Following are some highlights from the Board of Education meeting held on October 27, 2021.
Staff reported that in recognition of World Teachers’ day on October 5th, a joint donation between SOSTU and SD No. 53 was made to Indspire. Indspire is a national Indigenous registered charity that invests in the education of Indigenous students for the benefit of these individuals, their families and communities, and Canada.
School Plans for the 2021-2022 school year will be presented on November 8th at 4:00 pm in the Frank Venables Theatre. The public is invited to attend the presentation with COVID protocols for the theatre in place.
To be in line with the new Framework for Enhancing Student Learning (FESL) requirements starting this school year, all our SD No. 53 schools posted school plans on their websites by September 30th. Assistant Superintendent Marcus Toneatto had the opportunity over the past couple of weeks to meet with all school administrators to discuss their plans in greater depth.
It is evident that our school leaders and their staff are doing outstanding work on addressing identified areas of priority and moving our District forward as these school plans are all evidence informed, student focused, and support our overall strategic plan. These plans are intended to carry through 2 to 3 years and
are dynamic in that they are adjusted based on gathered evidence of the effectiveness of their actions.
While we have seen a few school exposures of COVID-19 in elementary schools, there is no evidence of school transmission where cases are spreading. Our schools continue to be safe places. Our priority continues to be the health and safety of students, staff and families while offering high quality in-person learning. While the Board has been provided with guidelines from the Province regarding vaccine mandates within the District, the Board has not yet made
any decision regarding this situation. This is a very complex subject that the Board takes very seriously.
Rob Zandee, Chairperson
School District No. 53 (Okanagan Similkameen)