School District No. 46 (SD46) will appoint a teen representative to the board this fall in an effort to hear from students, trustees announced at their June 11 regular school board meeting.
The teen trustee will be chosen from the soon to be created student leadership team.
"Essentially we're looking at establishing a district student leadership team where a Grade 11 and Grade 12 student from each school comes together on a regular basis with me and a secondary school leader," said superintendent of schools Patrick Bocking, noting reps will talk about issues at their schools that could see action at the board level.
Exactly how those students will gather input at their schools and communicate that to the board is yet to be decided, however.
"We can't hold them accountable for accurately representing what everybody says at [their school], but at the same time there should be a mechanism so there's a discussion at the school that they can bring forward," Bocking said. "We're working on a process for that."
Exactly how the student will be chosen to sit at the board table is also a work in progress. However, it has been announced that the chosen student will sit in on all public board discussions. The teen trustee will not be privy to closed board sessions or have an official vote on the board, but trustees praised the move to get more student involvement.
"This will be an historic initiative in B.C.," said board chair Silas White. "We discussed it at BCSTA [B.C. School Trustees' Association] but it's really come forward ever since superintendent Bocking came to our district and talked about how successful it's been in Ontario, and how it would work well in our district. I think it is something that our district can be really proud of and it's exciting."
Literacy goals
Bocking said next year elementary schools will focus on reading district-wide in an effort to ensure all kids have the level of literacy skills needed to do well in school.
"We recognize kids have a much better chance of success if they are capably reading by Grade 3," Bocking said. "All the schools will have that common, focused goal."
Literacy cuts
While elementary schools will focus on helping young readers succeed, the Sunshine Coast Literacy Council will be looking for funding to keep afloat next year.
"We have received the last of our funding," said community literacy coordinator Sandy Middleton in a presentation to the board. "One of our goals this year is to create a sustainability plan. We haven't actually created the plan, but we've started that process to start thinking about how we're going to sustain ourselves in the future."
The council has been responsible for things like the literacy scavenger hunt and the Coast Reads initiative, as well as making partnerships to further literacy goals on the Coast.
Middleton said they have "no concrete plans" for funding in 2014, but that they will "spread the nets" and look for other sources of revenue.
GES update
Secretary treasurer Nicholas Weswick gave an update on the construction at Gibsons Elementary School.
He said excavation work has started with soil being moved from the upper field (where the new school will sit) to the lower field, which will eventually be top dressed and seeded to create a new all-weather playing surface.
"That kept costs low for the site to have that system," Weswick said, noting fabric fencing has been erected around the field to ensure the sediment stays out of the ground water.
