School District 52 Trustees handled a range of themes for their February meeting, with much of the focus on Indigenous Education in Prince Rupert along with themes related to the adoption of the Amended Budget.
The February 15th session opened with an extensive overview of the Indigenous Education Growth Plan led by Roberta Edzerza and Lori Burger, they took the trustees and audience through a thirty five minute overview of the state of Indigenous education in the District.
Their focus examined the Indigenous Education Partnership agreement and a review of the success of the Sm'algyax program at SD52. Of interest were the results from the Foundation Skills Assessment, with the snapshots providing a look at how Indigenous students were faring at the main themes of the Assessments, along with a note towards the encouragement for continued Indigenous participation in the FSA program.
Also part of the half hour overview was a look at the Grade Transitions towards graduation for Indigenous Students, which has seen a decline for Indigenous students during the period of COVID.
Sandy Pond outlined some observations towards that theme
"I think the pandemic, 2019-2020 was pretty tough when we went to virtual and we had a lot of students trying to learn from home and we know that didn't work very well for a lot of students. And so we've got some idiosyncrasies in our data ... We need to unpack the story a bit more, I don't have all the answers, I have some suspicions ... I think we're still working on story"
Ms. Edzerza followed up with her own view of the current situation when it comes to the Grade Transitions results.
"Overall the data does not look good for Indigenous Students yet, we still have a lot of work to do. And it's just something that everybody needs to have their eyes on and be responsible for and start thinking about or wondering about what's going on right. And how we can continue good work and how some changes need to be made and really focus on those priorities.
Yes the pandemic happened, but it happened to all students right, and so the decline shows with Indigenous students so we just have to have a more focused strategic look at that I think "
Among some of the well received elements of the Indigenous Education streams the use of a wellness worker and the mentorship program, which were both praised by the trustees.
The Draft document which will be in its finished state shortly also identified some of the Future Directions for Indigenous Education in the District.
The remainder of the Board of Education meeting for February explored a range of themes among them a review of the latest enrolment numbers for the District which have increased by 8 to 1,848, though Board officials still noted some concerns over the decline in local enrolment since 2021.
A short COVID report provided a snapshot of how the School District is responding to the coronavirus, with No Forced School Closures required to date, the process of installing HEPA filters in school and board facilities continues as well.
The used of Testing kits have also become part of the District's program, with self test kits distributed to staff with more to come, as well Officials noted of the anticipated delivery of test kits this month from the Ministry of Education for the use of students.
The District is continuing on with work on their Strategic Plan, which will soon be shared with stakeholders, the Board of Education is also moving forward with their In Service Planning, which answers their work towards Truth and Reconciliation.
Towards that employees of the School District will be attending sessions where the participants will learn about Ts'msyen land and culture themes, a process that will continue through the year until all of those employed by the School District have taken part in the engagement process.
Andrew Samoil, the Superintendent of Schools also made note of a pair of new courses taking place at Charles Hays Secondary, Physical Geography and a Specialized Science Course based on Fisheries.
The latter is a partnership with Ts'msyen Stewardship and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
Trustees adopted the Amended Budget for 2021-2022, with Secretary/Treasurer Cam McIntyre noting that the budget has seen a slight increase to 32.8 million dollars up from 31.6 million, the final numbers making use of the prior year surplus.
"You can see significant changes in the Special Purpose Funds, We've received increased funding in those three funds in particular, Class Size and Composition, Mental Health and Safe Return to School and that's what resulted in the overall change in the budget"
Mr. McIntyre also observed that the decline in school revenues is part of the decline in enrolment for the District, noting that he did not want to speculate on what the enrolment moving forward into 2022-23 might be.
"It's always a bit of a hazard and a guess and it's been much more difficult in the wake of a pandemic world, So of course in 2021 our student numbers dropped quite dramatically, we we're somewhat hopeful that was going to pick back up at the start of this year and that didn't happen. So we're not going to make that assumption for next year, we're going to be very prudent in our estimate for next year"
Further into the meeting, a topic from earlier in the year returned for discussion, as trustees reviewed the themes related to a proposed dedicated seat on the Board for Indigenous representation.
The topic could soon be part of discussions with the BC School Trustees Association and the Board indicated that they should have representation at the AGM session to make know the support for the motion that the SD52 Board has noted.
The Trustees also spoke to the Internal Control Review process that they introduced last year, the audit program with Trustee Beil speaking to the topic
"We all realize Kate, that it's very costly to go under, to explore things that we've brought to the table in our concerns about getting our Internal controls under a handle per se, I guess you could say.
As a new Board we've learned a lot, we've discovered a lot and there's a lot we didn't understand.
So moving forward with a new auditor, I think it's more than appropriate, that even though it's probably a considerable amount and we didn't want to spend it. I think it's important that we make a procedure, put a procedure in place so that any Board moving forward understands the finances.
And if it's 25,000 dollars now, it's 200,000 dollar later we've saved for them. So I think it's only appropriate that we spend this money now, put the proper procedures in place, including policy manuals, what have you, to ensure that going forward all future boards will have a better handle on finances"
The Board then approved their plans for Internal Control Review
The Agenda package and documentation related to the meeting can be reviewed here.
The Full Board Session is available for your review through the SD52 Video Archive.
More notes on Education in the Northwest can be explored from our archive page.
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