SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 53
(Okanagan Similkameen)
REPORT FROM ADMINISTRATION
Edited due to earlier stories on ODN
District Innovation / Initiatives
Core Competency Profiles for Social Awareness and Social Responsibility: The drafts of the core competencies for Creative Thinking as well as for Communication have been released by the Ministry of Education for review and feedback. Our district had the opportunity to look at these in January. Our district has been selected to work with the Ministry along with a few other districts to work on developing the social awareness and responsibility competency. Personal and social competency is the set of abilities that relate to students’ identity in the world. They encompass the abilities students need to thrive as individuals, to understand and care about themselves and others, and to find and achieve their purposes in the world. Personal awareness and responsibility is the ability to understand and take responsibility for one’s actions, including one’s learning, to make constructive and ethical decisions about one’s personal and social behaviour, and to accept consequences and understand how one’s actions affect one’s own well-being and that of others. We are in the process of putting together a team of 8-10 educators who will meet to develop the student profiles under the direction of Sharon Jeroski with the help of Maureen Dockendorf. Thank you to Terry Collis who has agreed to be the coordinator for this work.
SCHOOL-BASED INITIATIVES
Pow wow: Our sixth annual pow wow is on April 25 and 26 at Southern Okanagan Secondary School. We look forward to the dancing and the food. Grade 4’s and other Aboriginal students from across the district will participate on the Friday. We invite all members of our communities to join us for the dance, food, and social engagement. More details will be provided in March.
Schedule:
Friday, April 25
10:00 a.m. Grand entry for elementary students
10:15 a.m. Dance demonstrations and student participation
11:45 a.m. Retiring of the flags
1:00 p.m. Grand entry for secondary students
1:10 p.m. Dance demonstrations and student participation
2:45 p.m. Retiring of the flags
5:00 p.m. Dinner – served in SOSS atrium
6:00 p.m. Grand entry
10:50 p.m. Retiring of the flags
Saturday, April 26
9:00 – 11:00 Breakfast served in SOSS atrium
1:00 p.m. Grand entry
4:55 p.m. Retiring of the flags
5:00 p.m. Dinner – served in SOSS atrium Hand drum contest
6:00 p.m. Grand entry – Girls’ Teen Special, Boys’ Teen Special, Team Dance Special
10:50 p.m. Retiring of the flags
District Aboriginal Graduation Ceremony: Will be at Similkameen Elementary Secondary School on June 17, 2014 beginning with dinner at 5:00 p.m. Please come and join us in this very special occasion.
Career Programs
Gateway to the Trades: 16 students continue in this program at Southern Okanagan Secondary School on February 11th. The program is going well with students working to gain 16 credits for four high school graduation courses, develop documented skills that will support employment in a trades related occupation, and be eligible to participate in a Trades Apprenticeship Foundation Program either as a secondary student through the ACE IT initiative or direct entry at the Okanagan College. This week, students toured the Okanagan College campuses in Penticton and Kelowna. They will soon complete the BC Government Safety program and Fire Extinguisher training.
Youth Crime Prevention Grant: We are pleased to announce that through Mr. Rod Kitts’ initiative, our district received a $20,000 grant from the Province of British Columbia. These funds will be used to subsidize subsidiary sections of the Gateway program, such as First Aid Training and Fire Extinguisher training, provide assistance to students who may not be able to afford equipment, and pay for unfunded tuition costs.
Work Experience, SSA, ACE IT and Dual Credit Update:over 200 students have enrolled in work experience thus far this year, with 116 registered this semester.
Presently, 10 SSA students registered with 2 more pending.
8 students are enrolled or have completed ACE IT programs
6 students enrolled or have completed dual credit courses
Student Teachers: During the 2013 – 2014 school year, our district will have hosted 10 student teachers. These teacher candidates are from Thompson Rivers University, the University of British Columbia (Okanagan) and the University of Victoria. They have completed practicums in grades K to 12 and worked in 4 different schools. We wish to thank the sponsor teachers who do an excellent job of mentoring them and to the principals and staff who welcome and accommodate them. Finally, our thanks to Mr. David Fairbrother who acts as the faculty mentor for all three programs and who makes a special effort to mentor, guide, and at times, counsel all those involved in the program. This is an important program for the district as it creates leadership and collaboration among our teachers, allows new teachers to get the very best training, and provides the district with added support for our students.
Cawston Primary Preschool: is up and running and full! Our appreciation to Mrs. Thiel, principal, and our maintenance department for all the work they did to get this off the ground. We wish Penticton and District Community Resources Society, the families of Keremeos, and preschool teacher Angie Lee great success in this new venture.
Primary Assessments Review: As part of our district literacy plan, teacher representatives from each school and school administrators are in the process of reviewing our primary assessments. The review started with a survey of all primary teachers and learning support teachers. This information was then reviewed and discussed by the group. There is strong support of the assessments and the assessments are generally doing what they were intended to do. However, there will be some “tweaking” of our practice. At this time, we are gathering further input from teachers and will complete our review in late April.
Band-a-Rama: is on Monday, May 5 at Similkameen Elementary Secondary School starting at 9:00 a.m. Come out and join the wonderful music.
Enrolment
As indicated in the attached enrolment report, as at March 31, 2014 student enrolment is 2,373.5625 which is an overall increase from September 2013 of 14 FTE. Elementary school enrolment decreased by 6.0 FTE, secondary school enrolment decreased by 45 FTE and YouLearn enrolment increased by 65 FTE.
2014/15 Projected Enrolment
2014/15 projected enrolment information has been collected from schools. The projected numbers indicate a decrease of 65 elementary and 9 secondary students from September 2013 for a total September 30 school enrolment projection of 2,179. These numbers do not include YouLearn projections.
2014/15 Estimated Operating Grant
The per student amount remains at $6,900 per student and amounts for special education, distributed learning and aboriginal education remain unchanged. Forty-six of sixty districts are reporting fewer students for next year and 41 of 60 districts are projected to be in funding protection. The 1.5% reduction in funding protection also continues. School District No. 53’s September 30 funding is projected to be $22,842,068; a reduction of $347,086 from September 2013.