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South Okanagan Photos

School District #53 Report

Student Achievement

Dual Credit Students:  Diana Thomson, Okanagan College Associate Registrar – Recruitment and Admissions, reports that the college is experiencing the largest intake of dual credit students in one semester.  She writes “It is due to the hard work of all the secondary Career Coordinators and counselors, and college admissions staff, administrators and instructors that we are able to see this growth.”  One hundred sixty-four students from Okanagan College’s partner school districts are beginning their education and training at the college.  The majority of students are in the Trades Foundation programs – 115 are attending programs at a college campus or in Oliver, where the Trades department has rotated an intake of Welding Level C.

Eleven School District No. 53 students are involved in dual credit programs: 6 in Welding Level C, 2 in Residential Construction, 1 in Dental Office Administration, 1 in Electrical, and 1 in Advanced Professional Esthetics.  These students will receive both secondary school and post-secondary school credits and have a head-start on their career.

DISTRICT-BASED INITIATIVES

Learning Forum – April 11, 2012:  Trustees of School District 53 will host a learning forum on April 11, 2012 at 7:00 pm at the School Board Office.  The theme of this forum is Aboriginal Education.  Presentations, with student participation, will be provided on the Grade 4 Okanagan People’s Unit, R’Native Voice course, and student voice on the District Aboriginal Education Advisory Council.  Students will also present a PowerPoint on the trip to Vancouver to participate in the Aboriginal Achievement Awards, the UBC day, career fair and other activities on their trip.  Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend this forum.  The Board of Education plans to host evening learning forums on educational topics bimonthly.

Supporting SOSS Committee:  This committee met on March 5th at the School Board Office.  The primary purpose of this committee is to facilitate communication among partner groups and to support SOSS in rebuilding.  Updates were provided by the Chair, student Kiera Heinrichs on behalf of the students, school administration, and Mitch Van Aller, Director of Facilities.  Questions were addressed and the group wished to meet again in late May.

EDI: The Early Development Instrument process is complete.  We want to thank all our Kindergarten teachers for their dedication and commitment to our students and communities by completing this assessment.  The data from these surveys is critical to community groups and the school district by allowing us to study the health and well-being of our children as they enter kindergarten and providing us with the information by which to measure the programs we have in place.

Pow wow: School District No. 53’s Pow wow is on Friday, April 13 and Saturday, April 14 at Osoyoos Secondary School.  Once again this year, all grade 4 students from around the district will be bussed to Osoyoos to participate in the grand entry at 10:30 and other morning pow wow activities.  There will be other grand entries at 1:00 p.m. (for secondary students at OSS) and at 6:00 for the evening.  Saturday grand entries are at 12:00 noon and 6:00 p.m.  Dinner is served at 5:00 p.m. each day and breakfast on Saturday is from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m.  Everyone is invited to attend and have fun!

Foundations Skills Assessment has been completed by all schools.  Our thanks to school administrators for their hard work in making sure that every student had the opportunity to participate in this assessment.  The written portions were scored on March 3rd.  These scores will be entered by the district office and then the booklets will be returned to the schools and then sent home to the parents.  The primary purpose of the Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) is to help schools, school planning councils, school districts and the province evaluate how foundation skills are being addressed and make plans for improvement.  The secondary purpose is to provide individual student information.  The FSA is a set of three tests.  It covers important reading, writing and numeracy skills in the provincial curriculum.  FSA measures skills students gain in several school years, not in a single year.  FSA scores are not letter grades or percentages.  Scores do not count towards students’ report card marks.  FSA scores complement other information such as classroom assessment results and report cards.

SCHOOL-BASED INITIATIVES

Anti-Bullying Initiatives:  the last Wednesday of February is known as Anti-Bullying Day in Canada. It is also known as “Pink Shirt Day” and originally started as a protest against a bullying incident at a Nova Scotia high school.  On this day participants were asked to wear pink to symbolize a stand against bullying.  In School District No. 53, all schools, as well as the district office, acknowledged this day through various activities including encouraging staff and students to wear a pink shirt.  Schools in our district support anti-bullying education and taking a stand throughout the year through the following programs and initiatives:

Elementary

  • Tribes program
  • Buddy activities
  • Effective Behaviour System (EBS)
  • Focus on restorative approaches to behaviour such as bullying
  • Peer Mediation Program
  • CARE Kit, WITS program, Fun Friends – primary
  • Roots of Empathy
  • Friends Program
  • Class meetings
  • Terrific Kids Character Education Program
  • Leadership program
  • Monthly assemblies
  • Code of Conduct – eg “High Five” behaviours
  • “Be a Friend” and “Be Polite”
  • Second Step program
  • DARE Program
  • Scholastic Cyber Bullying – Bully Aware
  • School created programs – eg 6 lessons for grades 5, 6 and 7


Secondary

  • School wide and Grade wide assemblies
  • Safe Teen Program
  • Pink Shirt Day school wide
  • Grade 8 skits and mini-lessons
  • LINK Crew
  • Code of Conduct review
  • Lessons in Health and Career Education (grades 8 & 9)
  • Lessons in Planning 10
  • Family Life Program



Field Trips (dry grad trips):

  • Approval was given for Osoyoos Secondary School’s      grad trip with Peter Gajda, lead teacher.       This activity will start at 12:00 midnight on June 8 at Kobau Lanes      in Osoyoos and take to the road at 2:00 a.m. June 9 for Vancouver where      students will attend activities at Grouse Mountain and the PNE.  They will leave Vancouver at 6:00 p.m.      returning to Osoyoos at 12:00 midnight.

 

  • Approval was given for Similkameen Elementary      Secondary School’s grad trip, Barton Tumlinson, lead teacher.  This trip will leave SESS at 3:15 a.m.      Saturday, June 9 arriving at the River Rock Casino in Richmond for      breakfast at 9:15 a.m. They will then travel to the PNE, to Splashdown      Water Park in Tsawwassen, and then to Metrotown Mall in Burnaby, returning      to Keremeos at 2:00 a.m., June 10.

 

Skills Canada:  On Friday, March 2, students from the district travelled to Kelowna to participate in the Skills Canada competitions.  Following are the students and results:

SOSS:

  • Mechanical CAD: Travis Nowicki (Gold) and Trent Phillips (Silver)
  • Carpentry: Blake Powesland (Bronze)
  • Cabinet making : Brady Houle and Logan Wheeler

SESS:

  • Gravity car competition: Group 1 – Charley Cottrill, Jetson Gibbs, Ranjeet Brar, and Ishkarn Hundal (Silver); Group 2 – Gagandeep Lasser, Chance Wabnegger

OSS:

  • Cabinet Making/Woodwork: Jessica Kriese (Bronze), Zac Beaudoin, and Kelsey Gorgichuk
  • Architectural CAD: Tyson Costa, Tristyn Leeson
  • Auto Servicing: Lane Stelkia

 

Gold medalists continue on to the Provincial competition held in Abbotsford on April 18th.  Gold medalists from the provincial competition may compete in the national competition in Edmonton on May 13 to 16.  Last year, Travis Nowicki made the nationals in Mechanical CAD.

Student Designed Ads: Each year for education week, the Review Newspaper (Keremeos) has grade 5 students at SESS design ads to run in a special issue which is March 29th this year.  To support this initiative the district will be running a 3 column by 3 inch advertisement for the upcoming Learning Forum on April 11th.

Operations

 

February 2012 Enrolment Report:  On February 12, 2012, we provided the Ministry of Education with an updated enrolment count.  The district receives additional revenue in special education, distributed learning and continuing education based on increased enrolment in these areas after September 30th.  There has been an increase in students enrolled and identified in Levels 1, 2 and 3 so we anticipate an increase in revenue in this area.  Staff will advise the board of revenue received when it is confirmed by the Ministry. Student enrolment is 2,429.50 FTE which is an overall increase from September 2011 of 36.125 FTE.  Elementary schools have decreased by 12 FTE, secondary schools decreased by 40.125 FTE and YouLearn has increased by 88.25 FTE since September 2011.

 

District School Calendar:  District staff is at this time preparing the district’s school calendar for the 2012/13 school year.  The process involves input from the school administrators and District Professional Development Committee.  We hope to have a draft calendar to present at the April Education Committee meeting.

 

SOSS Update:  The SOSS project information has been submitted to Treasury Board staff.  We anticipate confirmation of the project later this month.  Following a forensic investigation, the cause of the fire remains in the ‘undetermined’ category.   Trustees and district staff will soon need to make a decision regarding the chimney. Originally thought that this might be a historical monument, costs are estimated at $80,000-$90,000 to repair and include required seismic upgrades.  These funds will need to come from the allotment provided to the new school which will be tight.  The cost to remove the chimney will be $10,000-$15,000.  The district is interested in hearing public opinion from community members.

 

Bill 22:  Bill 22 provides for the continuation of education services requiring BCTF members to resume full duties.  It also establishes a ‘cooling off’ period until August 31, 2012.  Section 6 of Bill 22 appoints a mediator to move the parties forward under specific terms of reference.  Secondly, Bill 22 provides education statute amendments dealing with Bills 27 and 28 regarding class size and composition.  At the time of this report, Bill 22 had not been passed.

 

The next regular meeting of the Board of Education will take place on

April 18, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. at the School Board Office.