Aboriginal Numeracy Project and Six Year Completion Rates among notes from January 16th School District meeting

The first meeting for the School District 52 Board of Education covered a wide range of topics as trustees prepared for what will be a busy two months of consultations with parents and guardians.

Among some of the notes that the School  District has released from their January 16th meeting is a review of a new project related to numeracy that highlights Aboriginal content.

Tannis Calder an Aboriginal and Math Helping teacher was in attendance at the Board Meeting and provided for the demonstration of an element of the program, with a lesson plan that put a focus on the recognition of number patterns in weaving for students in Grades 3 to 5. The lesson showcased the experience of weaving cedar strips with Fanny Nelson, a local role model and mentor.

As they look to expand the program, the Aboriginal Education Department staff will meet with Carol Fullerton to develop additional lessons for students in Grades 6 to 8.

SD52 Board Chair Tina Last observed how the staff of SD52 is approaching new ways of adding to the curriculum.

"The Board is proud to see our district staff leading the Province in developing lessons that integrate Aboriginal ways of knowing in the new curriculum"

Board members also began to outline their plans on a pair of consultation sessions to come with parents and guardians of students in the District.

One consultation will be to seek input from parents, students and staff on the proposed calendars for the 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years.

A collection of Draft calendars is available for review here (scroll to bottom of media release)

You can provide your comments to the District through the SD52 website.

The Board of Education will also be hosting a string of Budget Consultation sessions for the 2018-19 budget with the first to take place on January 31st at 7PM in the Multi-Purpose Room at Charles Hays Secondary School.

Further meetings have been scheduled for February 8, March 5 and April 10.

You can review more about the consultation program from our blog post of mid December.

The School District has also outlined some details related to a pilot project to expand the after school Sports and Arts Initiative to Secondary Students.

SD52 recently received approval for an expansion to the program and for the first instalment, the District will host activities towards the creation of Community Arts projects which will be under the direction of Ms. Ali Murray, a former SD52 student.

The completion of the Lax Kxeen Elementary School Slab replacement program was also highlighted at this month's Board meeting, with the conclusion of the work by Rupert Wood N Steel Construction,  students now have access to all areas of the school, including the gymnasium.

And the School District made note of the recent results released by the Province when it comes to the Six Year Student Completion rate.  Superintendent Ken Minette noted that the district had seen a 3 percent improvement for the 2016-17 school year, with SD52 hosting a 70 percent completion rate.

The results for Aboriginal Students were listed at 64 percent, which the Superintendent noted was the highest that it has ever been, Students with special needs also achieved a completion rate of 70 percent.

You can review more background on those results and compare them to other school districts across the Northwest from our blog post of Monday.

More background on the January 16th School District meeting can be found here.

A wider overview of education notes for the North Coast is available here, while an expanded look across the Northwest can be reviewed here.