the foundation of the LDSB Multi-Year Strategic plan and Student Achievement Plan.

As a reminder, multiple data sets and evidence are used to evaluate the progress toward the desired outcomes. Last year’s overview of meetings is attached to the report, mapping the Strategic Plan Goals to specific meetings/committees for 2024-2025.

The Senior Team will continue to provide Trustees with updates focused on important areas of work through reports shared as part of Board and Education and Policy Operations Committee and Board Meeting agendas throughout the 2025-2026 school year. Operational plan updates throughout the year will provide further opportunities to monitor the overall Strategic Plan and Provincial Student Achievement plan.

For the full report, please visit pages 35 to 41 in the Board Meeting Agenda.