Thursday, February 18, 2016

School District covers range of material in February meeting

The February 9th meeting of the School District 52 Board of Education provided for a fairly busy Agenda with a number of background notes provided following the session.

As we noted yesterday, School District officials addressed their concerns with the City of Prince Rupert when it comes to conducting a by-election  to replace departed trustee Judy Carlick-Pearson.

Also noted earlier today was how the trustees had reviewed their ongoing Budget Consultation process for 2016-17 and approved their bylaw for this years budget.

Trustees addressed a number of other topics through the session first hearing of the Random Acts of Kindness project that the Grade 1/2 class at Pineridge elementary is taking part in.

The Board of Education also heard that the District wide Anti-Bullying Day will be February 24th, where staff and students are encouraged to wear pink in support of those who have experienced bullying.

The Board outlined the current Kindergarten and Cross-Boundary Registration process that took place in the first two weeks of February.

Trustees were presented with three possible school Calendars for the 2016-17 school year, with two of the options reflecting the introduction of a two week Spring break, the third keeping to the traditional 1 week Spring Break.

The District plans to consult with partner groups for 30 days and expects to approve the calendar for next year at a special meeting of the Board on Tuesday, March 15th.

You can review those calendar options here, the School District also outlines how you can provide your feedback on the issue.

The School District provided an overview on the graduation rates for 2014-15, which saw a 6 per cent improvement in the first time graduation rate, which increased to 68%, while there was a 6 per cent decrease in the 6 year completion rate which was recorded at 64.5%.

The Superintendent noted in the report that the Ministry formula continues to include every student who started Grade 8 in Prince Rupert, even if they are known to have moved out of the country or province.

Some thoughts related to the Enrolment Audit conducted in the first week of February were released at the February 9th session as well.  It was noted that this was the first time in 14 years that a Ministry of Education audit was conducted in the District.

The results of the enrolment audit for secondary students was described as disappointing. With the School District observing the following from that audit:

While in some cases the audit identified students who should not have been claimed, in other cases there were errors that arose during the implementation of the new MyEdBC program, as a result of staffing changes and because of differences in the interpretation of Ministry policy. The district should receive the final result of the audit from the Ministry of Education within the next month.

The Audit results for the Aboriginal Education Department, Learning Services Department and Careers program were described by School Board officials as very good.

The results to this point in the School District's Thought exchange consultation program were also outlined for the meeting, the survey period came to an end last Friday, with the School District now looking to review the findings as they look to implement the new provincial curriculum to District schools.

You can review the full report from the February 9th meeting here.

For more items related to School District 52 developments see our archive page here.

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