At its January 22, 2019 Regular Board Meeting the Near North District School Board will consider a motion keeping Widdifield Secondary School and W. J. Fricker open for the 2019/2020 school year as well as transitioning the graduating Grade 8 students from W.J. Fricker to Widdifield Secondary School as in past years. This proposed motion was unanimously agreed to at the board’s Committee of the Whole meeting last night.

“The Board had a comprehensive discussion on the issue and were fully in agreement with the staff recommendation. It is in the best interest of our students to maintain quality programming in all schools while the Board awaits information from the Ministry and the Ombudsman’s report regarding the 3:2 consolidation. We were cognizant of the timelines for course selection and the need to have information communicated to students and parents in a timely manner.” Jay Aspin, Chair.

The temporary closure of W.J. Fricker to accommodate the construction of the new building will be delayed. Although the funding has been approved by the Ministry of Education, there are a number of procedural requirements relating to procurement’s and cost consultants that must be completed and approved by the Ministry before the project can proceed. Considering the current status of this project the initial time line is no longer attainable.

For more information, please contact:

Mairghread Knought
Information/Communication Officer
Near North District School Board
P. (705) 472-8170, extension 5010
E. Mairghread.Knought@nearnorthschools.ca

November 5, 2018 – Last evening at the Inaugural Meeting of the Near North District School Board (NNDSB), Trustee Jay Aspin was acclaimed as Chair and Trustee John Cochrane was elected as Vice-Chair.  Both Trustees bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to their new roles.

Mr. Aspin served as a Trustee for the NNDSB on two separate occasions for seven terms and Councilor on North Bay City Council for eight terms. Recently he served as the federal Member of Parliament for Nipissing-Timiskaming region. His extensive experience has prompted leadership roles as the President of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM), President of the Northern Ontario School Trustees Association (NOSTA), Chair of the Near North District School Board and Chair of the Aerospace Caucus in the federal parliament of Canada.

Mr. Cochrane has volunteered in a variety of positions in the educational sector for many years. More recently, this summer marks the end of his twelve years as a governor on the Cambrian College Board of Governors, on which he fulfilled a variety of roles including governor, Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee and a term as Chair of the Board.

For more information, please contact:

Mairghread Knought
Information/Communication Officer
Near North District School Board
(705) 472-8170, extension 5010
Mairghread.Knought@nearnorthschools.ca