December Newsletter Including Grad Rate Comments

My December newsletter is posted on our district website, and you can get straight to that newsletter by clicking here. You will see reference to our six-year completion rate, which refers to the percentage of students who receive a Dogwood certificate within six years of starting grad eight. My commentary in relation to these new data include the following:

1. The published completion rate for Saanich is down from 78% to 72%.
2. There is a more accurate "adjusted rate" that needs to be calculated. That number is being determined but we know it to be well over 80%. The adjusted rate comes from taking out 60 international students who were not here to graduate and who went home as expected. The adjusted rate also incorporates the large number of non-Saanich students who registered briefly at the South Island Distance Education School. By not registering again in their home districts they became ours only for the purpose of this statistic.
3. Notwithstanding the adjustment that puts us over 80%, we are dissatisfied with these results and will continue to enact plans to generate greater success for more students.
4. The most troubling statistic is our 21% First Nations completion rate. One upside is that we know every one of those non-completers and we are in contact with them and their families to support ongoing connection to school. Also, our strong partnership with the W'SANEC communities and our Board's productive relationship with the Saanich Indian School Board mean that there is great hope for improvement in our mutual support for the strategies outlined in the Education Enhancement Agreement signed last spring (posted on our district website).

I would be curious to know your thoughts on all of this.

Keven

Technology Planning - Responses Welcome

Public education is looking to take full advantage of the opportunities afforded by information and communication technologies. Our Director of Information Systems, Gregg Ferrie, is leading us through a planning process designed to provide the Board with a new comprehensive technology plan.

We have placed a response document in the form of a powerpoint presentation on our district website, and we are welcoming responses until Monday, January 19, 2009. After that we will take a revised draft to the Board in February. All of this is designed to have the new 3-5 year plan in place before the end of the school year. Please visit the website, have a look, and respond if you are so inclined. Comments are welcome here on the blog as well. Everything we hear will be incorporated into our thinking and planning. Thanks for your help.

Board Sworn In - Chair Elected

As you will probably know, our newly elected Board consists of: MaryLynne Rimer, Helen Parker, Elsie McMurphy, Edith Loring-Kuhanga, Jane Husband, Marika Townshend and Jim Standen. Our seven trustees were sworn in on December 8, 2008 and at that time elected MaryLynne Rimer as Chair and Elsie McMurphy as Vice-Chair. Congratulations to all.

Please remember, if you have anything you want to talk about, including things that you want to get to the ear of trustees, this blog one of many ways to do that.

October Newsletter and Organization of Classes

I have posted my October newsletter for your viewing (hopefully) pleasure. It can also be viewed from our district's home page.

One topic that I have posted relates to class size and composition. As readers may know, Section 76 of the School Act lays out the requirements in relation to class size (maximum size and highest allowable average for kindergarten and grades 1-3) as well as class sizes beyond which teachers must give consent (grades 4-7) or be consulted (grades 8-12) and highest allowable averages for grades 4-7 and 8-12. The Class Size Regulation provides direction for how those calculations are to be made and defines what is meant by consultation. The Act also requires principals to consult with teachers for classes which have more than 3 students with identified special needs and for whom an Individual Education Plan is required under the IEP Order.

As I said in my newsletter, we do our best to allocate resources to schools in ways that optimize programs and services, yet we still find ourselves with some classes that are rather large and complex, and we do what we can to support our teachers and support staff in serving the needs of a wide range of students. All of the work of class organization and principals' consultation with teachers has led to the preparation of a spreadsheet report that lists all of the classes in our school district along with for each class the number of students, the number of identified students with special needs, and a rationale for any class over 30. This report will be submitted to the Minister then posted to our district website and to a Ministry website by the end of October as required.

Upcoming Trustee Elections

As I have mentioned before, it is important to keep public education front and centre as so many issues compete for air time during a year in which we are scheduled to have federal, provincial, municipal and trustee elections. Even as you contemplate so many critical issues facing you as a voter, on so many levels, what is on your mind when it comes to public education? What should trustee candidates be thinking about as we move toward November elections for Boards of Education?

For your information, the BC School Trustees Association has developed an extensive set of resources that can be accessed via the BCSTA website, including links to viewable and downloadable Frequently Asked Questions and a document entitled Stand Up for Public Education: Become a School Trustee. The FAQs include:

1. What, exactly, is a school trustee? A school trustee is a member of a locally elected board of education, responsible for representing the community’s voice in public education. Trustees set local policy, employ school district staff, prepare and approve the district’s budget, approve local courses and resource materials among many other duties.

2. Why do we need school trustees? School trustees identify and represent their community’s priorities within the context of the school district’s needs as a whole. BC is large and diverse, with different priorities in each district. No central authority could represent all communities’ interests. School trustees work within their boards to meet their communities’ unique requirements.

Topics of Interest

Thanks to CFAX, the Times Colonist and other media outlets for picking up on our news release regarding this blog. It seems as if there is growing interest in using this medium for community dialogue regarding public education in Saanich and across British Columbia. I would like to keep this dialogue alive and relevant, so would invite readers to post topics through the "comments" link. I and others will be happy to take the topic as a starting point for an airing and sharing of views on things that matter to you.

For example, I wonder if people would like to share views here on the province's feasibility study around extending from half-day to all-day kindergarten and creating early learning and care environments for 4-year olds and 3-year olds in our schools. Or perhaps environmental issues as they relate to education? Healthy schools and daily physical activity? Over to you . . .

Parent Advocacy

I had the pleasure last night of attending an excellent workshop sponsored by our District Parent Advisory Council (COPACS) and hosted by BCCPAC advocacy leaders Cathy Bedard and Janet Phillips. About 50 people enjoyed a well hosted evening. With parents, teachers, administrators, community partners, trustees and friends from neighbouring districts in attendance it was good to see more evidence of our vibrant and extensive partnerships in Saanich. We were reminded that true and solution-focused advocacy for children and families is based in strong relationships and clarity around rights, information, voice and inclusion. We also talked about how barriers can so easily come up through lack of common understanding of the issues, the pathways to resolution of concerns and the degree of urgency to the parent. If we misfire on any of those, conflict can so easily arise.

We talked about barriers last night, about what prevents good communication, advocacy and collaborative problem-solving. I am equally interested in what it looks like when it is working. So . . . my question: What does advocacy look like at its best, and what do we in the system have to do to ensure that parents are genuinely invited into problem-resolution conversations and processes when something isn't working?

September Newsletter

As we move into the new school year we are reminded of how much we appreciate the fine work of our staff members, the many successes of our students, and the great partnerships that we have with parents and members of our community. We are also thinking about things like the provincial government's feasibility study on all-day kindergarten and school-based programs for 4-year olds and 3-year olds. This issue has significant implications for schools and for families. We have provided district input into the study, and would encourage you to check the information on the provincial early learning website.

This and other topics are covered in my September "Superintendent's Update" which is now posted on our School District 63 website. After you have read the newsletter please feel free to come back and post comments.

Ad Campaign

This is a copy of the second in a series of ads that we have placed in our two local newspapers, The Saanich News and the Peninsula News Review. Sorry that it's not very readable here, but you can see that our focus is "Teach Life" with five ads speaking of trades, academics, global citizenship, athletics/health and the arts. Our Board of Education undertook this ad campaign as a way to inform our public about the successes and challenges of public education in the 21st century. The successes include the ways in which we are supporting every child, right from our most vulnerable learners to those who are graduating with every tool that they need to thrive in our complex society. Our challenges include being able to manage our rising costs, not only of things like fuel and materials, but of the innovations required for teaching and learning in today's technology driven world. Our hope is that these ads will generate interest and dialogue in our communities. We want people to inquire as to what is happening in today's schools and to develop levels of awareness that will create advocacy for a strong public education system. I look forward to your thoughts and input.

Welcome

Welcome to the startup of my Superintendent's Blog. I am interested in hearing from and talking with people who care about public education . I would particularly like to hear from those people who are connected in some way with School District 63 Saanich in British Columbia. My plan is to post links to my monthly newsletters as a way to initiate discussion and solicit feedback, and beyond that to use the blog as an ongoing way to stay in touch. Public education is, after all, the foundation of a healthy democratic society, and this form of communication is one of many ways to stay in touch in support of our children and our future. I look forward to the dialogue.