School District No. 53 (Okanagan Similkameen)
Welcome to the new school year! While it is early in the school year, following is a brief description of items discussed at the School District 53 Board of Education meeting held on September 26, 2018.
We are in our third year of implementation of the K-9 curriculum. Teachers are specifically teaching to the core competencies of communication, thinking, and the personal and social competencies. The core competencies along with literacy and numeracy foundations and essential content and concepts are at the center of the redesigned curriculum and assessment. Additionally, this is the first year for the implementation of the new Grade 10 curriculum including new courses. The Grades 11-12 redesigned curriculum is in draft and scheduled for implementation for the fall of 2019.
Our career education program has already had a positive beginning to the year. We currently have 37 SOSS students enrolled in Work Experience 12A and/or B for semester 1 and 19 at OSS with most students placed. We are seeing strong interest and participation in the Youth Work in Trades Program (SSA) as well the Youth Train in Trades programs.
The district is facilitating the Preventure program for Grade 8 students. Preventure is a school-based intervention aimed at reducing adolescent drug and alcohol use in high-risk teenagers. The workshops focus on motivating adolescents to understand how their personality style leads to certain emotional and behavioral reactions. Four different workshops are run, each focused on developing specialized coping skills relevant to following personality styles: sensation seeking, impulsivity, anxiety sensitivity, negative thinking. Brief, coping skills interventions targeting personality risk factors have been tested in randomized controlled trials, showing benefits that last for up to two years. The Preventure program has proven both feasible and effective when delivered by trained school-staff. School principals can be contacted if you have any questions.
Operationally, we are seeing an enrollment increase in some schools this year. While this is good news, we hope to have confirmed numbers to report at the next board meeting on October 24, 2018.
Staff reported that there was a great deal of work that was done over the summer on our facilities including mechanical and electrical upgrades, painting, flooring, paving and irrigation upgrades as well as a new playground installed at Osoyoos Elementary. The Board is appreciative of the hard work done by our maintenance staff to upgrade our facilities and ensure they are welcoming.
Finally, we have been informed that the additional transportation fund is continuing in the 2018-19 year. The district will receive $209,000 to enhance transportation services for students throughout the district.
Rob Zandee, Chairperson
School District No. 53 (Okanagan Similkameen)