New trustee
New student trustee Maribeth Haines was sworn in during the Oct. 12 school board meeting. Maribeth is in Grade 12 at Pender Harbour Secondary School.
“I would like to thank my mentors, teachers, [superintendent of schools] Patrick Bocking and all the students from the DSLT (District Student Leadership Team) for supporting and nominating me to be the new student trustee,” Maribeth said.
“It is a great honour and I am excited for what this year will bring.”
Outdoor atlas
The school district’s committee for environmental education is developing an online atlas for outdoor learning. The online atlas will provide maps of outdoor areas teachers can take students to learn on the Sunshine Coast.
Superintendent of schools Patrick Bocking said teachers will be able to click on a map and “out emerges a document that suggests the kinds of things you can do with different students at different grade levels at that location. Sometimes we all need supports and ideas,” Bocking said.
Enrolment
Enrolment seems to be up overall in the district, trustees heard on Oct. 12.
“These numbers, I just want to preface, are draft,” secretary treasurer Nicholas Weswick said during his report. “But the way that they’re looking right now, it looks like our enrolment is up about 24 FTE [full-time enrolment] from last year when we combine school age, alternative and DL [distance learning] programming.”
Finance input
School trustees took full advantage of a request from the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services to provide input for the 2017-18 provincial budget deliberations.
Trustees penned a letter that laid out their concerns around school funding stability, the need for ongoing funding to implement the new curriculum and more funding for special education and Aboriginal education. The letter also recommended allowing adult learners to upgrade their basic education at no cost.
On the issue of funding stability, trustees chastised the Ministry of Education for “a recent trend of sudden and surprising policy changes for funding regarding capital projects, small rural schools and transportation.”
The changes have been coming well after trustees have allocated funding through the regular budget process.
“This is disrespectful of our communities and of the tremendous efforts of staff to meet ministry-imposed deadlines for budget and calendar,” the letter stated.
It also spoke to the need for increased funding for operational costs and MSP and WorkSafe premiums.
“These costs have been downloaded to the local level with a big impact on our budget.”
New reporting
The Ministry of Education is looking for feedback from parents on how they want to be informed of their children’s progress as the ministry explores new forms of reporting linked to the new curriculum.
“We are adapting the curriculum in B.C. schools so kids learn the skills they need to succeed in our changing world,” a letter from Education Minister Mike Bernier stated.
“This means we also need to develop a new reporting approach.”
Parents can tell the minister how they want to be informed about their child’s progress online at www.engage.gov.bc.ca/yourkidsprogress until Feb. 28, 2017.
“The ultimate goal of this engagement is to develop a student reporting process that gives families a deeper understanding of their child’s progress at school through timely and comprehensive information,” the letter from Bernier said.
