Board of Education Report February 22, 2017
We will soon be receiving our share of the Student Learning Grant. This one-time funding to districts was announced in February and is a total of $27.4 million for the province). The calculation to districts will be $50 per full time equivalent student. This money is to be spent on instructional supplies such as electronic learning resources, textbooks, other classroom supplies serving an educational purpose, athletic equipment and learning resources to assist non-enrolling teachers (eg. career prep materials). The Ministry wants the money to be spent where possible on items that will help defray costs for parents. Any unspent money from this school year can be carried over to next year. There is an expectation that school districts should track the spending of the funding and report out by July 31st to PAC’s and DPAC’s as to how the money was spent.
As part of the Ministry of Education’s review of rural education practices and funding, Bev Young, Lynda Minnabarriet and I met with Ministry staff and MLA Linda Larson who is serving as Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Education. We discussed the challenges of recruiting secondary teachers that can teach a variety of courses in small schools to provide students with a variety of courses. We reiterated the importance that the rural education strategy should be part of a much larger strategy to support and grow rural communities across the province. Rural schools face declining enrolment because of a loss of jobs and population and therefore rural education cannot be addressed in isolation as it is part of more complex challenges which are not the mandate of boards. MLA Larson is gathering information from rural districts throughout the province. There was a hosted regional meeting in Trail on February 24th from 6 -8 pm as well as in Kamloops on February 28th to discuss and review key themes they have heard so far and to discuss possible steps moving forward. Be sure to attend or go on-line to have your voice heard.
For the next two months three Aboriginal knowledge keepers will be working within secondary and elementary schools. Theresa Ann Terbasket, Trish Manuel and Grace Greyeyes will rotate throughout the eight schools so that on one day each week there is a knowledge keeper at each school. Knowledge keepers will work with teachers to share local protocols, practices and traditions. The intention is for knowledge keepers to assist teachers in infusing authentic Aboriginal perspectives, culture and history for all learners by embedding practices into the school day. On March 1st, grades 5 to 9 science teachers and local scientists will gather to discuss the introduction of indigenous knowledge in the science curriculum. The hope is that teachers will in the future teach inclusive science lessons that embed indigenous knowledge into science learning.
SD53 Health Promoting Schools, in collaboration with Shared Care, will be showing the movie “Screenagers” at the Frank Venables Theater on Monday March 13th at 10 am to all grade 6 and 7 students in the district. Screenagers probes into messy struggles over social media, video games, academics and internet addiction. Through surprising insights from authors and brain scientists, solutions emerge on how we can empower kids to best navigate the digital world. More information will be shared by schools
Shared Care, in collaboration with SD53 and community partners, will also present the documentary “Cracking Up” at an evening showing. “Cracking Up” follows a year in the life of Stand Up for Mental Health. It includes a group of people who suffer the stigma of mental illness on a daily basis. Cracking Up features naturally gifted people from all walks of life who happen to be afflicted with mental illnesses. The comedy class offers a “safe place” where everyone in the group is free of stigma and treated with respect.
The culinary program started during the week of February 6th and students had an orientation with Chef Gilbert from Camosun College. The first lab day was on February 14th at SOSS with Chef Jenna Pillon from Terrafina Restaurant as the lab instructor and it runs every Tuesday from 12:30 – 6:30 pm.
Last Thursday, 18 students from SOSS travelled to Kelowna on a mini ‘tech tour’. This is part of the activities made possible by our Shoulder Tapper grant. Our school district was successful in obtaining $17,500 in Shoulder Tap grant money from the Ministry of Education. Students travelled to Accelerate Okanagan, a business tech accelerator. Students were informed of the growing number of opportunities in the tech sector. They visited Hyper Hippo, a game developer, and Banana Tag which is a software company that makes email-tracking software. This is the first of many visits where secondary students from SD53 schools will gain some exposure to opportunities in the technology sector in Kelowna. The goal of these visits is to assist students in broadening their perspective of technology-related fields with hopes of students enrolling in more technology courses at the secondary school level and going further in post-secondary training.
Districts were invited to apply for the 2017/18 Rural Education Enhancement Fund (REEF) initiated by the Ministry of Education in 2016. SD53 was successful in its 2016/17 application for funding to keep Osoyoos Secondary School open. The district has submitted an application for the 2017/18 school year for $410,426, an increase of $23,126, to cover increased salary, benefits and utility costs. Districts will be notified by March 15th, 2017 of the status of their application.
At the last regular board meeting the Board approved the 2016/17 amended annual budget which reflects the increase in funding from the Ministry that we received due to an increase in students.
Please be sure to provide your input on the 2017/18 proposed School Calendar, which is posted on the district website for public input. http://www.sd53.bc.ca/district/calendars
The Board of Education also passed Policy A-6 Board of Education Committee Structure, which was placed on the district’s website for input. Trustees discussed feedback received from the Town of Osoyoos and has included some of their recommendations in our Governance Communications Plan. We thank the Town of Osoyoos for their feedback and have plans to connect with them as well as other municipalities this spring. Policy A-7 Roles and Responsibilities of the Board of Education, was also approved and will be posted on our website as part of our policy manual. Regulations for two further policies were reviewed by our policy committee, Policy D-3 Workplace Violence Prevention and Policy D-7 Whistle Blower, and recommended to be received at the regular board meeting. It was also fitting for the Board to approve Policy D-8 Safe, Caring and Orderly Schools on the Provincial Pink Shirt or Anti-Bullying Day.
This past weekend our trustees attended the Thompson-Okanagan Branch meeting in Merritt. There were sessions on mental health and wellness, and also a discussion about how trustees can keep public education at the forefront of everyone’s minds as we head into election time.
Should you have any questions, please contact me at 250-498-1333.
Submitted by Marieze Tarr, Chairperson
School District No. 53 (Okanagan Similkameen)