THUNDER BAY – Public school board trustees met behind closed doors while they were down to the final six hours of their term of office.
Lakehead District School Board trustees held a special board meeting on Friday evening, promptly going into a nearly one-hour closed session for what was only described as a personnel matter.
Board chair Deborah Massaro was quick to dispel any notion that meeting on the eve of the board's term ending was unusual.
"We quite often have special meetings when necessary at any time of the year," Massaro said after the meeting. "When we have personnel matters that need to be discussed, we always discuss them in closed."
The term for the outgoing board expires at midnight.
When asked about the board holding a meeting just six hours prior to their mandate expiring, Massaro didn't see it as a major concern.
"I don't think that's anything worrisome," Massaro said.
Massaro, Marg Arnone, Ellen Chambers, Ron Oikonen, George Saarinen and Trudy Tuchenhagen were all re-elected to the board in this fall’s municipal election. They will be joined by newcomer Sue Doughty-Smith and Ryan Sitch when the new board is sworn in. Jack Playford was defeated while Karen Wilson chose not to seek re-election.
Both Doughty-Smith and Sitch were present in the public gallery, not privy to any discussions that were taking place, while the board was meeting in-camera.
The new board will be holding their inaugural meeting on Dec. 4.
