Student Achievement
Learning Improvement Act (Bill 22): Bill 22 passed on March 15th and came into effect March 17th, 2012. This bill addresses class size and composition issues to resolve the Bill 28 dispute and addresses the current bargaining impasse between BCPSEA and the BCTF. Since the passing of this bill, two sets of regulations have been approved and made public: Class Size and Compensation Regulation and the Learning Improvement Fund Regulation. We expect to receive one more set of regulations to govern the implementation of Bill 22. We understand this should be released by the end of April.
BC Education Plan: BC’s Education Plan is focused on five key elements: personalized learning for every student, quality teaching and learning, flexibility and choice, high standards, and learning empowered by technology. The Ministry of Education over the past few months has invited stakeholders to provide feedback and input prior to developing or passing any formal changes. A group of staff, administrators, and trustees attended a Curriculum and Assessment Framework Working Session in Kelowna on April 3rd. We discussed the cross-curricular competencies (communication, critical thinking, creative thinking and innovation, personal responsibility, and social responsibility). These competencies are emphasized in the new proposed curriculum for each subject area and embedded into the learning standards. It was interesting and encouraging to see that in the draft version, there were fewer learning outcomes prescribed in order to make room for creativity, higher level thinking, integration and personal inquiry.
Innovation / Initiatives
Career Prep Programs: District Career Prep meetings will soon be starting up again. Career teachers have done a great job of networking and working together during the strike and things have progressed well in the district as evidenced by the high number of students involved in dual credit, Secondary School Apprenticeship and ACE IT programs. One of our first tasks when we meet will be to review costs associated with these programs and develop guidelines around them. We haven’t received the details yet but we understand there will be another grant to support SSA initiatives and we intend to once again apply for it.
DISTRICT-BASED INITIATIVES
Learning Forum: On Wednesday, April 11, the district hosted its first Learning Forum for the year. The forum focused on Aboriginal education with presentations from:
Deirdre Simpson and her students, Dayton Hayes and Caprice Brown, on the new Grade 4 Okanagan Peoples unit. Ms. Simpson worked with Helen Gallagher, District Aboriginal Contact Teacher, to develop the unit and to in-service all grade 4 teachers in implementing it in their classroom.
Similkameen Elementary Secondary School (SESS) principal, Marcus Toneatto and Amanda Montgomery, with the Okanagan Nations Alliance, presented the new R’ Native Voice course, available to students in the Similkameen and Oliver. This curriculum deals with Okanagan culture and values and is relevant and meaningful to our Aboriginal students and communities.
Student reps Tony Abellan (Tuc-el-Nuit Elementary School) and Shannon Terbasket (SESS) spoke about being elected to the Aboriginal Education Advisory Council and their role on it. They outlined how their participation is providing “voice” to students, its importance and how it is helping them develop their roles as student leaders.
Over 35 secondary Aboriginal students attended the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards, the UBC career fair, and other activities in Vancouver this past February. Shannon Terbasket, student at SESS, provided an entertaining PowerPoint presentation highlighting activities and experiences.
Helen Gallagher summarized the presentations and invited everyone to our fifth annual pow wow at Osoyoos Secondary School on Friday, April 13 and Saturday, April 14.
Thank you to all presenters for their excellent work and contributions.
Aboriginal Education: The District 53 Pow wow was held on April 13 and 14 at Osoyoos Secondary School. Grade 4 students participated in the opening Grand Entry and learned about the traditions of a Pow wow. This year many visitors from other districts joined us with School District No. 51 (Boundary) sending 60 students and Princeton sending 40 students. As in the past, independent schools, Sen-Pok- Chin and Ntamtqen sanma? maya?tn also joined us.
Operations
March 2012 Enrolment Report
Student enrolment is 2,425.75 FTE which is an overall increase from September 2011 of 32.25 FTE. Elementary schools have decreased by 12 FTE, secondary schools decreased by 49.375 FTE and YouLearn.ca has increased by 93.625 FTE since September 2011.
Southern Okanagan Secondary School (SOSS) Update
The district has received approval of the capital project to complete SOSS. The original project of $29,258,431 has been increased to $50,438,736 to cover the additional expenses due to the fire in September. Tenders for the project have been posted and the tentative timelines for the completion of the school is late 2013 and the Neighbourhoods of Learning Centre and the auditorium is 2014.
2012-13 Staffing
Staffing for the 2012-13 school year is underway and principals will receive preliminary staffing information on April 19. Formulas will be maintained at similar levels to last year and will be reviewed during budget discussions.
The next regular meeting of the Board of Education will take place on May 23, 2012 at 7:00 pm at the School Board Office.