[0:13] In that case,
[0:26] » good afternoon everyone.
[0:31] Thank you all for joining us today.
[0:34] You're first going to start by calling
[0:36] our meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. April
[0:39] 14th, 2026, our regular public meeting
[0:42] here in the lovely McKenzie. Uh I'm just
[0:47] going to first read out our call to
[0:48] order. The board of education is
[0:50] committed to providing a safe and
[0:52] respectful environment. The board
[0:54] expects all participants to model
[0:56] respectful communication in order to
[0:58] foster positive relationships and build
[1:01] understanding between all school
[1:03] district partners.
[1:04] Trustees as members of the corporate
[1:07] board shall act prudently, ethically,
[1:10] and legally in keeping with the
[1:12] requirements of provincial legislation.
[1:15] This includes proper use of authority
[1:17] and appropriate decorum in terms of
[1:19] group and individual behavior. Trustees
[1:22] will ensure that their comments are
[1:24] issue-based and not personal, demeaning,
[1:26] derogatory or disparaging with regard to
[1:29] board staff or fellow trustees,
[1:32] including comments made to media or news
[1:34] outlets.
[1:36] Moving on to item number two, we are
[1:39] going to start in a good way by
[1:40] acknowledging the ancestral lands of the
[1:42] Mloud Lake Indian Band where our
[1:44] business and our storytelling is taking
[1:46] place today. Recognizing that our work
[1:49] also takes place on the unseated lands
[1:51] of the completely territory and the Sid
[1:53] First Nations, I would like to share
[1:55] being that I'm a guest on Secondary
[1:57] Territory today. I I looked for the I
[1:59] looked for a new word to learn and I
[2:01] found wata which means spring. Well,
[2:05] we're getting there. [laughter]
[2:07] Happy.
[2:10] Moving on to item number three, the
[2:12] approval of the agenda. the recommended
[2:15] motion that the agenda be as approved as
[2:17] presented. We have a mover and a
[2:19] seconder. Trusty Holland, Trusty McCroy.
[2:21] Thank you. Any discussion?
[2:26] All those in favor? I was looking for
[2:27] people online. [laughter]
[2:30] Okay. And that is unanimous. Thank you
[2:32] very much. And the exciting part, moving
[2:36] on to item number four, we have two
[2:38] wonderful presentations from some very
[2:40] special guests. First uh Morphe
[2:43] Elementary
[2:46] here, right?
[2:47] >> Yeah. [laughter]
[2:53] [laughter]
[2:55] >> Just we can stand right.
[2:56] » Just we can stand right.
[2:56] >> Yeah, you can do whatever feels. I'll
[2:58] » Yeah, you can do whatever feels. I'll
[2:58] let you do this. Last time I did it, it
[3:00] was a mess.
[3:02] >> Uh good afternoon, Donna and Ja. My name
[3:04] » Uh good afternoon, Donna and Ja. My name
[3:04] is Heather Devil and I've been the
[3:06] acting vice principal of Murphy
[3:07] Elementary this school year. Um, hi. I'm
[3:10] Heather. Also, we're um I've been a
[3:14] teacher at Morphe Elementary for seven
[3:16] years now, mostly five, six.
[3:18] So, at the beginning, or I should say
[3:20] last June.
[3:22] >> Yeah, you can go.
[3:22] » Yeah, you can go.
[3:22] >> Okay. Yeah. Uh, last June, Morphe staff
[3:26] » Okay. Yeah. Uh, last June, Morphe staff
[3:26] got together and they decided that they
[3:28] wanted to focus on some academic
[3:30] achievement for their school goals. And
[3:33] so the two goals that they came up with
[3:34] were by June at least 70% of students
[3:37] will improve their reading by a minimum
[3:39] of one grade level and by June at least
[3:42] 70% of students will achieve fluency
[3:44] with grade appropriate math facts.
[3:49] So when we looked at our data because we
[3:51] started a dibbles pilot and we were able
[3:53] to get some tangible evidence of where
[3:55] we were at. This is where our reading
[3:58] scores came out in the fall. And when we
[4:00] looked at our reading scores, we decided
[4:02] as a staff that we needed to reassess
[4:04] and we needed to go back and really
[4:06] focus in on literacy first and then
[4:09] bring in the math following that. Um so
[4:13] with that we worked on
[4:18] um taking our work from Kale Burke and
[4:21] making observable impact to focus on
[4:23] what our goal should be. So, we looked
[4:26] specifically at what is the what would
[4:28] the least literate student look like and
[4:30] what would the most literate student
[4:31] look like and we sectioned it off into
[4:34] primary and intermediate as those might
[4:37] change over the years.
[4:39] And from there
[4:41] um we have narrowed it down and come up
[4:46] with a few ways to get to our goal of
[4:49] improving literacy at Morphe. So, as I
[4:51] talked about, we joined Dibbles, which
[4:53] is a school district pilot project. Um,
[4:56] [clears throat] and many of our teachers
[4:57] have been been using Fly, which is what
[4:59] Heather's going to talk about. Okay. So,
[5:01] I'm going to give you a little bit of
[5:03] background where we come from. I think
[5:05] it's really important to remember that
[5:06] at Murphy over the years, we've had a
[5:08] lot of turnover. So, you don't have a
[5:10] lot of consistency in how things are
[5:12] being taught. It's also important to
[5:13] remember that not all the teachers are
[5:14] from BC, right? They come from across
[5:16] the country. Um, and so everybody comes
[5:19] in with different backgrounds in
[5:20] education and what they want to do. And
[5:22] our school in since I had arrived never
[5:25] really had any sort of real core
[5:27] programs in how to address literacy. And
[5:29] it's one of the reasons we kind of
[5:31] re-evaluated the literacy and numeracy
[5:34] goals was because if a student can't
[5:35] read,
[5:37] math itself was going to be really hard.
[5:39] So let's focus on getting strength and
[5:41] literacy so that students can be
[5:42] successful across all subjects. Um, so
[5:46] aside from doing the designated BAS
[5:49] assessments that we've been doing with
[5:50] the district, we didn't have any whole
[5:52] school programs. Teachers were doing
[5:54] like some groups of teachers were
[5:55] working together, other groups of
[5:57] teachers were working together, but
[5:59] nothing whole school to kind of target
[6:01] phonics, spelling, and reading at Warp.
[6:03] And so we had a v variety of programs
[6:05] that we were using
[6:11] [laughter]
[6:12] um to try and target some of these areas
[6:16] of learning but none of it was
[6:19] consistent. So I guess we were using
[6:20] bass. Some people did it just for
[6:22] assessing. Some people would use like
[6:24] the boxes with all the learning goals,
[6:26] lessons and everything. U some primary
[6:29] teachers were using fly leaf which is
[6:31] another phonics based learning system.
[6:33] Um, and then some of the intermediate
[6:35] teachers were using words their way. And
[6:38] to give you the an idea of challenges
[6:40] that we were facing, you could have in a
[6:42] grade six class students with spelling
[6:44] abilities from kindergarten to grade 10.
[6:47] So something like words their way, which
[6:50] is geared toward individual student
[6:52] abilities, is very hard to use in a
[6:54] classroom with 29 students with 10
[6:57] different levels of learning abilities.
[7:00] So, we were lucky in that this year
[7:04] we're targeting literacy because we're
[7:06] all kind of more on the same page. We
[7:08] really want to work together and we've
[7:10] started using whole school programs
[7:13] essentially which has made it easier for
[7:15] us to support each other, work together
[7:17] and come up with more comprehensive data
[7:20] both qualitative and quantitative.
[7:24] So the program's currently in use. We
[7:26] have dibbles like Heather mentioned. Uh
[7:28] we're part of the pilot program. Uh it
[7:31] gives us basically a really great idea
[7:32] of the strengths and students reading
[7:34] comprehension skills, uh reading
[7:36] fluency, and we're going to be doing
[7:39] more learning in that and how to apply
[7:41] the information we get from those
[7:43] assessments to better help our students.
[7:45] But we have found that the detail of
[7:49] information it gives us compared to bass
[7:51] is a world of difference and much more
[7:53] helpful. Um all we started using youly
[7:57] sort of replace things like words their
[8:00] way and fly leaf. Um and then again
[8:04] that's a science of reading based
[8:05] phonics program and it says for reading
[8:08] skills in grades K through two we are
[8:10] using it K through six. And then we do
[8:13] have some people still using words their
[8:15] way, but I'll talk about that in a
[8:16] moment. So the observable impacts with
[8:19] UFly have been really interesting. So
[8:22] for quantitative, everyone is noticing
[8:25] an improvement in spelling tests. In
[8:28] division one, 15 out of 19 students are
[8:31] able to read and write CBC words. So
[8:33] consonant vowel consonant words
[8:35] independently with minimal errors, which
[8:37] is a huge improvement from previous
[8:39] years. And for qualitative, we have more
[8:42] students able to write sounds of some
[8:44] words. They're able to apply skills of
[8:46] breaking sounds apart to find letters.
[8:49] And we have improved phenemic awareness.
[8:51] So students are able to more
[8:53] independently read words and break them
[8:56] down if they've never seen them before
[8:57] to understand what those words are
[8:58] saying. And we're seeing it at a greater
[9:01] amount than we have in the past. Um,
[9:04] just for general information, these
[9:06] lessons are usually two to five times a
[9:08] week. All of the divisions in primary
[9:10] are using it. Uh, everybody has started
[9:13] at different times. We didn't decide in
[9:14] September, hey, we're going to start it.
[9:16] Let's all go through. Everybody kind of
[9:18] as they found the time to learn the
[9:20] program, all started coming together.
[9:23] Despite when people have started, they
[9:25] have all seen positive success in
[9:27] students improvement in learning. Um,
[9:29] and then positive feedback from a
[9:31] teaching perspective. The kids are
[9:33] excited to learn to read, which is nice.
[9:34] That makes teaching easier. Uh, it's a
[9:37] really relatable routine. Kids know
[9:39] well, so it's really quick to implement.
[9:41] Kids learn it quickly, which means it's
[9:42] easy to teach it. And the lessons are
[9:45] really well laid out for teachers. So,
[9:46] it's not a stressful program to
[9:48] implement because PowerPoints are
[9:50] already made, lesson books are already
[9:52] made. You can individualize it according
[9:55] to your teaching desires or needs or
[9:58] what your classroom needs are, but the
[10:00] basics are there to make it quite easy.
[10:03] uh for the three four splits to grade
[10:06] six um we have greater confidence around
[10:08] spelling and reading stronger decoding
[10:11] skills like this is the first year where
[10:12] I have been teaching where students will
[10:14] actually break words down and sound them
[10:16] out independently without me having to
[10:18] remind them um they're applying learn
[10:22] skills independently and they're better
[10:24] at connecting sounds and letters which
[10:27] they all kind of would struggle with
[10:29] right so like a ph sound like or an ff
[10:32] sound um they're much better at that.
[10:35] For some quantitative observations we've
[10:37] made, uh improved spelling of irregular
[10:40] words, such as because they're would
[10:42] talk, which is helpful for kids at that
[10:44] grade level, you're writing sentences
[10:46] and paragraphs, it makes them more
[10:47] confident in their spelling. And some
[10:50] students are moving up three to five
[10:51] grade levels of spelling, even if we've
[10:54] only been doing it for a couple months.
[10:57] Yeah. Um so again two to five lessons
[11:00] per year [clears throat] per week almost
[11:03] every single division in I think all but
[11:04] one or two are using it in intermediate
[11:07] again varying start times and then from
[11:10] the teachers easy to understand and
[11:12] implement noticeable student improvement
[11:14] and use of new skills. Uh the teachers
[11:16] love teaching it lots of all of the
[11:19] teachers I spoke to very happy about
[11:22] using it. Um, and it enables us to
[11:24] incorporate practicing reading aloud and
[11:26] sentence structure. So other skills
[11:28] aside from it's not just spelling that
[11:30] you're teaching them, you're teaching
[11:31] them reading fluency and reading aloud
[11:34] and we also do a lot of work on
[11:36] sentencing sentence structures. So where
[11:38] are we now? Um so just from the
[11:41] beginning of the year when we started
[11:42] our journey uh we're you can see we had
[11:47] um 8.16%
[11:48] and the negligible risk area and that
[11:51] has almost doubled 14.42%.
[11:54] Um but where we really look to is at the
[11:57] at risk. We were at 57% and now we're
[12:00] down to 52%. So that's honestly the
[12:02] trend that we want to see. It's very
[12:04] positive. We're just learning this
[12:06] program and this way of teaching and I
[12:09] am expecting significant growth as we
[12:11] move forward. Our next steps are to make
[12:14] sure that we're implementing this from
[12:15] the beginning of the year starting next
[12:17] year. Organizing schedule so that we can
[12:20] have our resource and support team
[12:23] coming in to help support these lessons
[12:25] in the classrooms and then communicating
[12:27] with parents. Yeah.
[12:29] >> So that we can all be on board in
[12:30] » So that we can all be on board in
[12:30] helping students learn. And it is really
[12:33] great to see the confidence growing in
[12:35] our students.
[12:38] Any questions?
[12:44] » Sure.
[12:50] Great. Great work. Great thinking out of
[12:54] the box new idea kind of stuff it seems
[12:57] for you guys. And I'm wondering if like
[13:00] you learned this from some some other
[13:03] place in the district that do a program,
[13:05] correct? Yeah. And it's a pilot still.
[13:07] Yeah.
[13:08] >> Yes.
[13:08] » Yes.
[13:08] >> So when is it no longer a pilot and it
[13:10] » So when is it no longer a pilot and it
[13:10] will just be implemented? Do we know
[13:12] that yet?
[13:13] >> Uh districtwide I believe they're
[13:16] » Uh districtwide I believe they're
[13:16] pushing it out to more schools as we
[13:18] speak and then we'll continue with our
[13:20] work at our school into the years to
[13:23] come.
[13:23] >> Cool. Can I ask one follow-up question?
[13:26] » Cool. Can I ask one follow-up question?
[13:26] How are you sharing that out currently
[13:28] with um like I I'm suspecting the
[13:31] students feel it right that progress. So
[13:34] is that being shared with the with the
[13:36] parents as well?
[13:37] >> I know that conversations are happening
[13:39] » I know that conversations are happening
[13:39] at a classroom level with between
[13:41] teachers and the parents. Um our next
[13:44] step is to make sure that it's
[13:45] communicated with our pack and to make
[13:47] sure that it's communicated and maybe
[13:49] even to our social media or our online
[13:51] presence and make sure all our parents
[13:53] know the success that we're having.
[13:55] Awesome. Thanks.
[13:58] >> Yeah, just noticing that with a
[14:01] » Yeah, just noticing that with a
[14:01] community that has turnover, younger
[14:03] teachers, even uncertified programs that
[14:05] are well laid out and easier to jump
[14:07] into and jump out of and do that seems
[14:09] to be something that's helped.
[14:11] >> Yeah. So, that's that's really good.
[14:13] » Yeah. So, that's that's really good.
[14:13] That's
[14:14] >> and we have had teachers who are
[14:15] » and we have had teachers who are
[14:15] uncertified teaching it and we're able
[14:17] to literally just give them the links to
[14:19] the website and then the book for UFly
[14:22] and they're able to teach it quite
[14:23] easily. And what's fascinating is then
[14:25] then not only students find success, but
[14:27] then the the younger newer teachers find
[14:29] success. And that's that's that's really
[14:31] great. Thank you.
[14:33] >> Um I just wanted to commend you for uh
[14:35] » Um I just wanted to commend you for uh
[14:35] seeing that there were gaps in the
[14:37] system and coming up with consistency
[14:39] and creating something where instead of
[14:40] using all of the different versions,
[14:42] bringing together the teachers and kind
[14:44] of getting them on board with the same
[14:45] thing. Um, I know personally a lot of
[14:48] you that work in the schools and I know
[14:49] how hard the reading component of
[14:51] everything has been and the frustrations
[14:53] over the years of trying to get these
[14:55] kids to understand and I love seeing the
[14:57] excitement in you and you say like you
[14:59] don't have to help them anymore. They're
[15:00] they're doing it now so which means it's
[15:02] working. Um, and I I just I commend you
[15:05] for the work that you do and what what's
[15:06] happening here in McKenzie because uh
[15:08] when the kids can read it opens that
[15:10] whole new world for them. the creative
[15:12] juices just flow and yeah so I just
[15:15] thank you for everything you guys do.
[15:17] Thank you. You're welcome.
[15:19] >> I think it's fair just that trustees are
[15:21] » I think it's fair just that trustees are
[15:21] we really want to celebrate this work.
[15:23] We love talking. We love learning and
[15:25] understanding um what what you're doing
[15:27] in schools. Thank you very much. Thank
[15:29] you for taking the time.
[15:30] >> Thank you.
[15:34] And
[15:35] once again, thank you very much to
[15:37] Morphe Elementary. [clears throat] And
[15:40] we can pivot over to welcome McKenzie
[15:42] Secondary School.
[15:50] Hello everyone. Um I just want to
[15:52] introduce you to Jude Carter, grade 12
[15:54] student. I'm going to sit down and I
[15:55] just wanted to share that he will be um
[15:57] highlighting some. If you haven't seen
[15:59] this,
[16:00] they come out quarterly. Um because I've
[16:04] talked to lots of our folks who don't
[16:05] open them up and read them. So, we need
[16:06] to make sure we're looking at them. But
[16:07] we uh tend to spend a lot of time our
[16:09] vice principal submitting articles and
[16:11] getting information from staff. So, it's
[16:12] really great that we thought what a
[16:13] great way to highlight some of those
[16:14] ideas. And so, Jude is going to speak
[16:16] about some things and how he connects
[16:18] with McKenzie. Thank you.
[16:22] >> So, I already know Mr. Dugan has already
[16:24] » So, I already know Mr. Dugan has already
[16:24] introduced myself, but my name is Jude
[16:25] Carter and I'm here representing
[16:27] Mackenzie Secondary School. Uh I'm just
[16:29] here to highlight some things in the
[16:31] quarterly newsletter and how um things
[16:34] we've been doing has affected our
[16:36] learning and just our connection with
[16:38] the community.
[16:48] [laughter]
[16:53] Um, our school has a family day at the
[16:58] beginning of our year, which I believe
[17:00] helps uh parents really connect with
[17:02] their kids and also allow a safer
[17:05] environment for those newer students who
[17:08] may not be uh super comfortable with
[17:10] getting into the new environment of high
[17:12] school. And it just allows a a safe
[17:14] space for students who are just coming
[17:17] to high school, maybe are really
[17:20] nervous, and also leaves an option for
[17:23] parents to get themselves um accompanied
[17:26] with our principal and with our
[17:28] teachers. And I think it's really
[17:29] important that
[17:31] um we start off our week with
[17:35] a really
[17:38] sorry I've lost a word before. It's a
[17:41] great way for families to connect with
[17:43] not only their kids but with the school.
[17:46] Did you get to that?
[17:49] Um, our school also keeps very connected
[17:52] with our elementary school as um, high
[17:55] schoolers will go down there and talk to
[17:59] these students and speak about their own
[18:01] knowledge while connecting with these
[18:04] younger kids, which also allows that
[18:06] these maybe grade sixes, grade fives
[18:10] have more connections with the high
[18:12] school when they do eventually make the
[18:13] transition into either a middleear's
[18:15] program or when they eventually get into
[18:18] our main high school, which means that
[18:20] when they are struggling, they have more
[18:22] people they can come talk to. And I
[18:24] think it's really important for these
[18:27] kids to gain these connections as um
[18:30] though they can learn a lot from
[18:32] teachers, having a student that they can
[18:34] look up to when nervous or just maybe a
[18:39] little confused can really help them get
[18:41] more acquainted with their new
[18:44] surroundings.
[18:48] I would like to say that our school
[18:50] prides themselves in how many
[18:51] opportunities we give for indigenous
[18:53] education. I know that I took a lot away
[18:56] from my own uh BC's first people's class
[19:00] where our teacher took us on a lot of
[19:02] field trips where we would go out um
[19:04] camping for a few days and learn from
[19:06] elders and we'd hear all of these
[19:08] stories on how we could connect
[19:10] experiences to everyday objects. And I
[19:13] think I learned a lot about
[19:17] how [snorts] I can connect with my
[19:19] surroundings more and how I can bring
[19:21] teachings I I could bring learning
[19:23] outside of the classroom uh to a place
[19:27] where it would affect my everyday life.
[19:33] Every year our school likes to do a very
[19:36] major donation in kind of a face of a
[19:40] competition. We host uh can structure
[19:43] every year where it brings all of the
[19:45] classes to donate so that we can create
[19:49] a structure out of non-p perishable
[19:52] foods. And [clears throat] the
[19:53] competition brings a lot of students
[19:55] together. They're all trying to do their
[19:57] best and win. And it also brings a
[19:59] bonding experience to the classes as a
[20:03] lot of the time we'll be in our four
[20:05] major teams for a lot of like our our uh
[20:08] school events. So, it also allows that
[20:11] in those teams, our students to connect
[20:13] with people that they may not see every
[20:15] day or be in the same classes with. And
[20:19] at the end of this event, we get all of
[20:21] the students to line up and bring all of
[20:23] the non-p perishables over to our St.
[20:24] Peter's pantry, which just shows the
[20:28] effect that our school has on our
[20:30] community, especially when it comes to
[20:32] the winter time. Food may be more scarce
[20:33] for those in need. And I think it's a
[20:35] really important thing that we do for
[20:37] our community.
[20:40] Um, Mr. Tapper has taken full lead into
[20:44] some agriculture for a school. He built
[20:49] some beds in near near the back of the
[20:52] school that he uses when helping teach
[20:54] life sciences or if he just wants to
[20:56] help grow uh vegetables or I think we
[20:59] grow fruit, but I'm not 100% sure. Um
[21:02] these this produce is typically provided
[21:05] to the foods class or used in the life
[21:08] sciences class which helps the foods
[21:10] class especially stretch their budget
[21:12] which is really important because I mean
[21:14] we could always use a little more
[21:15] funding in other places. So if we can
[21:16] find areas to save it it's it's really
[21:20] beneficial to our school. It's also with
[21:23] learning how to do agriculture. It's
[21:25] very good for grounding when you're very
[21:28] stressed out about life and it just lets
[21:29] you sit down and help your mental health
[21:32] which I think is very important and can
[21:34] be glossed over a lot. And it's also a
[21:36] very good opportunity for courses such
[21:38] as life sciences and specialized
[21:40] science. It just lets you get a hands-on
[21:42] experience with what you're learning
[21:45] about.
[21:49] And a really big thing that we wanted to
[21:51] highlight is our grade nine and 10
[21:53] yearlong math. Um, I've been told by
[21:57] teachers and by students that the
[21:59] year-long allows to reduce gaps within
[22:02] learning. Um, in cases where a grade
[22:06] nine student takes a first semester math
[22:08] class and after completing that year,
[22:11] they may take a second semester grade 10
[22:14] math, right? That's a whole year gap of
[22:17] where they are not learning about math
[22:20] inside of school. And it leaves a lot of
[22:23] students to be get stuck, feel like they
[22:26] don't know what they're doing and get
[22:27] lost and feel like they made no progress
[22:29] the previous year. What this program
[22:31] opens up is students to learn year long
[22:33] about both math and science, which means
[22:36] that they don't feel as major of a gap.
[22:38] And many students talked about with
[22:40] their first year that they felt like it
[22:42] wasn't benefiting them as much and they
[22:44] really had a struggle with it. But the
[22:46] second year from all of the students
[22:49] that I know they showed improvements in
[22:51] their mathematics and science and
[22:52] problem solving skills should have shown
[22:54] a real benefit in that second year.
[22:59] And that's everything. Is there any
[23:01] questions? Any
[23:09] » Thank you very much for your terrific
[23:11] presentation and you're definitely right
[23:12] about that funding piece.
[23:14] >> Yeah. Um, [laughter] you you referred to
[23:16] » Yeah. Um, [laughter] you you referred to
[23:16] connection a few times and I wanted to
[23:18] ask how well you feel connected to the
[23:21] DESIT, the district student advisory
[23:23] council and events happening at the
[23:25] district level if if indeed that is an
[23:27] interest.
[23:28] >> Um, well personally I've been interested
[23:31] » Um, well personally I've been interested
[23:31] in participating in DESAC, though I
[23:33] haven't um pursued as much to get into
[23:36] it. I do know that they do things for
[23:39] the school, but as far as I know, I'm
[23:41] not aware of exactly what they're doing.
[23:43] Sorry.
[23:45] >> Thank you. I I know that I've I've uh
[23:47] » Thank you. I I know that I've I've uh
[23:47] talked to students from the Kansas City
[23:49] Department being down for the district.
[23:51] I mean, it's it's just a
[23:53] >> geographical factor. That's to make it a
[23:56] » geographical factor. That's to make it a
[23:56] little bit more difficult.
[23:57] >> Thank you.
[24:00] » Thank you.
[24:00] >> Oh, [laughter]
[24:01] » Oh, [laughter]
[24:01] thank you.
[24:02] >> I hope that you go into something that
[24:04] » I hope that you go into something that
[24:04] is public speaking because you're very
[24:06] good, Jude. And um did you tour us last
[24:10] year? I did.
[24:11] >> Yeah, I thought so. I thought you looked
[24:13] » Yeah, I thought so. I thought you looked
[24:13] very familiar. So, thanks for sharing
[24:15] the information and I hope that that
[24:18] information is being shared with the so
[24:20] that it does get into the newsletters a
[24:23] little bit because there's a lot of
[24:24] great things going on here. And uh what
[24:27] is your plan when you're finished
[24:28] school?
[24:29] >> Uh when I'm finished school, I'm hoping
[24:31] » Uh when I'm finished school, I'm hoping
[24:31] to take a gap year, work on saving for
[24:34] uh university. I plan to go to the
[24:36] University of Victoria for computer and
[24:38] electrical engineering just because
[24:39] that's what I have an interest in. Hey.
[24:41] Um, there's still many opportunities
[24:42] left. Matt's still growing up, so plants
[24:44] can change.
[24:46] >> I don't know. We'll just we'll see where
[24:47] » I don't know. We'll just we'll see where
[24:47] I go from here.
[24:48] >> Well, wish you all the best.
[24:50] » Well, wish you all the best.
[24:50] >> Thank you.
[24:51] » Thank you.
[24:51] >> So, she like sucked my comments out of
[24:53] » So, she like sucked my comments out of
[24:53] [laughter] it.
[24:55] >> But on top of that, are you part of the
[24:57] » But on top of that, are you part of the
[24:57] McKenzie youth table?
[24:59] >> Do you do you speak at that? You should.
[25:02] » Do you do you speak at that? You should.
[25:02] [laughter]
[25:03] I really think you should. I know your
[25:04] mom's here. So, I was just
[25:07] >> I think uh I think you should. um you're
[25:09] » I think uh I think you should. um you're
[25:09] you're an excellent presenter. Thank you
[25:11] for taking the time to do this today. Um
[25:13] and also um I'm super proud of McKenzie
[25:16] being McKenzie trustee the programs that
[25:18] we're able to offer in such a rural
[25:20] community is amazing and it's beautiful
[25:23] to see and it's beautiful to see it
[25:25] being delivered by a student who has so
[25:26] much passion because it's working and
[25:28] you can see it and um I've watched you
[25:30] grow up and and like you're I'm so proud
[25:34] of you. Like I'm I get emotional. this
[25:37] is my community and and I've watched you
[25:39] kids grow up for 40 years. It's like
[25:41] it's awesome. But it's it's proof that
[25:44] even though we're rural and we have such
[25:46] a small budget, we can still do amazing
[25:48] things with the people that are in the
[25:49] room supporting the kids. So, thank you
[25:52] question.
[25:53] >> I just want to add one last comment and
[25:55] » I just want to add one last comment and
[25:55] very similar to the other trustees, but
[25:57] I look forward to the day when you're
[25:58] taking over a similar [laughter]
[26:02] finish meeting if you'd like.
[26:04] >> Thank you very much for taking the time.
[26:06] » Thank you very much for taking the time.
[26:06] APPRECIATE YOUR
[26:12] » So at this time sometimes presenters of
[26:16] may scurry and move on to the next part
[26:19] of their day. No offense taken if you do
[26:22] and [clears throat] trustees will we'll
[26:23] move on for the rest of with rest of our
[26:25] agenda. So, moving on to item number
[26:28] five, approval of the consent agenda
[26:31] with the minutes of February 10th,
[26:33] February 17th, and February open board
[26:37] meetings and the report on the February
[26:40] 10th, and March 3rd closed meetings. So,
[26:43] the recommended motion is that the
[26:45] consent agenda be approved as presented.
[26:47] We have a mover and a second here.
[26:49] Trusty Weber, Trusty Holland. Thank you
[26:51] very much. Any questions? All those in
[26:54] favor?
[26:56] And that's unanimous. Thank you.
[26:59] [snorts]
[27:00] All right. Moving on to item number six,
[27:02] the business portion. Item 6.1, 2026 27,
[27:07] capital bylaw. We are first going to
[27:09] pass this over to our secretary
[27:11] treasurer.
[27:14] You want Okay, I can read. Yes. Okay.
[27:16] So, the recommended motion capital plan
[27:20] bylaw 2026 27. I'm going to read it out
[27:24] because CPS D57-1
[27:28] be given the first reading.
[27:35] Oh yes, gotcha. Sorry, I skipped that
[27:36] part. That in accordance with section 68
[27:41] of the school act, all three readings of
[27:43] the capital plan bylaw 2627 CPSD57-1
[27:49] will be given at tonight's reading. Do
[27:52] we have a mover? Trusty Holland. Thank
[27:54] you. And a second.
[27:57] Trusty McCury. Thank you very much.
[28:01] Okay. Now pass over to I can sorry. All
[28:06] those in favor.
[28:09] And that is unanimous. Thank you.
[28:14] » First and second.
[28:17] >> Okay. Okay.
[28:19] » Okay. Okay.
[28:19] and the recommended motion that the
[28:21] capital plan bylaw 2627 be given the
[28:25] first reading. Do we have a mover and a
[28:27] second? Okay, Trusty Holland, Trusty
[28:30] Weber, thank you very much. And all
[28:33] those in favor?
[28:36] That's unanimous. Thank you. Moving on
[28:38] to the second reading. That the
[28:40] recommended motion the capital plan
[28:42] bylaw 2627
[28:45] be given a second reading.
[28:51] Sorry. Moved and seconded. Trusty
[28:53] Holland, Trusty Weber.
[28:55] All those in favor?
[28:59] >> And that's unanimous. Now I will pass it
[29:02] » And that's unanimous. Now I will pass it
[29:02] over to our secretary treasurer.
[29:05] So the Ministry of Education and Child
[29:07] Care um provides funding to districts
[29:10] for minor capital projects and each year
[29:12] school districts uh submit projects to
[29:15] the ministry for approval. That process
[29:17] and the submission was done in June of
[29:19] last year. And so we were recently
[29:22] notified of the projects that we have
[29:24] been approved for. They are listed in
[29:25] your agenda. There are three different
[29:27] programs. The school enhancement program
[29:29] which covers a heating, ventilation, and
[29:31] air conditioning upgrades. And you can
[29:33] see the agenda there's three projects
[29:35] that have been approved. Uh College
[29:37] Height Secondary for 450,000. Buckorn
[29:39] Elementary um 550,000, DP Todd Secondary
[29:43] 400,000. And there is also a program for
[29:46] carbon neutral capital programs. So a
[29:49] project at Prince George secondary to
[29:52] upgrade the highback system has been
[29:53] approved for 675,000
[29:56] and food infrastructure program projects
[29:59] have been approved for smaller amounts
[30:01] that you can see in your agenda to
[30:02] support kitchen equipment and
[30:04] infrastructure upgrades. So the ministry
[30:06] does require a bylaw approved by the
[30:09] board in order for the district to
[30:11] receive those funds. And so the third
[30:13] reading will be in order as well.
[30:17] » Thank you very much trustees. Any
[30:20] questions, comments? Trusty members.
[30:22] >> Um so thank you uh chair. Um I will
[30:25] » Um so thank you uh chair. Um I will
[30:25] actually I'll be supporting this bylaw.
[30:27] Um as these are important upgrades for
[30:29] schools in our district. Um however, I
[30:32] do want to raise a concern for the
[30:33] record. Uh there are no projects
[30:36] identified for McKenzie schools in this
[30:38] capital plan approval. I would like
[30:41] clarification on whether any McKenzie
[30:43] projects were included in the original
[30:45] 5-year capital plan submission and if so
[30:48] why they were not approved. I am also
[30:50] interested in understanding how the
[30:52] connection and condition and needs of
[30:54] Mackenzie schools compared to those that
[30:56] did not that did receive funding
[30:58] particularly in the areas of the HVAC
[31:00] and infrastructure. I think it's
[31:02] important that we ensure equitable
[31:03] consideration in our rural communities
[31:06] and that McKenzie is not overlooked in
[31:08] future submissions. I think advocacy
[31:09] with the ministry is super important for
[31:11] our rural schools like McKenzie. So if
[31:14] those could be answered appreciate it.
[31:21] » Well
[31:24] yeah is not here.
[31:28] >> Um
[31:30] » Um
[31:30] so this is in reference to sorry just
[31:33] clarifying.
[31:34] >> Yeah. So first question. Yeah. So, just
[31:36] » Yeah. So first question. Yeah. So, just
[31:36] the the the the bylaw capital that we're
[31:39] doing, everything's been approved, but
[31:41] I'm asking if um McKenzie projects were
[31:43] included in the original five-year
[31:45] capital plans.
[31:46] >> Our facilities director does do
[31:48] » Our facilities director does do
[31:48] presentations each year regarding our
[31:50] capital plans, but do we um that would
[31:53] be going back to last year's
[31:55] submissions, which do we recall?
[31:58] >> That's what I'm asking. Yeah, I don't
[31:59] » That's what I'm asking. Yeah, I don't
[31:59] know.
[32:00] >> So, would Brett would Brett be able to
[32:02] » So, would Brett would Brett be able to
[32:02] bring that back to another meeting? The
[32:04] reason why I'm asking is like we don't
[32:06] have a single project for McKenzie
[32:08] listed and we have other rural schools
[32:11] that have been approved but Mackenzie
[32:12] seems to fall off and so we I do know
[32:15] that there are infrastructure needs in
[32:17] Mackenzie that need to be done and that
[32:19] are not on that list and so if it was on
[32:22] that fiveyear capital plan submission if
[32:24] McKenzie was listed I would like to know
[32:27] why they were not approved. So maybe J
[32:29] can answer that. Okay. And I see you're
[32:31] recognizing our superintendent online.
[32:35] >> Yeah, I don't um have the details for
[32:37] » Yeah, I don't um have the details for
[32:37] the specific question that you've asked
[32:39] um Trusty Weber, but I do know that our
[32:43] submissions are based on need. They're
[32:45] not based on trying to blanket the
[32:47] district with um you know, kind of
[32:49] equitable community representation. If
[32:51] there were needs at Morphe or Mackenzie
[32:53] Secondary that were higher priorities
[32:55] than the ones that were put forward or
[32:57] accepted, they would be there. Um, we
[33:00] trust the expertise of our obviously our
[33:02] maintenance and facilities staff to know
[33:04] what needs to be done when and um I
[33:06] can't answer whether Morphe or McKenzie
[33:09] were part of the submission but I can
[33:11] say that if they needed to be part of
[33:12] the submission they would have been
[33:19] » and thank you and just wanted to follow
[33:22] up and make a comment that at this
[33:23] year's AGM
[33:26] our BC school trustees association the
[33:28] conversation
[33:28] >> [clears throat]
[33:29] » [clears throat]
[33:29] >> did come forward regarding
[33:31] » did come forward regarding
[33:31] a motion did come forward and was
[33:33] carried regarding um [clears throat]
[33:36] updates to understanding what facility
[33:39] how we rate facilities in the future. So
[33:42] just wanted to follow just wanted to
[33:44] comment that the conversation
[33:46] [clears throat] those seeds are planted
[33:48] in different ways and yes want extending
[33:52] on what our superintendent had said
[33:53] recognizing that we have 33 elementary
[33:57] schools and
[33:59] Okay, thank you.
[34:02] Any other questions, comments?
[34:06] [snorts]
[34:07] Okay.
[34:12] Yes. Okay. So, passing this, moving on,
[34:17] we are going to go forward with a third
[34:19] reading. So, the recommended motion that
[34:21] the capital plan bylaw 2627 be given a
[34:25] third and final reading. Do we have a
[34:27] mover? Second, Trusty Mccur, Trusty
[34:30] Holland,
[34:32] and all those in favor.
[34:36] And that is unanimous. Thank you very
[34:38] much.
[34:42] All right. Thank you, [clears throat]
[34:42] trustees.
[34:44] Okay, moving on to item 6.2.
[34:48] We will pass this over to Trusty
[34:50] Holland.
[34:52] >> Take a sip of water.
[34:55] » Take a sip of water.
[34:55] >> You're on. I'm on. Okay, terrific. So,
[34:58] » You're on. I'm on. Okay, terrific. So,
[34:58] we've got a number of policies to
[35:00] approve tonight. Ideally approved
[35:02] tonight. So, uh the first one 6.2 is
[35:05] policy 2.50 partnerships, corporate
[35:08] sponsorships and donations of the ad hoc
[35:11] policy committee. No, this was reviewed
[35:14] uh by the policy advisory committee. Uh
[35:18] this was sent back to ad hoc policy to
[35:20] committee to review the feedback and
[35:23] this was um this is being recommended.
[35:28] Sorry I'm getting mixed up in this this
[35:30] uh um statement. So the ad hoc policy
[35:32] committee reviewed the the policy and
[35:35] the feedback from the policy advisory
[35:36] committee and re we recommended it be
[35:38] forwarded to the April open board
[35:40] meeting for consideration. So the motion
[35:43] then coming from committee is that the
[35:45] board of education approve the policy
[35:47] 250 partnerships corporate sponsorships
[35:50] and donations as presented.
[35:53] Um
[35:55] okay
[35:57] uh do we wish to have we don't need a
[35:59] secondary because it's coming from
[36:01] committee but I don't know if we wanted
[36:03] to [clears throat] record one.
[36:07] Um, do we have any questions, comments?
[36:12] >> [snorts]
[36:13] » [snorts]
[36:13] >> I'm just wondering just for the for
[36:16] » I'm just wondering just for the for
[36:16] clarity if you could please just
[36:18] differentiate so everyone knows the
[36:20] difference between ad hoc policy
[36:22] committee and policy
[36:25] >> policy advisory
[36:26] » policy advisory
[36:26] >> advisory yes I think it would be helpful
[36:28] » advisory yes I think it would be helpful
[36:28] just so people understand how things are
[36:30] going about
[36:31] >> okay so what's been happening is that we
[36:33] » okay so what's been happening is that we
[36:33] have been working to modernize
[36:34] [clears throat]
[36:35] all the policies within the district
[36:37] which in many cases involves getting rid
[36:40] of some of the very old policies IES and
[36:43] making sure that the policies are all
[36:46] relate to governance matters which is
[36:48] the jurisdiction of the board and are
[36:51] distinct from uh the administrative
[36:53] procedures which is the district of
[36:55] administration
[36:57] uh operational matters because some of
[36:59] our policies were definitely getting
[37:00] into more of an operational lens. We
[37:02] don't want that to happen. So the ad hoc
[37:06] policy committee was created um a couple
[37:09] of years ago now and has been tasked
[37:12] with going through the uh the policies
[37:14] in partnerships with a consultant and
[37:17] Cooper who's been wonderful and these
[37:20] policies have been uh gone through that
[37:23] once they go to ad hoc policy once they
[37:26] come from ad hoc policy they go to the
[37:28] board then the polic sends them to the
[37:30] policy advisory committee which is an
[37:33] open meeting and We invite our partner
[37:35] group input on those policies. Um you
[37:38] can probably find recordings of the
[37:40] meetings online should you be so
[37:42] motivated to check for them. And at
[37:45] those meetings um some of the policies
[37:48] have gone through. People are saying yes
[37:50] these are fine. Some of them come back.
[37:52] So for example there was a couple of
[37:54] wording changes that our partners would
[37:56] like to would um wanted to see in the
[37:59] partnership corporate sponsorships and
[38:01] donations policy. That input was then
[38:04] taken back through the board to the ad
[38:06] hoc policy committee and then ad hoc
[38:09] policy is sending it back to the board
[38:11] to adopt because we believe that the
[38:14] modifications that have been made to
[38:15] this policy reflect the input that we
[38:18] heard from the policy advisory
[38:20] committee. Does that make sense?
[38:22] >> Yes.
[38:23] » Yes.
[38:23] >> Thank you. Thank you. [clears throat]
[38:25] » Thank you. Thank you. [clears throat]
[38:25] >> Okay.
[38:26] » Okay.
[38:26] >> Okay. And nothing seeing nothing
[38:29] » Okay. And nothing seeing nothing
[38:29] further. I don't know if do we want to
[38:31] put up on the screen what the the policy
[38:33] is. Um I'm sure that we all have it open
[38:36] on various places. It's it's a fairly
[38:39] simple policy that we may accept support
[38:41] from the community in the form of
[38:42] partnerships, corporate sponsorships,
[38:44] and donations to assist schools to
[38:46] support student success. We don't
[38:48] mention school gardens in here, but you
[38:51] know that's that's distinct. Um but we
[38:54] want them all to align with the district
[38:56] vision, mission, and values.
[39:00] Thank you very much. Okay, recognizing
[39:03] there's nothing further, I'm just going
[39:04] to read out the motion one more time
[39:06] that the board of education approved
[39:07] policy 2.50 partnerships, corporate
[39:10] sponsorships, and donations as
[39:12] presented. All those in favor
[39:16] and that's unanimous. Thank you.
[39:19] >> Okay. And the next part of 6.2 Two is
[39:22] » Okay. And the next part of 6.2 Two is
[39:22] that therefore that the board of ed
[39:24] education repeal policies 1323 donations
[39:28] and sponsorship and policy 1660 school
[39:32] partnerships effective immediately
[39:37] » and again that's a motion that's come
[39:39] forward from the committee
[39:42] further we can call question all those
[39:44] in favor
[39:47] thank you
[39:50] Okay, great. Moving on to 6.3 bylaw
[39:54] number four, school action section 11,
[39:56] appeals acting trusty.
[39:59] >> Thank you. And on this one, the policy
[40:02] » Thank you. And on this one, the policy
[40:02] committee received legal feedback on
[40:04] bylaw number four, which is the school
[40:06] act section 11 appeals and recommended
[40:09] it be forward to the April open board
[40:11] meeting for the first reading. Uh so the
[40:15] >> [clears throat]
[40:15] » [clears throat]
[40:15] >> uh the motion then from the committee
[40:16] » uh the motion then from the committee
[40:16] would be that bylaw 4 school act section
[40:19] 11 appeals be given first reading
[40:23] that is um coming forward from the
[40:25] committee. So we're not adopting this
[40:28] bylaw tonight. This is the first reading
[40:30] at a future board meeting. There will be
[40:32] the second and third meetings. Um I will
[40:36] I will note we we do have in the agenda
[40:38] package yes that exact screen. Perfect.
[40:41] Um so we must give we've been
[40:44] participating in the review and it's
[40:46] been reviewed by legal counsel. There
[40:48] was quite a bit of work that the policy
[40:50] did in conjunction with our uh
[40:52] consultant to make this um I would say a
[40:56] more un uh understandable and
[41:00] perhaps more plain English policy than
[41:03] the previous policy that was in place.
[41:05] people certainly have the opin option of
[41:07] taking a look at the uh new revised
[41:10] bylaw um and their feedback on it.
[41:16] >> Excellent. Thank you.
[41:20] » Yes, it's been seconded.
[41:24] >> Um thank you. Um I I really appreciate
[41:26] » Um thank you. Um I I really appreciate
[41:26] the work that's gone into this bylaw. I
[41:28] know what kind of work has poured into
[41:30] it. also the clarity it provides around
[41:32] the appeal process um particularly in
[41:35] the inclusion of supports like a
[41:37] navigator and recognition of the
[41:38] indigenous supports. I I really um I
[41:40] really appreciate how it was worded and
[41:41] how it was brought to legal for
[41:43] verification. I do have a few questions
[41:45] though from the accessibility and equity
[41:47] perspective. Um first I'm wondering
[41:49] about the requirement for families to
[41:50] compete or complete the dispute
[41:52] resolution process before accessing an
[41:54] appeal. um how do we ensure that this
[41:57] doesn't become a barrier for families uh
[41:59] who may already feel uncomfortable
[42:01] navigating the system? Um and then
[42:04] secondly around timelines um
[42:06] specifically the 30 calendar days to
[42:08] file an appeal. Um can we speak to how
[42:10] flexible that will be for families
[42:12] dealing with extremely complex
[42:13] situations because they may not always
[42:15] fall within that 30 calendar days and
[42:17] that does that exclude them from the
[42:19] appeal process. Um and finally from a
[42:22] rule perspective um including McKenzie
[42:24] I'd like to better understand how access
[42:27] will be supported particularly um
[42:30] whether virtual options will cons be
[42:32] consistent um and available for
[42:34] hearings. So um those before we go
[42:37] through to adopt this policy and I know
[42:39] you're doing a second and a third
[42:40] reading. It'll probably be brought back
[42:41] to to the table. Um if we could bring
[42:44] those questions forward I'd appreciate
[42:46] it.
[42:46] >> Okay. So would you would like those
[42:48] » Okay. So would you would like those
[42:48] addressed at a future board meeting
[42:50] because I believe that that would be the
[42:52] one that we'd have the discussion on.
[42:54] >> Sure.
[42:55] » Sure.
[42:55] >> Yeah. As long as they can be addressed.
[42:56] » Yeah. As long as they can be addressed.
[42:56] Yeah.
[42:57] >> Okay. As long as Thank you.
[43:01] » Okay. As long as Thank you.
[43:01] >> Okay.
[43:03] » Okay.
[43:03] Seeing nothing further, I just read this
[43:06] out. Recommended motion that the bylaw 4
[43:09] school act section 11 appeals be given a
[43:12] first reading. All those in favor
[43:15] and that's unanimous.
[43:17] Thank you. Thank you for the discussion.
[43:20] [snorts]
[43:21] Item 6.4,
[43:23] policy 3.20,
[43:25] student placement. Back to you, Trusty
[43:27] Holland.
[43:29] >> Thank you. And the motion uh being
[43:31] » Thank you. And the motion uh being
[43:32] brought um forward by the ad hoc policy
[43:34] committee is that the board of education
[43:36] refer policy 3.20 student placement to
[43:40] the policy advisory committee for
[43:42] review.
[43:45] and that's being brought forward by the
[43:47] committee. So that's that's the motion.
[43:50] Um and again, so what's happening at
[43:53] this point is that um ad hoc policy has
[43:56] worked on uh this this policy. We bring
[44:00] it to the board and the board directs us
[44:02] whether or not um the board directs
[44:05] whether or not it be sent to the policy
[44:06] advisory committee for that that public
[44:09] feedback.
[44:12] » Okay. Any questions, comments?
[44:17] And you just read it out, so I won't
[44:19] read it again. All those in favor?
[44:23] Unanimous. Thank you very much. Okay.
[44:26] 6.5 policy 3.30 student fees and
[44:29] financial hardship.
[44:30] >> Okay. Perfect. And this is
[44:36] the motion here that the board of
[44:38] education approve policy 3.30 30 student
[44:41] fees and financial hardship as
[44:43] presented. Uh the policy advisory
[44:46] committee had reviewed and discussed
[44:48] this policy. Uh the committee had
[44:50] suggested minor revisions to the policy
[44:52] and
[44:54] these uh minor revisions were were I
[44:57] believe um made [clears throat] and then
[44:59] uh we recommended that it be forwarded
[45:01] to this board meeting for the
[45:03] consideration of the board's approval.
[45:08] Uh there's one thing I will mention here
[45:12] because um I'm sure many of us has had
[45:14] very uh strong feelings uh regarding
[45:17] financial hardship and student fees. It
[45:20] is important that the board of education
[45:22] we provide students with educational
[45:24] resource materials free of charge that
[45:26] are necessary to uh participate.
[45:30] Um and that
[45:33] and that there are
[45:36] in the circumstances in c certain
[45:38] circumstances fees may be waved if there
[45:41] are fees for optional curricul
[45:43] co-curricular and extracurricular
[45:44] activities.
[45:46] Um, and to ensure that fees do not
[45:49] become a barrier to student
[45:50] participation, the superintendent will
[45:52] establish fair, sensitive, and
[45:54] confidential procedures that will allow
[45:56] participation by students who would
[45:58] otherwise be excluded due to financial
[46:00] hardship. It's important that parents
[46:03] know that that this avenue is available
[46:05] to pursue.
[46:08] >> Thank you very much.
[46:11] » Thank you very much.
[46:11] >> Comment. Yust.
[46:13] » Comment. Yust.
[46:13] Uh thank you for that uh Trusty Holland.
[46:16] Um I appreciate the clarity in this
[46:17] policy um particularly in the um
[46:20] commitment that core educational
[46:22] programs remain free of charge uh and
[46:25] the recognition of financial hardship.
[46:26] But I do have some questions around
[46:28] implementation of equity. Um first while
[46:30] fees are described as optional in
[46:33] practice some activities can feel very
[46:35] much essential to a student's
[46:36] experience. um how are we going to
[46:39] ensure students are not indirectly
[46:40] excluded if they're unable to pay?
[46:44] And second, I'm wondering if we can
[46:46] clarify how fee waivers are applied
[46:48] across schools to ensure consistency and
[46:50] transparency for families.
[46:53] And then from a rule perspective,
[46:54] thirdly, in McKenzie, costs such as
[46:56] travel can add up very, very quickly. Um
[46:59] so I'd like to better understand how
[47:00] those pressures are considered within
[47:02] this policy.
[47:06] What I will note is that a lot of that
[47:08] is going to uh that that detail would be
[47:11] coming through the administrative
[47:12] procedures. Okay.
[47:13] >> And I will defer that question to
[47:15] » And I will defer that question to
[47:15] administration.
[47:17] Those questions to administration
[47:19] believe is your representative is on the
[47:21] line.
[47:24] » Well, it's difficult for me to respond
[47:26] to your policies. These are your
[47:28] policies. These are the board's
[47:30] policies. Um, we have administrative
[47:32] procedures underneath the policies that
[47:33] you create that actually work through
[47:35] the details of some of the questions
[47:37] that have been put on the table. Um, but
[47:40] again, we work to make sure that
[47:43] equitable access for all programs and
[47:45] all opportunities exist at all of our
[47:47] schools. And so I don't think that a
[47:49] blanket statement could be made as to
[47:51] how these situations would be managed
[47:53] from one location to another.
[48:04] Yes. And I do want to acknowledge that
[48:07] uh while these policies are being
[48:09] rewritten, then that work will come
[48:12] alongside in the process.
[48:19] Okay. Seeing nothing further,
[48:23] just one more time. The recommended
[48:25] motion that the board of education
[48:27] approve policy 3.30 30 student fees and
[48:29] financial hardship as presented. All
[48:31] those in favor?
[48:41] » Question.
[48:42] >> Sorry, trustees. Can you
[48:43] » Sorry, trustees. Can you
[48:43] >> We just need some clarification around
[48:45] » We just need some clarification around
[48:45] administrative procedures. So once this
[48:47] policy is passed and the board approves
[48:49] it, then
[48:51] those procedures will be written and so
[48:53] what questions will be addressed?
[48:55] >> That's correct. The administrative
[48:57] » That's correct. The administrative
[48:57] procedures are written after the
[48:58] policyy's in place. Essentially, the
[49:01] administrative procedures are the
[49:02] details of making sure that the
[49:04] intention of the board's policy are
[49:06] carried out through um the operational
[49:08] side of the school district. But we
[49:10] cannot create the administrative
[49:12] procedures until the policy has been set
[49:13] by the board.
[49:15] >> Okay. Thank you, J. And I did not want
[49:17] » Okay. Thank you, J. And I did not want
[49:17] to make a blanket statement that because
[49:19] not all admin procedures [clears throat]
[49:21] are going to be written, but recognizing
[49:23] that within our tenure, our policies are
[49:25] going to be rewritten. So as as needed,
[49:29] those admin procedures will be adapted
[49:31] as as required.
[49:33] >> Okay. Sorry, calling to question. We
[49:36] » Okay. Sorry, calling to question. We
[49:36] need to move on. All those in favor?
[49:39] >> Okay. Thank you. That is unanimous.
[49:42] » Okay. Thank you. That is unanimous.
[49:42] Okay.
[49:44] And the next motion is that the board of
[49:46] education repeal policy 5101
[49:48] [clears throat]
[49:49] financial hardship effective
[49:51] immediately.
[49:53] That's the motion from the committee. Um
[49:55] I will just mention here just in case
[49:58] people are wondering why are we we are
[49:59] repealing we are repealing the old
[50:01] policies as we have adopted the new
[50:03] policies.
[50:04] Just occurred to me to mention.
[50:07] >> Thanks for clarifying. Okay. All those
[50:10] » Thanks for clarifying. Okay. All those
[50:10] in favor question and that's unanimous.
[50:13] Thank you.
[50:14] >> Okay. Moving on to 6.6 policy 3.40 fee
[50:18] » Okay. Moving on to 6.6 policy 3.40 fee
[50:18] paying students.
[50:20] >> Okay. And this is a motion brought
[50:24] » Okay. And this is a motion brought
[50:24] forward by the committee of the board of
[50:26] education group policy 3.40 fee paying
[50:29] students as presented.
[50:32] And what had happened here is that the
[50:34] policy advisory committee reviewed and
[50:36] discussed this policy. The committee
[50:38] suggested minor revisions to the policy
[50:40] and then recommended it be forwarded to
[50:43] this board meeting for the consideration
[50:45] of the board's appeal.
[50:48] And do we have policy? Yes, we do have
[50:50] up on the screen there. So
[50:54] yes, basically if you're from out of
[50:57] province or out of country
[50:58] [clears throat] and you are not
[51:00] ordinarily resident in British Columbia,
[51:03] there are fees that would be needed to
[51:05] be paid.
[51:08] Thank you, Trusty Holland. Seeing
[51:11] nothing, going to call that one to
[51:13] question.
[51:15] Board of Education approved policy 3.40
[51:18] fee paying students as presented. All
[51:20] those in favor and that's unanimous.
[51:22] Thank you very much. We can move on to
[51:24] the next one
[51:25] >> and that is that the board of education
[51:27] » and that is that the board of education
[51:27] repeal policy 5118.1
[51:30] enrollment of international students
[51:32] affected immediately.
[51:34] and calling to question. All those in
[51:36] favor
[51:38] that is unanimous. Thank you very much.
[51:41] 6.7 policy 3.50
[51:45] physical restraint and seclusion of
[51:47] students.
[51:49] >> Okay. And the motion here is the board
[51:50] » Okay. And the motion here is the board
[51:50] of education approve policy 3.50
[51:53] physical restraint and seclusion of
[51:56] students as presented.
[52:00] And again the policy advisory committee
[52:02] uh reviewed and discussed this
[52:03] particular policy. The committee
[52:05] suggested minor revisions again
[52:07] recommended it be forwarded to this
[52:09] board meeting for the the board's
[52:10] approval.
[52:12] And
[52:14] again as we see on this screen there uh
[52:16] we the board has the responsibility to
[52:18] maintain safe orderly and caring school
[52:20] environments for all students and
[52:23] employees. uh respect for student
[52:25] rights, maintaining student dignity and
[52:27] the safety of all is paramount. So this
[52:30] uh behavioral intervention should
[52:32] emphasize prevention and positive
[52:33] behavior supports. Every effort should
[52:36] be made to employ interventions that
[52:38] preclude the need for physical restraint
[52:40] or seclusion
[52:42] except in exceptional circumstances.
[52:46] Carrying that language down.
[52:52] » Yes. Okay, I have another comment. And
[52:56] now since I'm learning things, I think
[52:57] the admin procedures, I think this will
[52:59] fall again into admin procedures, but
[53:00] there are just a few questions. Um, so I
[53:02] appreciate the emphasis um in this
[53:04] policy on prevention, positive behavior
[53:06] supports, and the clear recognition of
[53:08] student dignity and safety. I'd really
[53:10] like that. Um, it's important that
[53:12] restraint and seclusion are identified
[53:13] as measures of last resort. Um, so a
[53:16] couple of the questions that I have are
[53:18] around clarity and safeguards. So, can
[53:20] we expand on how terms like exceptional
[53:22] circumstances and immediate danger will
[53:25] be defined in practice to ensure
[53:27] consistency across schools because that
[53:29] can fall short and we know that that
[53:30] happens in many schools where they read
[53:32] something and think it's this way and we
[53:34] do it this way. So, I'd like to see
[53:35] consistency through schools when it
[53:37] comes to this policy. Um, secondly, I'd
[53:39] like to better understand what the
[53:40] expectations are for documentation and
[53:43] parent notification when these measures
[53:45] are used. Um and then thirdly, um from a
[53:48] rule perspective, how are staff
[53:50] supported with training and preventative
[53:52] strategies so that restraint and
[53:54] seclusion truly remain a last resort? So
[53:56] if [snorts] we could have a a discussion
[53:58] after that once this policy is put
[54:00] through, I'd appreciate that.
[54:03] >> What I will state is again that those
[54:04] » What I will state is again that those
[54:04] are are very operational matters. Uh I
[54:07] don't know if the superintendent will
[54:09] appear on screen and address any of that
[54:11] at this point. Well, I I think they're
[54:14] all excellent questions. So, thank you
[54:15] for them. Number one, um I agree that um
[54:18] we have to have very um specific um
[54:21] information around um its usage. Um make
[54:25] sure that our staff are trained and make
[54:26] sure that our communication expectations
[54:28] are clearly outlined in our um
[54:31] administrative procedures. So, all of
[54:32] those things will be put into place. We
[54:35] are working right now to make sure that
[54:36] all of our staff across all of our
[54:38] schools have the appropriate training
[54:40] and that certainly is a goal that we
[54:41] will have um you know for the remainder
[54:43] of this year and moving into next year.
[54:45] Um and you know I guess I would also
[54:47] highlight that these are exceptional
[54:50] circumstances in which these are used um
[54:53] and we will provide some definition as
[54:55] to what those exceptional circumstances
[54:57] may be.
[54:58] >> Thank you.
[55:00] » Thank you.
[55:00] >> Okay. Thank you. And just going back to
[55:03] » Okay. Thank you. And just going back to
[55:03] the motion that the board of education
[55:06] approve policy 3.50 physical restraint
[55:09] and seclusion of students as presented.
[55:12] Calling to question. All those in favor
[55:14] and that's unanimous. Thank you.
[55:17] Okay. And the next motion then is that
[55:19] the board of education repeal policy
[55:21] 5144 physical restraint and seclusion in
[55:24] school settings effective immediately.
[55:27] >> I'm calling to question. All those in
[55:29] » I'm calling to question. All those in
[55:29] favor. That is unanimous. Thank you.
[55:33] >> Okay.
[55:36] » Okay.
[55:36] So, the next one is 6.8 policy 3.82
[55:39] anaphylaxis response. And the motion
[55:43] here is that the board of education
[55:44] refer policy 3.82 anaphilaxis response
[55:48] to the ad hoc policy committee for
[55:50] review.
[55:52] And that's a motion coming forward from
[55:58] from policy advisory committee.
[56:01] Um and again this this came to policy
[56:04] advisory committee. It was reviewed and
[56:06] discussed. There was items that was were
[56:09] believed to require clarification within
[56:11] the policy related to the ministerial
[56:14] order and the committee recommended it
[56:17] be forwarded to this meeting in order to
[56:19] be forwarded to the ad hoc policy
[56:21] committee.
[56:23] I will further note that um again at the
[56:26] most recent BCSDA uh BC school trustees
[56:29] association um conference and attached
[56:32] to the AGM there was um one of the legal
[56:35] sessions uh was referring to various
[56:39] policies that are mandated from the
[56:43] ministry which technically are a little
[56:47] bit more administrative than they are
[56:49] policy related. And there was a
[56:51] discussion at that point as to whether
[56:53] or not some of these could be redirected
[56:55] as administrative procedures only versus
[56:59] requiring to be board policies. So I
[57:02] don't know if that's something that we
[57:03] can follow up with a consultant there
[57:05] with a consultant with as well or if
[57:07] there's
[57:09] school treasur secretary treasurer
[57:10] networks regarding that because yes
[57:15] >> and thank you very much trustee Holland.
[57:17] » and thank you very much trustee Holland.
[57:18] um any opportunity where we have those
[57:20] um to kind of bring folks like in our
[57:22] community along in uh what governance
[57:26] looks like or what the role of a trustee
[57:27] looks like versus um you know that
[57:30] operations piece is very is very helpful
[57:32] for all of us. Thank you.
[57:35] Okay, seeing nothing.
[57:37] Okay. Um so the recommended motion the
[57:40] board of education refer policy 3.82 A2
[57:43] aniflexus response to the ad hoc policy
[57:46] committee for review. All those in favor
[57:49] and that is unanimous. Thank you very
[57:51] much. Thank you Trusty Holland. That is
[57:53] a lot of um heavy work that has
[57:56] happened. Thank you.
[57:58] >> And yeah,
[57:59] » And yeah,
[57:59] >> we are very hopeful we get these
[58:01] » we are very hopeful we get these
[58:01] policies done by the end of our term.
[58:03] >> Try to make it happen.
[58:05] » Try to make it happen.
[58:05] Okay. Item 6.9 draft 2026 27 annual
[58:10] budget. Very exciting. over to our
[58:12] secretary and [laughter] treasure
[58:14] policy. This budget
[58:18] there's presentation attached to the um
[58:22] agenda. It's up on the screen and I'll
[58:24] review it. Um the 2627 budget is still
[58:27] in the development stage. This is the
[58:29] first draft of the budget and it's here
[58:31] available for review, available for
[58:33] feedback and um questions by trustees.
[58:38] Next slide.
[58:39] The district's budget is made up of
[58:41] three funds: operating, special purpose,
[58:43] and capital funds. The $24 million
[58:46] special purpose fund budget represents
[58:48] about 11% of the district budget. These
[58:51] funds are received for a specific
[58:52] purpose and spending is restricted to
[58:55] the intent of the funds. So things like
[58:58] um the new facilities grant, the
[59:00] classroom enhancement fund, those are
[59:02] grants that are reported under special
[59:04] purpose funds. The $11 million capital
[59:07] fund is about 5% of the district budget
[59:09] and includes the funding and costs for
[59:12] building improvements and purchases of
[59:14] equipment and vehicles.
[59:16] The $182 million operating fund makes up
[59:20] 84% of the district budget. It includes
[59:22] instructional programs, school and
[59:24] district administration, facilities
[59:26] operations and maintenance, and student
[59:28] transportation. The district has some
[59:31] flexibility in how it allocates
[59:33] operating funds within certain
[59:34] parameters. So that is where our focus
[59:37] will be tonight for meeting.
[59:40] The next slide shows the main driver of
[59:43] both operating revenue and costs which
[59:46] is student enrollment. Student
[59:48] enrollment has been gradually declining
[59:50] since the two 202425 school year and is
[59:53] projected to continue this trend. We
[59:56] have fewer students coming in at
[59:59] kindergarten than we have leaving at
[1:00:01] grade 12. And so it really is just a a
[1:00:04] function of students enrolling in the
[1:00:06] district. As fewer students come in and
[1:00:08] more students leave, we'll continue to
[1:00:10] see a decline in enrollment. The annual
[1:00:12] budget for next year is based on a
[1:00:14] projected enrollment decline of
[1:00:16] approximately 150 students.
[1:00:22] Operating revenues are projected at 181
[1:00:24] million.
[1:00:26] 178 million of that is the Ministry of
[1:00:28] Education and Child Care Operating
[1:00:29] Grant. It makes up 98% of our operating
[1:00:32] revenue. So, we are certainly dependent
[1:00:33] on the Ministry for funding. The
[1:00:36] operating grant amount is driven mainly
[1:00:38] by student enrollment numbers and by the
[1:00:40] number of students in our district with
[1:00:41] unique needs. There are other factors
[1:00:44] that impact the operating grant amount
[1:00:46] such as our district's average teacher
[1:00:48] salary compared to the provincial
[1:00:50] average and unique geographic factors
[1:00:52] such as weather, size of schools and
[1:00:54] communities, and how g geographically
[1:00:57] spread out the district is.
[1:00:59] There's approximately a $1 million
[1:01:01] increase in the estimated operating
[1:01:03] grant for next year. This is the result
[1:01:05] of an increase in funding for unique
[1:01:07] student needs. Even though our
[1:01:09] enrollment based funding is less due to
[1:01:12] lower student enrollment, the ministry's
[1:01:14] per student funding rate for next year
[1:01:16] is the same as this year, which means
[1:01:19] that there's no funding for the impacts
[1:01:21] or no additional funding uh for the
[1:01:23] impacts of inflation or any increased
[1:01:26] costs on district services and supplies
[1:01:28] costs. There will be additional funding
[1:01:31] for the recent increases in um
[1:01:34] collective agreements and exempt staff.
[1:01:36] That will come at a later date. It's not
[1:01:38] yet incorporated in this budget.
[1:01:43] So salaries and benefit costs make up
[1:01:45] 88% of the district's operating costs or
[1:01:47] approximately 160 million for next year.
[1:01:50] The preliminary budget presents wages
[1:01:52] and benefit costs at current year rates.
[1:01:55] As I stated, they are not the increases
[1:01:58] um that we will receive funding for have
[1:02:00] not yet been incorporated.
[1:02:03] Operating services and supplies costs
[1:02:05] are projected to be about 21.6 million
[1:02:08] or 12% of the operating budget.
[1:02:16] The 160 million of salary costs in the
[1:02:19] operating fund are broken down by
[1:02:21] employee group. So teachers make up 51%
[1:02:24] of the operating salaries and benefits.
[1:02:27] Educational assistants, youthare
[1:02:28] workers, and indigenous education
[1:02:30] workers make up 19%.
[1:02:32] Principles and vice principles are 8%
[1:02:35] and support staff positions such as
[1:02:37] custodial, clerical, and maintenance
[1:02:39] employees make up 11%. Other profession
[1:02:42] professional staff make up 7% of the
[1:02:45] budget and relief staff or substitute
[1:02:47] staff make up 4% of operating salaries.
[1:02:52] Wage costs for next year are similar to
[1:02:54] this year. There is a budgeted increase
[1:02:56] in um educational assistant positions
[1:02:58] due to the increase in inclusive
[1:03:00] education funding that we anticipate and
[1:03:02] an increase in cost for substitute staff
[1:03:05] based on costs experienced this year.
[1:03:07] There's a slight increase in benefit
[1:03:09] costs reflecting rising costs of
[1:03:11] employee benefit plans. In addition to
[1:03:14] the operating fund costs of 160 million,
[1:03:17] there's another approximately 15.4 4
[1:03:20] million of wages and benefit costs in
[1:03:21] the special purpose funds, including
[1:03:24] 11.5 million in teacher costs and
[1:03:26] classroom enhancement funds. So in
[1:03:29] addition to the 65 almost 66 million
[1:03:32] there for teachers, there is another 11
[1:03:34] million in teacher salaries in your
[1:03:36] special purpose.
[1:03:40] The operating fund services and supplies
[1:03:42] costs are budgeted at 21.6 million. The
[1:03:44] $5 million service costs include
[1:03:46] services like snow clearing, software
[1:03:48] license fees, telephone and photocopier
[1:03:51] usage charges and make up 25% of the
[1:03:54] supplies and services budget. Student
[1:03:56] transportation costs of $5 million is
[1:03:58] mainly the contract for school
[1:04:00] transportation and that makes up 23% of
[1:04:03] the supplies and services budget.
[1:04:06] Rentals and leases at $1 million make up
[1:04:08] 8% of services and supplies costs and is
[1:04:11] made up mainly of computer and vehicle
[1:04:13] leases.
[1:04:14] Supplies of 4.7 million make up 22% of
[1:04:17] the budget and include things like
[1:04:19] classroom supplies, learning resources,
[1:04:21] library books, as well as the materials
[1:04:23] to maintain and repair buildings.
[1:04:26] Utilities, which includes the cost of
[1:04:28] heat and light in buildings, are
[1:04:29] projected at 3.3 million and make up 16%
[1:04:33] of the budget.
[1:04:35] The remaining 15% of supplies and
[1:04:37] services costs are made up of staff,
[1:04:38] professional development, travel,
[1:04:40] rentals and leases, insurance, and dues
[1:04:43] and fees.
[1:04:49] This is another way to look at how the
[1:04:51] operating dollars are spent. It's
[1:04:54] reported by function or category of
[1:04:56] expense. Instruction includes all
[1:04:58] programs related to student instruction.
[1:05:01] So the cost of all the staff services
[1:05:03] and supplies required to deliver
[1:05:04] classroom instruction, library services,
[1:05:07] student counseling, special education
[1:05:09] programs, indigenous education programs,
[1:05:12] and school-based administration costs.
[1:05:14] These costs make up 81% or 146 million
[1:05:17] of the budget. District administration
[1:05:21] includes the costs of all programs
[1:05:23] related to the board of education,
[1:05:25] district level education, leadership and
[1:05:27] administration, as well as business
[1:05:29] services, including human resources and
[1:05:31] labor relations activities. District
[1:05:33] administration costs make up 4% of the
[1:05:36] operating budget or $7.9 million.
[1:05:39] Operations and maintenance includes the
[1:05:41] cost of operating and maintaining sites,
[1:05:44] buildings, furniture, and equipment and
[1:05:46] vehicles. Examples of costs include
[1:05:48] custodial services, maintenance of
[1:05:50] buildings and grounds, and utilities
[1:05:52] costs. Operations and maintenance costs
[1:05:54] make up 12% of the operating budget or
[1:05:58] 22 million altogether. Transportation
[1:06:01] and housing costs includes all costs
[1:06:03] related to the transportation and
[1:06:04] housing of students. It's 3% of our
[1:06:06] operating costs or 5.1 billion.
[1:06:15] The preliminary budget presents
[1:06:16] operating expenses and capital asset
[1:06:18] purchases in excess of operating
[1:06:20] revenues by 529,000. So you can see the
[1:06:24] revenue of 181,295,000
[1:06:27] versus projected expenses of
[1:06:30] 181,825,000.
[1:06:32] [snorts] We'll review the items
[1:06:34] supported by the use of surplus or the
[1:06:35] 529,000 in an upcoming slide.
[1:06:42] So the changes for
[1:06:45] uh changes for next year or changes you
[1:06:48] could say that are uh different from
[1:06:51] this year are listed on the slide.
[1:06:55] [snorts]
[1:06:56] As referenced earlier with no increase
[1:06:58] to the per student rate the basic
[1:07:00] funding structure hasn't changed. We've
[1:07:02] increased funding for numeracy,
[1:07:04] literacy, and teacher mentorship,
[1:07:06] incorporated ongoing technology costs, a
[1:07:09] small amount for DESAC for increased uh
[1:07:12] leadership, student leadership
[1:07:13] opportunities, district office staffing
[1:07:15] efficiencies, and we've adjusted for
[1:07:17] inflation or increases where they are
[1:07:19] known or anticipated. So, no major
[1:07:22] changes from this year um forward to
[1:07:25] next year. [clears throat]
[1:07:29] So, the items we are recommending to
[1:07:31] fund from surplus. And when you look at
[1:07:33] surplus um amounts, you look to see that
[1:07:37] they're usually one-time events or they
[1:07:40] are for programs that we are not sure
[1:07:42] will continue. So, we fund them, try
[1:07:45] them, and if they are successful and
[1:07:47] need to continue, then we will look in a
[1:07:49] future budget year to build those into
[1:07:51] the budget.
[1:07:54] So the amount of surplus that was
[1:07:55] highlighted on a previous slide was
[1:07:57] $799,000.
[1:07:59] 529,000
[1:08:00] of those of those $799,000
[1:08:04] are listed on the slide here. They're
[1:08:06] either onetime cost such as the
[1:08:08] enterprise resource uh program
[1:08:10] transition. So we're moving from our
[1:08:12] current financial system of SDS to Spark
[1:08:14] Rock.
[1:08:16] So that is a onetime cost that we will
[1:08:18] charge to surplus. It won't be incurred
[1:08:19] after next year. where we look at new
[1:08:22] costs that may not be ongoing depending
[1:08:24] on implementation and use. The remaining
[1:08:27] $270,000 budgeted uh for capital use is
[1:08:30] for uh school projectors. The district
[1:08:33] is uh embarking on a project where all
[1:08:36] schools will school projectors will be
[1:08:38] replaced and that is uh will be um a
[1:08:41] fairly expensive project and it will
[1:08:43] take a few years to do but we are
[1:08:45] setting aside funding for that project.
[1:08:47] Uh the 270,000 also includes custodial
[1:08:50] equipment and other furniture and
[1:08:52] equipment.
[1:08:58] The board also has projects to be funded
[1:09:02] by local capital dollars and they are
[1:09:04] listed on the screen as well. Each year
[1:09:06] the board reserves dollars for capital
[1:09:08] purchases as they can be difficult to
[1:09:11] fund in one year.
[1:09:12] uh setting aside fund funds each year
[1:09:15] allows for stable funding projections
[1:09:17] and minimizes financial challenges. So
[1:09:20] for example, if if [clears throat]
[1:09:22] suddenly we had not saved um let's say
[1:09:24] for the Wi-Fi equipment replacement and
[1:09:26] we had to find $2 million because those
[1:09:29] funds had not been set aside, that would
[1:09:31] make a uh challenge to the budget in a
[1:09:34] in a one-year um term. So the board is
[1:09:38] setting aside funds so that we can uh
[1:09:40] fund these projects in the future.
[1:09:46] The next steps in the budget timeline
[1:09:48] are also on the screen. We have a survey
[1:09:51] that is available on the district
[1:09:52] website that people can um respond to
[1:09:55] the budget, provide input. They can also
[1:09:58] submit to the school district in via
[1:10:01] email or uh mail, regular mail. Um and
[1:10:06] that period ends on April 22nd. We met
[1:10:09] with um the district student advisory
[1:10:12] council yesterday. And I have to say I
[1:10:15] have been a secretary treasurer for over
[1:10:17] 20 years. And that is the first time
[1:10:19] that I've ever had a chance to sit down
[1:10:21] with a or get feedback from a fairly
[1:10:24] large group of intelligent articulate
[1:10:26] stu articulate students and I think that
[1:10:29] is something that we will have [snorts]
[1:10:30] to incorporate annually um to really
[1:10:33] spend time with them. they've given us
[1:10:36] uh a number of sheets of input and so it
[1:10:39] will be interesting to consider that
[1:10:41] feedback for the board to to review and
[1:10:42] consider how they will be able to
[1:10:44] incorporate it in the budget. Uh we meet
[1:10:46] with the indigenous education council
[1:10:48] tomorrow to get um feedback on the
[1:10:50] preliminary budget and their budget
[1:10:52] priorities. April 28th is a public
[1:10:55] committee the whole meeting where you
[1:10:56] will receive a summary of the public
[1:10:58] input that has been received through the
[1:11:00] variety of um sources that have been
[1:11:02] identified. And then May 12th uh the
[1:11:06] next version of the budget will be
[1:11:08] presented for your approval um and it
[1:11:12] must be submitted to the ministry by
[1:11:15] June 30th.
[1:11:21] » Wonderful. Okay. Thank you very much.
[1:11:23] Thank um
[1:11:25] before we move into discussion and
[1:11:27] comments, I really want to take the
[1:11:29] opportunity to commend staff for the
[1:11:32] work that goes into this. um when I when
[1:11:34] I see this presentation, I feel that
[1:11:36] that sense of responsibility that you
[1:11:39] have um into the future and into
[1:11:41] stability today while trying to um
[1:11:44] incorporate because um I know I have
[1:11:47] heard in some I've heard some of those
[1:11:49] feedback pieces from uh local partners
[1:11:52] and I can see elements of them in there.
[1:11:54] So wanting to commend opening it up to
[1:11:57] questions, comments from trustees. Yes,
[1:12:00] trusty Weber and Trusty Holland. Um I I
[1:12:02] second what Erica has said. Um
[1:12:04] definitely appreciate the work that's
[1:12:05] gone into developing the draft budget.
[1:12:07] Our house team is amazing. Um you've
[1:12:09] been able to um really just bring in an
[1:12:11] overall stability which is something
[1:12:13] that um I don't think the district has
[1:12:14] seen in a while. Um first um just a
[1:12:18] couple questions with the declining
[1:12:20] enrollment um and wondering how the
[1:12:22] district is planning to manage potential
[1:12:23] impacts on programs and staffing uh
[1:12:26] particularly in the smaller and rural
[1:12:28] communities like McKenzie.
[1:12:31] Um, do you want me to just ask my
[1:12:33] questions now and then we can answer
[1:12:34] them or maybe not at this time but just
[1:12:36] get them up or do you want to answer?
[1:12:38] >> Okay. All right. Uh, secondly um we're
[1:12:41] » Okay. All right. Uh, secondly um we're
[1:12:41] projecting a deficit this year even
[1:12:43] though we are filling that deficit which
[1:12:45] is surplus funds which is something we
[1:12:47] don't normally do uh with surplus um for
[1:12:50] budgets. Um but I understand the impact
[1:12:52] that it will make if we don't do that.
[1:12:54] So, I'd like to better understand the
[1:12:56] plan to address that in future years to
[1:12:58] ensure the long-term financial stability
[1:13:00] within the district. Um, I also noticed
[1:13:03] that there's a reduction in services and
[1:13:04] supplies. Um, I'm curious to where those
[1:13:07] changes are occurring. Um, whether they
[1:13:09] are whether there will be any impacts on
[1:13:11] classrooms and student supports. It's
[1:13:13] very important that we do not take money
[1:13:15] away from students and um I I think that
[1:13:17] needs to be in the forefront of
[1:13:19] everyone's mind while we pass this
[1:13:20] budget this year. Um, and then finally,
[1:13:22] how does this budget align with
[1:13:24] identified needs in communities like
[1:13:26] McKenzie, particularly given the lack of
[1:13:28] recent capital investment?
[1:13:30] So, those are my questions. Um, but
[1:13:33] again, thank you for the work that was
[1:13:34] done.
[1:13:35] >> Yeah, thank you for the questions. I'm
[1:13:37] » Yeah, thank you for the questions. I'm
[1:13:37] I'm going to try to remember them. Four.
[1:13:39] I think you threw four or five of them
[1:13:41] out there at once. So, I'll see
[1:13:43] them. But um you know essentially um you
[1:13:47] were going to hear myself and the staff
[1:13:49] preaching fiscal prudence often um
[1:13:52] through you know the remainder of these
[1:13:54] months. Um we have many potentially
[1:13:57] unanticipated um costs. We know the
[1:14:00] price of fuel of course has gone up
[1:14:01] which means that our facilities costs go
[1:14:03] up, our groundskeeping costs go up, our
[1:14:05] transportation costs go up, the price of
[1:14:07] shipping items is going up and we also
[1:14:10] know that technology costs seem to be
[1:14:12] rising as well. And so, um, we
[1:14:17] are probably in a better spot than many
[1:14:19] school districts. I spoke to a number of
[1:14:21] districts last week, um, who are facing
[1:14:23] significant, um, deficits in their
[1:14:25] budget and are going to have to look at
[1:14:27] reductions in programs, etc. We are not
[1:14:30] at that particular place. Um, you asked
[1:14:32] the question about our decreasing
[1:14:34] enrollment. Um, it doesn't
[1:14:37] impact us, I guess, as cleanly as I, you
[1:14:40] know, I can't even say as I would like
[1:14:41] it to, as one might expect. Losing a 100
[1:14:44] students across the district doesn't
[1:14:45] necessarily mean that we're going to
[1:14:47] actually have any less classrooms. It
[1:14:48] literally could be one student amongst a
[1:14:51] 100 classrooms across our school
[1:14:52] district. And so what we will be looking
[1:14:56] at is obviously if we have less students
[1:14:57] in the district um and a school for
[1:14:59] example has um less classrooms or less
[1:15:02] um sections then yes there will be less
[1:15:04] staff um you know if you have um 14
[1:15:07] classrooms rather than 16 classrooms
[1:15:09] that's two less teachers that's
[1:15:10] certainly a number of less EAS etc. But
[1:15:13] the other cost of maintaining the
[1:15:14] building, of cleaning the building, um
[1:15:16] of providing, you know, all of those
[1:15:18] other um services that doesn't decrease
[1:15:21] because the school still requires a
[1:15:23] certain amount of service. So, we're
[1:15:25] being cautious um as we move forward. Um
[1:15:28] we are really trying to make sure that
[1:15:30] we are um being realistic in our
[1:15:32] expectations, but at the same time, um
[1:15:34] we want to make sure that the
[1:15:36] initiatives that we've put into place um
[1:15:38] can be sustained. Some of the
[1:15:40] initiatives that Secretary Treasurer
[1:15:42] Minabariat um mentioned are actually
[1:15:44] helping us to find efficiencies which
[1:15:47] may mean that some positions um become
[1:15:50] eliminated and then those individuals
[1:15:52] will be moving on to other positions. Um
[1:15:54] and that's just part of you know looking
[1:15:56] at when you bring in technology to
[1:15:59] replace certain um personnel driven um
[1:16:02] tasks then sometimes you know you only
[1:16:04] need two people instead of three people
[1:16:06] or you only need one person instead of
[1:16:07] others. and we will be bringing back you
[1:16:10] know those assessments. I do want to be
[1:16:12] clear that there are no district
[1:16:14] initiated reductions that um have been
[1:16:18] the preliminary budget and we don't
[1:16:20] anticipate that there will be that need
[1:16:22] but schools obviously have the
[1:16:24] flexibility and need to look at what
[1:16:26] their own service needs are and they may
[1:16:28] make reductions based on their school
[1:16:30] lens which is necessarily different than
[1:16:33] the district lens. Um the district is
[1:16:35] not looking to dictate or make any
[1:16:37] significant reduction but there may be
[1:16:39] reductions at schools based on personnel
[1:16:42] needs or reduction of students and if
[1:16:45] there was a aspect that you put forward
[1:16:47] Trusty Weber that I didn't touch upon I
[1:16:49] apologize and you certainly are free to
[1:16:51] remind me of anything that I may have
[1:16:52] missed.
[1:16:54] >> Thank you uh superintendent. It was just
[1:16:55] » Thank you uh superintendent. It was just
[1:16:55] the uh reduction in services and
[1:16:57] supplies. Just curious to know where
[1:17:00] those changes are occurring and whether
[1:17:02] there are any impacts in classrooms.
[1:17:04] >> Yeah, that's a great question. I I
[1:17:06] » Yeah, that's a great question. I I
[1:17:06] actually don't necessarily know. Um I
[1:17:09] think our you know director of finance
[1:17:11] and our secretary treasure I will make
[1:17:13] sure that for May's meeting that we come
[1:17:15] back um with an answer to that but I can
[1:17:18] almost guarantee you that it is not
[1:17:20] coming at a loss of support for students
[1:17:23] at the classroom level.
[1:17:25] going to pass it over to Secretary
[1:17:28] Treasure.
[1:17:30] >> Part of the most of the reason for the
[1:17:32] » Part of the most of the reason for the
[1:17:32] difference is that we're in our budget
[1:17:35] documents, we're comparing the um annual
[1:17:37] budget
[1:17:39] for the fall versus the amended annual
[1:17:42] budget which is passed by the board in
[1:17:43] February. So, we're comparing sort of
[1:17:45] the first version of the budget and
[1:17:47] we're comparing it to the second version
[1:17:49] of the budget that's passed in February.
[1:17:51] And when it's passed in February, it
[1:17:52] includes um all of the surplus dollars
[1:17:54] that were available at the school level.
[1:17:56] And so they have at that by February, we
[1:17:59] know what those spend are going to be.
[1:18:01] At this time of year, we don't include
[1:18:03] the school surplus amount. So it's not
[1:18:04] actually a reduction. It's just that in
[1:18:07] when you compare the amended budget for
[1:18:09] 2020 or for this year compared to last
[1:18:12] year, you'll see that the numbers are
[1:18:13] quite small.
[1:18:14] >> Okay? So even though it's showing a
[1:18:15] » Okay? So even though it's showing a
[1:18:15] reduction in services, it supplies now
[1:18:17] on our final budget. That money will be
[1:18:20] put back as Okay. You'll see more of a
[1:18:22] comparison.
[1:18:23] >> Okay. Thank you for the clarification.
[1:18:28] » Sorry, just
[1:18:30] um I don't have a question or a comment.
[1:18:33] I'd just like to commend
[1:18:35] our staff for ensuring that we're being
[1:18:39] fiscally fiscally responsible as well as
[1:18:42] after coming back from BCSTA,
[1:18:45] noting again that we are in a much
[1:18:48] better situation than a lot of districts
[1:18:50] in the province. So, I commend the staff
[1:18:53] for keeping us on task with that. Um,
[1:18:57] and I'd also really like to encourage
[1:18:58] people to go and do the survey. This is
[1:19:01] when we want to hear from everybody on
[1:19:04] what your priorities are and what you
[1:19:06] want to see. And if you check out the
[1:19:09] website, there's also like a
[1:19:11] understanding budget presentation that
[1:19:14] is really useful and really helps like
[1:19:16] just make it easier to kind of figure
[1:19:19] out what you can ask and how to ask it.
[1:19:22] So, I encourage everyone to check the
[1:19:24] website and fill out the survey. It's a
[1:19:27] very short timeline to get your input in
[1:19:29] there. So thanks. Thank you.
[1:19:32] >> Uh thank you. And and yes, I also had
[1:19:35] » Uh thank you. And and yes, I also had
[1:19:35] some conversations at the provincial
[1:19:37] level with other districts facing some
[1:19:39] very painful choices and echo the praise
[1:19:42] for our staff's financial prudence. Um I
[1:19:46] had I think three questions here. Um and
[1:19:50] looking at the some of the slides there
[1:19:53] [clears throat] uh one that referred to
[1:19:55] the teacher mentorship. I believe that
[1:19:57] there are several districts um that are
[1:19:59] on a teacher mentorship pilot from the
[1:20:01] province. We're funding this particular
[1:20:04] teacher mentorship with with our
[1:20:05] surplus. Are we able to share any of the
[1:20:07] provincial pilot concepts or possibly
[1:20:10] their money or anything like that?
[1:20:12] >> [laughter]
[1:20:13] » [laughter]
[1:20:13] >> Well, the um provincial pilot is not one
[1:20:16] » Well, the um provincial pilot is not one
[1:20:16] um that we are necessarily looking to
[1:20:18] replicate. Um I've had some very
[1:20:21] preliminary conversations with um
[1:20:23] Katherine Trapany, the president of the
[1:20:24] PGDTA. Um and we have talked about
[1:20:27] collaboratively um you know putting
[1:20:29] together a group to look at um teacher
[1:20:32] mentorship. Um apparently we had
[1:20:34] something here in the past long before
[1:20:35] my time that people deemed to be um
[1:20:38] quite successful. And my question was,
[1:20:41] you know, the fact that people like
[1:20:43] something doesn't necessarily mean that
[1:20:44] it's effective. And so I would want to
[1:20:46] have some, you know, measures and some
[1:20:48] um, you know, instruments in place to
[1:20:50] make sure that, you know, the goal of
[1:20:51] teacher mentorship is actually being
[1:20:53] met. Um, but u, I think now that we are
[1:20:57] finished with provincial bargaining and
[1:20:58] we know that um, the ministry is not
[1:21:01] providing dollars for new teacher
[1:21:03] mentorship, it really is important that
[1:21:05] we invest in our own and you will see
[1:21:07] aspects of that throughout the budget.
[1:21:09] um we are not getting um you know
[1:21:12] leadership applications from out of
[1:21:14] district or across the province. Um it
[1:21:16] seems very important to me that when we
[1:21:18] have our new teachers start with us that
[1:21:20] we have to make sure that they're
[1:21:21] supported and we're putting investment
[1:21:23] in them because we know that many new
[1:21:25] teachers leave the profession in their
[1:21:26] first three to five years because they
[1:21:28] just feel overwhelmed or feel perhaps it
[1:21:30] wasn't the career choice for them. And
[1:21:32] so we want to make sure that we are
[1:21:34] providing every resource possible to
[1:21:36] support those teachers, to give them
[1:21:38] mentorship, to give them that sense of
[1:21:40] support um at all of our levels. And
[1:21:42] we'll be doing the same with upcoming
[1:21:44] principles and vice principles because
[1:21:46] again um in order to sustain a system
[1:21:49] that is effective, we are probably going
[1:21:51] to have to continue making investments
[1:21:53] in our own people.
[1:21:55] >> Thank you. And uh two additional
[1:21:57] » Thank you. And uh two additional
[1:21:57] questions. I'll do them one by one just
[1:21:59] to make it simpler. Um is there anything
[1:22:01] that you can share about the district
[1:22:02] office staffing efficiencies lines from
[1:22:05] this time?
[1:22:07] >> Um I I won't go into great detail but
[1:22:10] » Um I I won't go into great detail but
[1:22:10] you know we have um basically
[1:22:12] implemented some um new structures.
[1:22:15] Parents might be aware of the school
[1:22:16] messenger program which um can now
[1:22:20] [clears throat] around absenteeism or
[1:22:21] other issues centrally rather than
[1:22:23] having an individual do that. Um, as uh,
[1:22:27] Secretary Treasure Minerat spoke about,
[1:22:29] we have a new financial system coming
[1:22:30] into place. We have a school payment
[1:22:32] system that's in place. Um, and we
[1:22:35] continue to look at other efficiencies
[1:22:36] to make sure that um, you know, again,
[1:22:39] we are using available technologies. Um,
[1:22:42] you've heard me mention before that I
[1:22:44] I'm have been a little surprised at how
[1:22:47] paper driven our school district has
[1:22:48] been and how historically we really
[1:22:50] haven't moved to modernize our systems
[1:22:53] the way that other school districts
[1:22:54] have. And so these investments will
[1:22:56] continue hopefully to allow us to
[1:22:59] utilize our personnel in more efficient
[1:23:01] ways than some of the um products and
[1:23:04] processes that we've engaged in in the
[1:23:05] past.
[1:23:07] >> Okay. And I think the last one uh there
[1:23:09] » Okay. And I think the last one uh there
[1:23:09] and this may be more of a question for
[1:23:11] the secretary.
[1:23:13] Um when we were talking about that
[1:23:16] decrease in students, how that doesn't
[1:23:18] necessarily mean a decrease in costs. Uh
[1:23:21] that's where funding protection comes in
[1:23:23] from the ministry. Are we in funding
[1:23:25] protection at this point?
[1:23:28] >> No, we're not.
[1:23:29] » No, we're not.
[1:23:29] >> Oh, wonderful.
[1:23:30] » Oh, wonderful.
[1:23:30] >> Okay.
[1:23:30] » Okay.
[1:23:30] >> You have to be um less than a certain
[1:23:34] » You have to be um less than a certain
[1:23:34] percentage of of operating grant than
[1:23:37] you were in the prior year and so far we
[1:23:40] have not been in that category. We do
[1:23:42] receive a small amount I think it's
[1:23:44] called a declining enrollment grant. So
[1:23:46] there is a small amount that comes
[1:23:47] through that um but not in funding
[1:23:49] protection. Thank you very much.
[1:23:53] >> Okay.
[1:23:55] » Okay.
[1:23:55] Seeing nothing else, um I just want to
[1:23:58] make one final comment and emphasis on
[1:24:01] what Trusty McCur had said regarding
[1:24:03] that public input period. This is that
[1:24:05] space for communities to really give
[1:24:08] their voice and insight into this budget
[1:24:10] cycle. Uh recognizing that trustee work,
[1:24:13] schoolboard work plans, you know, uh
[1:24:14] throughout the year, this is that that
[1:24:16] one space where we really want to hear
[1:24:18] those voices. and um on the school
[1:24:21] district website the BC the cost
[1:24:24] pressures report which is the uh report
[1:24:26] that trusty mccury was referring to. So
[1:24:28] if you can check out those two pieces
[1:24:30] and share them with your community uh
[1:24:32] we'd love to love to be alongside in
[1:24:35] that process. Okay, thank you very much
[1:24:38] and we look forward to coming together
[1:24:40] with the committee of the whole to hear
[1:24:41] that public input in the coming weeks.
[1:24:46] Okay, uh moving along. Okay, I think
[1:24:49] we're good. Yes. Okay, moving along to
[1:24:51] 7.1. We're going to pass over. Trusty
[1:24:54] Mccari is going to have their first
[1:24:56] indigenous education council um meeting
[1:24:59] later this month. So, we can go ahead to
[1:25:02] district admin reports and the strategic
[1:25:04] plan update with our superintendent.
[1:25:08] >> Yeah, thank you. Um I believe there was
[1:25:10] » Yeah, thank you. Um I believe there was
[1:25:10] a memo attached in the package. Um but
[1:25:12] just to um provide information to you
[1:25:15] know those in attendance and um those
[1:25:17] who are joining us online um the board
[1:25:20] earlier this year or perhaps it was even
[1:25:22] last year I can't recall hired Roots and
[1:25:24] Rivers who is a consulting firm out of
[1:25:27] the Lower Mainland to um do the work for
[1:25:29] our strategic plan. Um part of that
[1:25:32] process was a public survey that went
[1:25:34] out prior to spring break. We had just
[1:25:37] under 900 responses um to that survey
[1:25:40] and so um I'm told based on our
[1:25:42] population across the district that is a
[1:25:44] very positive response. Um we are just
[1:25:47] in the midst now of planning umly
[1:25:51] engagement group meetings and so there
[1:25:54] are facilitators from roots and rivers
[1:25:55] who are meeting with a variety of groups
[1:25:58] including our district student advisory
[1:25:59] council our district parent advisory
[1:26:01] council our rights holders groups our
[1:26:04] IEC
[1:26:06] um our
[1:26:07] two sorry our three employee groups um
[1:26:10] there are teachers and our two QP groups
[1:26:13] and as well there are some opportunities
[1:26:15] for um rural presentations and so the
[1:26:17] principles in Vilmont, McKenzie and
[1:26:20] McBride have basically um contacted
[1:26:23] communities I'm going to say select
[1:26:25] community members I would assume um to
[1:26:27] be part of focus groups um connecting
[1:26:29] with roots and rivers around certainly
[1:26:31] um the needs in those particular
[1:26:33] communities and then we've also reached
[1:26:35] out to postsecary and to business
[1:26:37] sectors um to make sure that we have
[1:26:39] some input from them as to um ideologies
[1:26:42] about what should be strategic
[1:26:43] priorities for the district Um most of
[1:26:46] that work should be completed between um
[1:26:48] the rest of May and we are hoping to
[1:26:51] then bring the board together to um have
[1:26:53] them review all of that feedback and the
[1:26:55] board will be meeting in June to really
[1:26:58] then um disseminate what should be the
[1:27:00] strategic plan and its focus as we move
[1:27:02] forward and it is our goal to have that
[1:27:04] strategic plan if not fully in place for
[1:27:07] the most part in place prior to the
[1:27:09] election of the new trustees this fall.
[1:27:17] Wonderful. Thank you very much.
[1:27:20] And moving on to seven 7.2.
[1:27:25] We will pass this over to our associate
[1:27:28] superintendent
[1:27:29] presentation.
[1:27:39] » It's it's first.
[1:27:41] >> Okay. Sorry.
[1:27:41] » Okay. Sorry.
[1:27:42] >> No, no, it's okay. Yeah, that's all
[1:27:44] » No, no, it's okay. Yeah, that's all
[1:27:44] right, Vice Chair Mlan. I know you're
[1:27:46] probably tired of hearing me speak, but
[1:27:47] that's okay. We'll just continue
[1:27:49] [laughter] on as we have things there.
[1:27:52] So, um again, it's always a pleasure to
[1:27:54] share, um observations of, you know,
[1:27:56] learning and engagement across the
[1:27:57] school district. Um and you know,
[1:28:00] putting this free report together is
[1:28:01] always a pleasure. Um so again we are
[1:28:04] focused on the um learning objectives of
[1:28:07] our strategic plan which are truth and
[1:28:09] reconciliation, equity of access,
[1:28:11] learning and wellness. And I will speak
[1:28:14] to the first which is equity of access
[1:28:16] um providing culturally safe, caring,
[1:28:19] inclusive learning communities where all
[1:28:21] students thrive. And so in the last
[1:28:23] couple of months I've had the
[1:28:24] opportunity to attend a variety of
[1:28:26] school events. Um, you know, we have a
[1:28:29] lot of highlights sometimes for sports
[1:28:30] across our school district and sometimes
[1:28:32] it feels like some of our other
[1:28:34] activities are not highlighted to the
[1:28:35] same degree. Um, I was able to attend
[1:28:38] some activities focused on the arts um
[1:28:41] both prior to the winter break and
[1:28:43] after. Um, really looking at student
[1:28:45] creativity, looking at students
[1:28:47] engagement in music, guitar, drama. And
[1:28:51] again, I just want to remind everybody
[1:28:53] that these are activities that truly
[1:28:55] engage u many many of our students, give
[1:28:57] them a sense of purpose, give them a
[1:28:59] sense of belonging, and really um re,
[1:29:03] you know, I'm going to say elevate their
[1:29:04] um engagement at the school level. Um so
[1:29:07] having these evening symposiums where
[1:29:09] parents and community can come in and
[1:29:11] celebrate the accomplishments of these
[1:29:12] students is a really wonderful thing.
[1:29:14] And I just want to give praise to every
[1:29:16] single one of the teachers and staff
[1:29:18] members who work to encourage students
[1:29:20] in these areas uh because I know for
[1:29:23] many of our students finding a
[1:29:24] connection at school is vitally
[1:29:26] important to their overall attendance
[1:29:27] and their overall achievement. And also
[1:29:30] um looking at learning options to meet
[1:29:32] varying learning styles. Um, I was able
[1:29:35] to go to, uh, DP Todd where they have a,
[1:29:38] um, hands-on program there for students,
[1:29:40] um, where they have many, many different
[1:29:42] ways to, um, demonstrate their learning
[1:29:44] and to, um, you know, work with fellow
[1:29:46] students and with the staff there, um,
[1:29:49] to meet a variety of learning outcomes.
[1:29:51] And again, it just really warmed me to
[1:29:53] see that, you know, our staff are
[1:29:55] working so hard to make sure that our
[1:29:57] students are able to find success
[1:29:59] [clears throat] variety of ways,
[1:30:00] especially those students who in the
[1:30:02] traditional classroom um they find it
[1:30:04] very difficult to manage to um you know,
[1:30:07] express their intelligence and share
[1:30:09] their learning. And so again, just kudos
[1:30:12] to all of those folks who really do
[1:30:14] connect to our students and find ways to
[1:30:16] uh make sure that our students feel
[1:30:18] culturally safe and connected um and can
[1:30:21] meet the various learning outcomes that
[1:30:23] the curriculum provides. Over to the
[1:30:25] next,
[1:30:31] » that would be me. uh truth and
[1:30:32] reconciliation committing to the truth
[1:30:34] and reconciliation calls to action
[1:30:36] implemented throughout our system to
[1:30:38] ensure a healthier future for indigenous
[1:30:40] learners and a system that acknowledges
[1:30:42] and teaches Canada's true history. It's
[1:30:44] great to see the improvements over the
[1:30:46] last year or two. Uh camp trapping is
[1:30:50] going well. Um there was a pesky beaver
[1:30:52] out at camp trapping and so the Clayly
[1:30:54] Elder Ron went out there and and went
[1:30:56] along with some classes and students uh
[1:30:58] trapped the beaver. So they were able to
[1:31:00] see it being processed from start to
[1:31:02] finish. And as you can see on the top
[1:31:04] right, they helped to skin the beaver
[1:31:05] there. But they didn't only stop there.
[1:31:08] Uh they had a food sampler at Nasteo
[1:31:10] that we were invited to and they had
[1:31:12] elk, bison, moose, different stews,
[1:31:15] jerky, ribs, everything that we were
[1:31:16] able to try. It was delicious. And that
[1:31:18] beaver was also on the on the plates as
[1:31:21] well, which which actually tasted very
[1:31:23] good.
[1:31:26] Next, please.
[1:31:28] I was also invited to go and do an open
[1:31:30] and a welcome to students and parents at
[1:31:33] CNC for the trade sampler. They're also
[1:31:35] hosting another indigenous trade
[1:31:37] sampler, which is great. The students
[1:31:39] get to try four different trades such as
[1:31:41] carpentry, welding, mechanics,
[1:31:43] electrician, pipe trades, or milright
[1:31:46] between those four. So, it's a good
[1:31:48] sampler for everyone to get a taste of
[1:31:50] what they want to do in the future.
[1:31:53] Next,
[1:31:55] uh, Northern Winter Games happened last
[1:31:57] week at Joan McGinness. So, we had nine
[1:31:59] elementary schools take part and one
[1:32:01] high school. We also had our DESAC
[1:32:03] students running some stations and some
[1:32:05] pack parents running the food. So, it
[1:32:07] was great to hear the success because
[1:32:09] Darcy Davis, the landbased teacher at
[1:32:11] Nosto, has been doing this for years.
[1:32:13] So, it's amazing to see how much it's
[1:32:15] grown and the students are put in a
[1:32:17] leadership position where they're going
[1:32:18] to other schools and teaching them how
[1:32:20] to play the games and it looked like a
[1:32:22] lot of fun. So, thanks to Darcy and and
[1:32:25] all the adults and students involved
[1:32:30] » and I get to speak to you guys about
[1:32:31] learning. Um, thank you. Um, of course,
[1:32:34] learning is the primary purpose, you
[1:32:36] know, of our work with students. I mean
[1:32:37] it it's it's really the reason why we
[1:32:39] are we are in this business is to ensure
[1:32:41] that we have quality teaching and
[1:32:42] learning environments for all of our
[1:32:43] kids. Um what I get to speak to you
[1:32:45] about today is um our CTC program and so
[1:32:49] this is sort of on the not the um we
[1:32:51] heard a little bit about the the primary
[1:32:52] end and this is more on the career out
[1:32:54] the career ed end of things and we have
[1:32:57] an agreement with our um our local
[1:32:59] college the college of new CTC program
[1:33:02] there and that's called the career
[1:33:03] technical center. I think many of you
[1:33:04] are probably aware of of CTC. Um I got
[1:33:07] invited to their capstone presentation
[1:33:09] just before um the break and that's
[1:33:11] really where the kids get to talk about
[1:33:13] how their first year went in the program
[1:33:15] and sort of where they're going to be
[1:33:16] going um you know after they they finish
[1:33:18] that first foundational year. Those
[1:33:20] grade 12 students um finish with their
[1:33:22] first year done. They can choose to
[1:33:24] decide to go on to year two um when they
[1:33:26] leave us after they graduate or or not.
[1:33:29] And the beauty of engaging in
[1:33:31] experiential learning like this is some
[1:33:33] students are really committed to the
[1:33:34] trades and and Pam talked about some of
[1:33:37] the trades and there are welding,
[1:33:38] carpentry, pipe trades, mechanics, auto
[1:33:40] tech, electrical, metal fat,
[1:33:42] professional cook, but some complete the
[1:33:44] year and decide, yeah, that really
[1:33:46] wasn't what I expected. It's not what I,
[1:33:48] you know, so they've got their credits
[1:33:49] today, but you know, I am still
[1:33:51] interested in the trades, but pipe
[1:33:52] trades really wasn't the thing for me.
[1:33:55] And sometimes they flip into something
[1:33:56] different. So we had 74 students
[1:33:58] enrolled. We had three in McKenzie and
[1:34:00] and that was the ones that are going to
[1:34:02] get the first year credits and get the
[1:34:04] first year certification. Um we also had
[1:34:06] 64 students enrolled in youth sampler
[1:34:10] programs. Um the foundation programs can
[1:34:12] be highly competitive and sometimes
[1:34:14] they're looking for a certain criteria
[1:34:16] to get in and it doesn't meet the needs
[1:34:18] of all of our kids at times. So the
[1:34:20] district created this a sampler program
[1:34:22] where where it's a much more flexible.
[1:34:24] So maybe the kids attendance is isn't
[1:34:26] great, maybe some of the academics
[1:34:28] aren't great. That would maybe
[1:34:30] disqualify them from the foundational
[1:34:31] program. If they show success in the
[1:34:33] sampler program, it really builds a case
[1:34:35] to get them into the foundational
[1:34:36] program. Sometimes kids connect better
[1:34:38] to, you know, which which facilitates
[1:34:41] better attendance or better engagement
[1:34:43] or higher marks or whatever it might be.
[1:34:44] So um we're just really pleased to have
[1:34:46] 64 and the samplers as well. Um 32 of
[1:34:50] them there's an indigenous cohort that
[1:34:51] Pam talked about. We have another cohort
[1:34:53] of just women and the women in trades
[1:34:55] programs is something that there's been
[1:34:56] a lot of emphasis on because you know we
[1:34:58] really we really want to see more women
[1:35:00] in trades and then another two cohorts
[1:35:02] with just a mix of students. So a great
[1:35:04] sort of sampler program and some success
[1:35:07] with our CTC which was great. Um next
[1:35:09] slide please. And the other thing that I
[1:35:12] just wanted to mention was um and thank
[1:35:14] you to Heather who mentioned this in her
[1:35:16] her report was this thing called
[1:35:17] observable impact and this is some of
[1:35:19] the the learning that our principles are
[1:35:21] doing. Um, a lot of times in schools we
[1:35:24] write great plans and we have great
[1:35:26] ideas and we have all these goals and we
[1:35:28] have no idea if they're working or not,
[1:35:31] right? Like is it is it really working?
[1:35:32] Is is are we meeting the success that we
[1:35:35] want? Um, this work that our principles
[1:35:37] are doing is is really focused on
[1:35:40] pairing down goals and then really
[1:35:43] watching for observable success. What
[1:35:45] are kids doing? What is the staff doing?
[1:35:48] What's our leadership doing? what are
[1:35:50] our parents doing in relation to these
[1:35:52] goals? Right? And when we can if we can
[1:35:55] if we can see that we can tangibly talk
[1:35:57] about some of the successes that we're
[1:35:59] having. Um thank you for the work in
[1:36:02] literacy. Um I was just thrilled to see
[1:36:04] the presentation and the work that you
[1:36:06] guys are doing here tying in observable
[1:36:08] impact. Um there's a researcher called
[1:36:10] John Hadtie and he talks about um
[1:36:12] teacher efficacy and the and teacher
[1:36:14] efficacy is a belief that if an entire
[1:36:16] staff of teachers believes kids can be
[1:36:19] successful, you'll see the learning
[1:36:21] increase. It sounds like you guys are on
[1:36:23] the cusp of developing that here. So
[1:36:25] great work and keep going. It's
[1:36:26] exciting. Thank you.
[1:36:30] >> Good evening everyone. I get to talk
[1:36:31] » Good evening everyone. I get to talk
[1:36:31] about wellness and um this is probably
[1:36:34] the most diverse uh topic that we have
[1:36:37] in our district and you can look I'll go
[1:36:39] to my first slide here and and if you
[1:36:41] look at the items that we're we're
[1:36:44] talking about here [snorts] and this is
[1:36:45] when we we go to principles and we say
[1:36:47] tell me what you're doing at your school
[1:36:48] or your staff is doing at your school
[1:36:50] with wellness and you can see that
[1:36:52] there's a wide discrepancy or a wide
[1:36:55] variation on what wellness would look
[1:36:57] like and and you can see like like a
[1:36:59] drama teacher
[1:37:01] um taking a group of kids that are that
[1:37:03] are really interested in in
[1:37:06] anti-bullying and then connecting with
[1:37:08] the local radio station to be able to do
[1:37:10] something that um that makes it better
[1:37:12] for the school community. And you also
[1:37:14] see Harwin has um a couple of staff that
[1:37:17] are really interested in yoga and and
[1:37:19] not only helping the students um with
[1:37:22] that would be you know calming and
[1:37:24] moving exercises but also the staff um
[1:37:27] as a way of uh you know getting through
[1:37:29] the the tougher winter months of of a
[1:37:31] northern community. And then the last
[1:37:33] one which I thought was was very unique
[1:37:36] and and once again it it goes to the
[1:37:38] uniqueness of the small community and
[1:37:40] the staff within the small community.
[1:37:43] You can see that there is a we have an
[1:37:45] indigenous education worker at Delmont
[1:37:47] Secondary that uh you know knows every
[1:37:50] kid and and supports kids like that and
[1:37:52] and she had this opportunity to write a
[1:37:54] grant and you can see that you know it's
[1:37:56] it's around uh sport uh activity and
[1:38:00] indigenous students and and they put in
[1:38:02] a grant to come up with to to make a
[1:38:05] nutritional drink. Um, and so that to me
[1:38:08] is is is quite unique because you got,
[1:38:10] you know, a an indigenous education
[1:38:12] worker that helps and supports kids,
[1:38:15] that's writing grants to be able to
[1:38:17] engage kids in healthy things that
[1:38:19] they're interested with. And so those
[1:38:21] are some things that you'll you'll see
[1:38:24] um just by asking. And I think that's
[1:38:26] the that's the neat part about being
[1:38:29] able to talk about each of these kind of
[1:38:31] strands of our strategic plan is is we
[1:38:33] wouldn't be able to hear about these
[1:38:35] wonderful things that are happening all
[1:38:37] the way across the other part of our
[1:38:39] district in Belmont Secondary. And then
[1:38:42] when we do this at different
[1:38:43] communities, we get to hear about
[1:38:44] different communities and what they're
[1:38:46] doing, what kids are interested in, and
[1:38:48] how we're supporting their wellness. And
[1:38:50] this this all is a result of staff
[1:38:53] supporting kids in what they're
[1:38:55] interested in. So, thank you for letting
[1:38:57] me share tonight.
[1:39:00] >> Wonderful. Thank you so much, senior
[1:39:02] » Wonderful. Thank you so much, senior
[1:39:02] team, for sharing bringing everyone
[1:39:04] along and a little bit of what uh each
[1:39:07] day looks like in schools. Much
[1:39:08] appreciated. Yes, Christine.
[1:39:11] >> Yes, I I did have a a question and it's
[1:39:14] » Yes, I I did have a a question and it's
[1:39:14] uh related to the equity of access
[1:39:16] component.
[1:39:17] >> [clears throat]
[1:39:17] » [clears throat]
[1:39:17] >> Um, I would appreciate uh an update on
[1:39:20] » Um, I would appreciate uh an update on
[1:39:20] the district's current approach to out
[1:39:22] of province students trips as I I know
[1:39:25] that letters to families have gone out
[1:39:26] on this. Uh, could staff speak to the
[1:39:29] current scope of what is and isn't
[1:39:31] permitted. Uh, the rationale and whether
[1:39:33] or not there's any community based or
[1:39:35] external alter external alternatives
[1:39:37] that families might consider.
[1:39:40] Recognizing these opportunities can be
[1:39:42] valuable for students, but there are
[1:39:44] indeed those legitimate district
[1:39:45] concerns around liability and equity of
[1:39:48] access.
[1:39:50] >> Yeah, I can speak to that. Um, Trusty
[1:39:52] » Yeah, I can speak to that. Um, Trusty
[1:39:52] Holland, I know that you're aware that
[1:39:55] um I see a big difference between
[1:39:57] curricular field trips and excursion
[1:39:59] field trips. And even though excursion
[1:40:01] field trips can be tied to curricular
[1:40:03] outcomes, they essentially are trips
[1:40:06] that take place on spring break and they
[1:40:08] go to a variety of locations. Um, travel
[1:40:11] of course has an extremely wonderful
[1:40:14] learning component and for those of us
[1:40:15] who are able to travel often, um, it is
[1:40:18] certainly a positive, but I historically
[1:40:21] have not worked in school districts
[1:40:23] where, um, excursion field trips are
[1:40:26] board approved, um, ex, you know, trips.
[1:40:29] And there's many reasons for that. um
[1:40:31] liability certainly is one of them, but
[1:40:33] also the reality that um when we receive
[1:40:36] an itinerary, we have no ability to
[1:40:38] actually determine if that itinerary is
[1:40:40] followed when people are going to
[1:40:41] another country. Um and you know,
[1:40:44] essentially it's not around a curricular
[1:40:46] class or curricular component. So for
[1:40:49] myself, my recommendation has been to
[1:40:51] the board that we do not continue to um
[1:40:54] have those trips as board authorized
[1:40:57] trips. um other school districts that
[1:40:59] I've worked in, those are essentially um
[1:41:02] club or excursion trips or trusted
[1:41:04] teacher trips. Um and they still occur.
[1:41:07] They just don't occur as school district
[1:41:08] trips um because the reality is that we
[1:41:11] don't have any ability to manage. I'm
[1:41:14] also actually really concerned about
[1:41:15] what that message is to parents when
[1:41:18] they believe that we're going on a
[1:41:19] school district trip. um what kinds of
[1:41:22] um expectations do they have or do they
[1:41:24] believe that you know their child um is
[1:41:28] you know kind of protected with um
[1:41:30] versus you know the um non um you know
[1:41:33] school district trips and um I think
[1:41:36] it's a bit of a problem um and so for
[1:41:38] myself um when I have had um school
[1:41:42] district um excursion trips brought
[1:41:43] forward I have not have been approving
[1:41:45] them there were some place prior to my
[1:41:47] arrival that had been approved by my
[1:41:49] predecessors Um, and I think it's a
[1:41:51] conversation that needs to occur at the
[1:41:52] board table because these are called
[1:41:54] board authorized trips and yet the board
[1:41:57] has absolutely nothing to do with the
[1:41:58] authorization of the trips. Um, they're
[1:42:00] not aware of the itinerary. They're not
[1:42:02] aware of the locations. Um, again, in
[1:42:04] school districts that I've worked in in
[1:42:06] the past, a delegation would come to a
[1:42:08] board meeting. They would share all the
[1:42:10] details of the trip and the board itself
[1:42:12] would actually decide whether they were
[1:42:14] going to um support that trip. and in
[1:42:16] school district 57 that has not been
[1:42:18] what board authorized trips look like.
[1:42:20] So I think there's even confusion in the
[1:42:22] moniker that we use um where a board
[1:42:24] authorized trip is actually not a board
[1:42:26] authorized trip and so that's the
[1:42:28] current state of things um and certainly
[1:42:31] I am um you know open to further
[1:42:33] discussion and if the board determines
[1:42:35] that they want to have delegations come
[1:42:37] and they want to now get involved in the
[1:42:39] approval of those trips they certainly
[1:42:41] can do so. Um, but as the structure
[1:42:44] exists right now, they really are
[1:42:46] district approved trips and I, as the
[1:42:48] district leader, will not be approving
[1:42:49] excursion trips out of country.
[1:42:53] >> Thank you.
[1:42:55] » Thank you.
[1:42:55] >> Okay, thank you very much. We can move
[1:42:57] » Okay, thank you very much. We can move
[1:42:58] along to committee reports. We'll do our
[1:43:00] best to move things along and respect
[1:43:02] everyone's time. So going into 7.3.1
[1:43:07] committee of the whole I won't read out
[1:43:10] the entire report but on February 24th
[1:43:13] um the committee of the whole did meet
[1:43:15] to receive information a presentation on
[1:43:19] what is used to develop the 202627
[1:43:22] draft annual budget. So this meeting
[1:43:25] included uh was recorded um and shared
[1:43:28] publicly and included input from partner
[1:43:31] groups and employee partner groups. And
[1:43:33] as as I mentioned earlier in the agenda,
[1:43:36] April 28th is the next committee of the
[1:43:38] whole meeting date where we will hear
[1:43:40] that feedback on this year's budget
[1:43:43] cycle.
[1:43:50] Any questions?
[1:43:52] We can jump ahead to 7.3.2 policy
[1:43:55] advisory.
[1:43:57] >> Yes. And I believe really everything on
[1:44:00] » Yes. And I believe really everything on
[1:44:00] this report was done in when we were uh
[1:44:03] approving um policies. So I will just
[1:44:06] note that the next uh virtual policy
[1:44:08] advisory committee meeting will be held
[1:44:11] in a week I believe Tuesday April the
[1:44:13] 21st 4 p.m. online.
[1:44:19] » There we go.
[1:44:20] >> Thank you very much. want to just jump
[1:44:21] » Thank you very much. want to just jump
[1:44:21] ahead
[1:44:22] >> and I can just jump ahead to the ad hoc
[1:44:24] » and I can just jump ahead to the ad hoc
[1:44:24] policy committee and again nothing new
[1:44:26] there uh that wasn't already discussed
[1:44:29] in this meeting when they
[1:44:30] [clears throat] uh moved policies
[1:44:32] around.
[1:44:32] >> Okay, great. Okay, thank you very much.
[1:44:35] » Okay, great. Okay, thank you very much.
[1:44:35] We can move ahead to trustee reports and
[1:44:37] school district news. Uh we have lots of
[1:44:39] exciting school district news and each
[1:44:41] trustee is going to speak. So um we'll
[1:44:43] just move along in the order they are
[1:44:45] sitting. We'll start with you.
[1:44:46] >> Yeah, thank you. Uh a few things that
[1:44:49] » Yeah, thank you. Uh a few things that
[1:44:49] happened in Prince George's. One
[1:44:51] historical is uh Duchess Park Condors uh
[1:44:54] team won uh doubleA provincial
[1:44:59] championship uh championship in Prince
[1:45:02] George and that was incred that that was
[1:45:04] incredible. But then they were named BC
[1:45:06] school BC sports team of the year and
[1:45:10] that was historic because I'm I'm
[1:45:12] learning more about it that they they
[1:45:16] are the first public high school in over
[1:45:18] in about 60 years to win that award. Uh
[1:45:21] usually that award goes to college
[1:45:23] university teams. Uh but they their
[1:45:26] outstanding
[1:45:27] performance uh really garnered a lot of
[1:45:30] attention. So, that was something really
[1:45:31] proud of. And I as a as a I've coached
[1:45:35] many teams and played, I'm always really
[1:45:37] proud of our Northern teams to prove
[1:45:40] that our athletes are just as good as
[1:45:43] any of them out there. Um, next we have
[1:45:45] a homegrown coach named Jordan U. He was
[1:45:48] named BC High School Coach of the Year.
[1:45:51] coaches basketball and he's he's come up
[1:45:54] through our uh SD57
[1:45:58] as a player and now as a coach really a
[1:46:01] mentor coach and leading uh other other
[1:46:04] coaches in in Prince George and
[1:46:06] surrounding area. Um,
[1:46:09] and then finally, something to keep on
[1:46:11] your radar. I'm interested in going
[1:46:13] seeing this Thursday and Friday we have
[1:46:15] in Prince George at PGSS Secondary
[1:46:18] School, Bandy Hall, if you're there. Uh,
[1:46:21] it's called Musicfest and it's been
[1:46:24] something that our local band teachers
[1:46:26] have been running for over 25 years and
[1:46:29] it's uh going to be a really proud
[1:46:31] moment to see. It's you can research it
[1:46:34] online and see the schedule. It starts
[1:46:36] as early as 8 and 9 in the morning and
[1:46:38] goes till 9 or 10 at night for those two
[1:46:40] days. So, it's it's really packed with a
[1:46:42] lot of a lot of great music. So, I
[1:46:45] encourage everybody to see that. Thanks.
[1:46:49] >> Um, I'd just like to give a shout out to
[1:46:52] » Um, I'd just like to give a shout out to
[1:46:52] the incredible students and community
[1:46:53] members behind the Mackenzie youth
[1:46:55] leadership table. Um, seeing a need for
[1:46:57] stronger youth voice and stepping up to
[1:46:59] create this table is true leadership. uh
[1:47:02] your initiative, your passion, and your
[1:47:03] commitment in making a difference in our
[1:47:05] community is very inspiring. Uh this is
[1:47:08] exactly what meaningful student
[1:47:09] leadership looks like. You're
[1:47:10] identifying gaps. You're bringing people
[1:47:12] together, and you're building something
[1:47:14] that will have a lasting impact. I'm
[1:47:16] very excited to see what your voices
[1:47:18] will continue to shape for our future in
[1:47:20] our schools and for McKenzie. Well done,
[1:47:22] and you set the bar high.
[1:47:27] Okay, I'm going to recognize we just
[1:47:30] learned at BCSTA
[1:47:32] that one of our students, her name is
[1:47:34] Emily Clark, she's a grade 12 student at
[1:47:38] Duchess Park, has been awarded one of
[1:47:41] three provincewide scholarships from
[1:47:43] BCSTA, and it's um the BCSTA student
[1:47:47] citizenship award, and they get $750
[1:47:52] and it's recognized for those to
[1:47:56] demonstrate exemplary citizenship
[1:47:59] that show character, responsibility and
[1:48:02] leadership and contribute meaningfully
[1:48:06] meaningfully to their school culture and
[1:48:09] they do community service and
[1:48:11] volunteerism. So that was pretty awesome
[1:48:14] news to have up on the big screen at the
[1:48:17] provincial conference and we really re
[1:48:21] um are grateful and and offer happy
[1:48:26] happy to to Emily and a couple of events
[1:48:31] are Spruce Land Community School of Arts
[1:48:34] is having their art extravaganza.
[1:48:37] Everyone come down to PG on May 7th for
[1:48:40] that. And if you can't make that, on
[1:48:43] April 15th, the Prince George District
[1:48:46] Teachers Librarians Association is
[1:48:49] having their Red Cedar Battle of the
[1:48:51] Books and that includes 15 schools with
[1:48:55] over 80 intermediate students. Um, and
[1:48:59] it should be a great event. And that's
[1:49:02] it for me. Okay.
[1:49:04] >> And I have a couple of items. Um, one is
[1:49:07] » And I have a couple of items. Um, one is
[1:49:07] as the trustee representative for the
[1:49:09] Prince George secondary family of
[1:49:11] schools, I was honored to attend a
[1:49:13] ceremony at the Guru Nak Darbar Seeks
[1:49:16] Temple on March the 15th recognizing the
[1:49:19] Peten Hill Elementary principal Nicole
[1:49:22] Paulhouse and staff members for their
[1:49:24] work and support of Punjabi language. It
[1:49:27] was a meaningful opportunity to
[1:49:28] celebrate the school and to recognize
[1:49:30] the importance of language, culture and
[1:49:32] community connection in our schools.
[1:49:35] Also in the BC public school employers
[1:49:38] association notes, I was pleased to note
[1:49:41] that the 2025 provincial collective
[1:49:43] agreement for public school teachers is
[1:49:45] now in effect following ratification by
[1:49:47] both BCPC and BCTF. The agreement
[1:49:51] includes measures to support teacher
[1:49:53] workload, teaching and learning
[1:49:54] conditions and recruitment and
[1:49:56] retention, including for our rural and
[1:49:58] remote schools, which does include
[1:50:00] include the McKenzie schools. I'm also
[1:50:03] pleased to note that BCTC and the QPK12
[1:50:08] President's Council and support staff
[1:50:10] unions have reached a tentative
[1:50:12] provincial framework agreement. Uh that
[1:50:14] agreement addresses key provincewide
[1:50:16] matters and sets the stage for local
[1:50:18] support staff bargaining at the district
[1:50:20] level.
[1:50:23] And
[1:50:25] other than that, I will say Spruceand
[1:50:27] Spruce Community School of Arts. Wow.
[1:50:30] Lots of art work. I've been in the past.
[1:50:33] Tremendous.
[1:50:35] >> Wow. So much to celebrate. Thank you
[1:50:36] » Wow. So much to celebrate. Thank you
[1:50:36] trustees for sharing. And the next two
[1:50:39] items 74 7.42 and three. I'll pass to
[1:50:44] the trusty.
[1:50:45] >> So the first one is the report from the
[1:50:48] » So the first one is the report from the
[1:50:48] BC school trustee association which I'm
[1:50:52] the provincial council representative
[1:50:54] for. And of course I'm going to report
[1:50:56] out on the AGM that we just attended. Um
[1:51:00] but on top of the AGM we also had
[1:51:02] learning sessions. So in the annual
[1:51:06] general meeting the motions put forward
[1:51:08] were quite um great and our northern
[1:51:12] interior branch put forward about six I
[1:51:15] think. I'm not exactly sure the number
[1:51:17] I'm guessing remembering. We put forward
[1:51:20] a lot of motions and all of our motions
[1:51:21] got passed. So there were on a variety
[1:51:24] of things that affected us but across
[1:51:26] the across the province. So, we were
[1:51:29] pretty happy about that. Um, and then
[1:51:32] for the AGM, we had of course the
[1:51:35] minister, Minister Barry, the Minister
[1:51:38] of Education, and she used to be a
[1:51:39] trustee. So, it was cool to have that
[1:51:42] full circle for her to come and present
[1:51:44] to us. But the highlight for me was
[1:51:46] Clara Hughes who is a Olympic
[1:51:49] championship
[1:51:51] champion and a mental health advocate.
[1:51:53] and she was she spoke for like just
[1:51:55] about two hours and she was extremely
[1:51:58] dynamic and such a good advocate for
[1:52:01] destigmatizing mental health issues and
[1:52:05] just told her story and plug because she
[1:52:08] was that good that she has a book coming
[1:52:11] out in October. So if you're interested
[1:52:13] in that just so you know um and she
[1:52:15] didn't I'm not endorsed to say that
[1:52:18] [laughter] just so you know but it was
[1:52:20] just a really good presentation.
[1:52:22] Um, we also on author notes, we also had
[1:52:26] Monique Grace Smith and she addressed
[1:52:28] indigenous storytelling, resilience, and
[1:52:31] trauma informed education and she's also
[1:52:35] always incredible and another really
[1:52:37] great speaker. On top of that, we
[1:52:40] [laughter] had a whole bunch of mini
[1:52:41] sessions and they were offered on a
[1:52:43] variety of topics um with a focus on
[1:52:47] effective governance, board resilience,
[1:52:49] and student well-being. So we all
[1:52:52] attended different sessions over two
[1:52:54] days and yeah it was a great time but
[1:52:57] that was just like last week so we're a
[1:53:00] little you know catching up. So that's
[1:53:03] it for that report. And then secondly um
[1:53:06] I attended the the district parent
[1:53:09] advisory council meeting. There was not
[1:53:11] one in March. There was only one in
[1:53:13] April and the representative for
[1:53:16] children and youth was supposed to
[1:53:18] attend but was unable to. So the DAC
[1:53:21] just had a roundt discussion about
[1:53:24] resources for parents and what works
[1:53:26] best and how we can work together and
[1:53:29] it's a great session. Um every DPAC
[1:53:32] meeting we have we try to have a trustee
[1:53:36] um attend those sessions and they set
[1:53:39] aside an hour time where senior
[1:53:42] leadership will attend with us and it's
[1:53:44] just a and DESAC is usually there as
[1:53:47] well. So, it's a really good um learning
[1:53:50] session for us and I'll leave that
[1:53:52] there. Thank you.
[1:53:54] >> Okay, thank you very much. And over to
[1:53:57] » Okay, thank you very much. And over to
[1:53:57] district student advisory council. Um I
[1:54:00] can jump in first. I went to the March
[1:54:03] session which again um to Secretary
[1:54:05] Treasure Mavaria's earlier comments
[1:54:07] about the depth of conversations that
[1:54:09] these these young people are having. Um
[1:54:12] so March's focus was working with um
[1:54:17] monogram which is branding consultant.
[1:54:19] So it was a beautiful conversation. Um
[1:54:22] so huge kudos to the student leaders in
[1:54:25] the room and the staff who support them.
[1:54:27] Um it was a very cool conversation
[1:54:29] [clears throat] in a learning session
[1:54:31] really for for these students in what to
[1:54:34] expect, how to engage with um as the
[1:54:38] school district grows their social media
[1:54:40] presence. And it was a it was a very
[1:54:43] interesting conver a very interesting
[1:54:45] conversation to witness in just how
[1:54:48] branding works, what kinds of key
[1:54:50] messages we want to share, what kinds of
[1:54:52] stories um they want to amplify and are
[1:54:56] working on a shared form so that they
[1:54:58] can submit those stories um through
[1:55:00] throughout their schools. Over to you.
[1:55:03] >> Yeah. and I attended the April 13th
[1:55:05] » Yeah. and I attended the April 13th
[1:55:06] yesterday uh the district student
[1:55:08] advisory council and it was staff has
[1:55:11] done a good job of trying to connect
[1:55:13] students the student group with
[1:55:14] community. So there was a presentation
[1:55:16] that came in and this was the pamphlet
[1:55:17] that was given out. You see it's very
[1:55:18] colorful. It was from the
[1:55:21] uh Prince George Hospice Pallet of Care
[1:55:23] Society. So they came in to do a a
[1:55:26] presentation and just kind of let know
[1:55:27] that the the students know that they do
[1:55:29] more than just pallet of care. uh which
[1:55:33] is very important and these were very
[1:55:36] passionate people. They they spoke about
[1:55:38] there were some other things that they
[1:55:39] do the the fundraising they do that uh a
[1:55:43] children's grief support groups, family
[1:55:46] briement groups, emotional peer support,
[1:55:48] healthy coping and resilience building
[1:55:50] groups uh for children, families and uh
[1:55:54] they also are working at building
[1:55:57] connections where they can offer inho
[1:55:59] inhome uh pallet of care as well which
[1:56:02] is a newer sort of thing that they can
[1:56:04] branch out into the larger community
[1:56:05] [snorts]
[1:56:06] for
[1:56:07] And this this is for a fundraiser
[1:56:10] because they don't get a lot of they are
[1:56:12] a very heavily fundraising
[1:56:15] uh they need fundraising in order to to
[1:56:17] run these and these are free programs
[1:56:19] for anybody. Um and so they have a
[1:56:24] walkathon in the in the month of May
[1:56:28] between the first and 30th. They they
[1:56:30] challenge people to register and you can
[1:56:32] go online and register for this. It's
[1:56:34] not just for individuals. Community
[1:56:37] members, businesses, uh classrooms,
[1:56:40] schools as a whole can participate in
[1:56:42] this to see how many kilometers they can
[1:56:44] walk and track that and then gain some
[1:56:47] uh some help fund raise for this. Uh and
[1:56:51] then on the 30th, if you're in Prince
[1:56:54] George, it's uh on the 30th, Saturday,
[1:56:57] Saturday the 30th at Clayton Today Park
[1:57:00] between 11 and 1 p.m. They're having a
[1:57:01] free uh there's uh activities, walking,
[1:57:06] uh there's colors being thrown around, a
[1:57:08] celebration of lives and celebration of
[1:57:11] this this group and the work they do and
[1:57:14] free barbecue and it's a it's a it's a
[1:57:17] big fundraising for them. So that was a
[1:57:19] really neat thing. So they were trying
[1:57:20] to get students to go back and maybe
[1:57:23] student groups build uh connections and
[1:57:28] try to try to fundra for this. So that's
[1:57:30] a that's a really interesting thing that
[1:57:32] they had. And then uh our secretary
[1:57:35] treasurer Mabaria came in and did a
[1:57:38] financial
[1:57:39] um talk and it was was really good
[1:57:42] because the
[1:57:44] our district through the years even the
[1:57:47] last three and a half years I've
[1:57:48] witnessed
[1:57:49] a steady uh incremental increase in
[1:57:53] student voice. So it's I really am very
[1:57:55] proud of our district for not just
[1:57:57] saying that they respect student voice
[1:57:59] but this was not this was a tangible
[1:58:01] thing that they had questions on big
[1:58:04] sheets and questions and the whole group
[1:58:07] of students which is about 40 students
[1:58:09] were able to have input and I the thing
[1:58:11] from a from my perspective what I really
[1:58:14] appreciate is that even the quieter
[1:58:17] students were able to have their ideas
[1:58:20] and these sheets were big and they were
[1:58:21] filled from top to bottom and and were
[1:58:24] taken by district staff to to look at
[1:58:26] and it was a a good even talking about
[1:58:30] how can we improve this next year. So
[1:58:32] there's some really good ideas there and
[1:58:34] it's very
[1:58:37] uh heartwarming I guess and inspiring to
[1:58:40] see the insight and uh the passion that
[1:58:44] students have for their schools and
[1:58:45] building that connection and knowing
[1:58:47] that their voice does mean something. So
[1:58:49] that that means a lot to me and I I give
[1:58:52] it was the best meeting in my three and
[1:58:55] a half years that I've attended. So I I
[1:58:57] would say that it was that inspiring
[1:58:59] that those kind of things have put the
[1:59:00] wind in my sales to to keep going. Uh so
[1:59:04] thank you for staff and everybody for
[1:59:06] organized that uh kept Mr. Madhouse was
[1:59:09] there, assistant superintendent Madhouse
[1:59:11] and uh it was it was it was really great
[1:59:14] to be part of. So thank you.
[1:59:17] >> Awesome. Great description. Okay, thank
[1:59:20] » Awesome. Great description. Okay, thank
[1:59:20] you very much. And moving on to 7.5,
[1:59:23] correspondence. The recommended motion
[1:59:25] that the board of education receive open
[1:59:28] correspondence received and or sent
[1:59:31] since February 17th, 2026.
[1:59:39] Thank you.
[1:59:40] Yes,
[1:59:41] >> I did have uh one question for for staff
[1:59:44] » I did have uh one question for for staff
[1:59:44] um related to the the memorandum that
[1:59:47] that came from the SE society in Prince
[1:59:49] George's. It it was handed to me in the
[1:59:52] meeting and just wanted to to confirm
[1:59:56] um this would not be a board authorized
[2:00:00] course. There is already a provincial
[2:00:02] Punjabi course that that would be
[2:00:04] available. So, this would be up to um
[2:00:07] presumably a local secondary school or a
[2:00:09] local elementary school to go out and
[2:00:12] and see if there's expertise to teach
[2:00:15] and interest in students taking it. Can
[2:00:19] I just just to confirm that?
[2:00:22] Yeah, the um requests that came forward
[2:00:24] or the um I'm going to say I'm
[2:00:26] highlighting uh you know number one this
[2:00:29] is not a class, it's a club that is run
[2:00:32] um by staff after school. Um so this is
[2:00:35] not part of any of the curriculum of the
[2:00:37] elementary school currently. Um most
[2:00:40] elementary schools do not necessarily
[2:00:41] have um alternate language classes
[2:00:43] except for indigenous language which
[2:00:45] we're trying to incorporate throughout
[2:00:46] the curriculum. And if there was
[2:00:48] interest at a particular um high school
[2:00:50] for a language class, it would either
[2:00:53] come through one of the already approved
[2:00:55] language um curriculums that exist in
[2:00:57] the province or potentially through a
[2:00:59] BAA course. But it's not something that
[2:01:01] at school district 57 is looking at
[2:01:03] right now, nor have we had any um direct
[2:01:07] application for that.
[2:01:10] >> Thank you.
[2:01:12] » Thank you.
[2:01:12] >> Thank you very much. Okay, seeing
[2:01:14] » Thank you very much. Okay, seeing
[2:01:14] nothing further, calling to question.
[2:01:16] All those in favor
[2:01:19] and that's unanimous. Thank you.
[2:01:23] Okay, moving on to item number eight,
[2:01:24] the closure of the business portion. So,
[2:01:26] the recommended motion that the business
[2:01:28] portion of the meeting be closed. We
[2:01:30] have a mover, trusty Weber. Thank you.
[2:01:33] And seconded, Trusty Holland. All those
[2:01:35] in favor? And that's unanimous. Thank
[2:01:38] you very much. Okay, moving on to item
[2:01:41] number nine. Now this is a new practice
[2:01:43] for recognizing that we've done this
[2:01:45] work recently. So um we have question
[2:01:48] period in accordance with bylaw five
[2:01:50] board operations. Um I'm seeing thank
[2:01:53] you staff our speakers list we do not
[2:01:55] have anyone listed. So with that we can
[2:01:59] move ahead to item 10 meeting
[2:02:01] adjournment. The recommended motion of
[2:02:03] the meeting be adjourned at 6:01 p.m.
[2:02:06] Thank you Trusty Weber.
[2:02:09] Secer trusty Holland. call us in favor.
[2:02:13] Okay, that's unanimous. Thank you very
[2:02:15] much everyone. Thank you so much to
[2:02:17] community for coming out today. It
[2:02:18] really is um a pleasure to be a part of
[2:02:22] the convers being a part of the work
[2:02:24] here today and just thank you for coming
[2:02:26] and witnessing and taking part. We love
[2:02:29] to visit you here and everyone have a
[2:02:32] great evening.