Nov 27 School Board Meeting - Summary

The November 27th board meeting touched on four main topics. The naming of the new community learning program, board support in principal for covered outdoor areas, a report by the NVTA on last year's professional development activities and the opening of discussions on a District school calendar.

1. Mountainside Secondary

Following the recommendations coming from within the school, the board decided to create a new school identity for the community learning program by naming the school Mountainside Secondary School. By enabling the community to forge its own identity under their own name rather than the rather cumbersome "community learning program at Balmoral" the District marks the end of the transition and a start to a new chapter for the students and staff at the school. Personally I think this is an great step to making the move real and solidifying the new program and community.

2. Covered Areas

Anyone headed outside in November knows that North Van is in a rain forest zone. Yet due to budget limitations many of our elementary schools have been built without covered outdoor areas for students to use during inclement weather. Highlands Elementary PAC have worked hard to raise this issue with the District and last year the District agreed that they needed to look at it properly and see what it would actually take to provide schools with covered areas.

The results of this work were discussed at the last finance and facilities meeting but in general show that it will cost about $150,000 to add covered outdoor spaces at Highlands. There is little disagreement that covered spaces are needed but funding them is the real issue. At Tuesday's meeting the Board agreed in principal with the installation of covered spaces and they agreed to develop a policy related to their installation but have essentially asked the community to work with them to find a way to fund covered areas.

While this falls short of what many would like to see in terms of immediate installation the decision appears positive to me as it suggests that while they may not be able to provide funding for covered areas the District is supportive of their installation if the community can raise the funds and that the school district may help with things such as the design, installation and upkeep of the canopies once installed.

3. Professional Development

The North Vancouver Teachers Association (NVTA) presented their annual report on professional development activities in a new, informative and inspiring fashion on Tuesday night. Few people see what teacher's actually do with those PD days and to rectify this the NVTA had 3 teachers present their stories of how they used their professional development time and funds to improve their teaching.

• Attending a conference in Alberta helped one North Vancouver teacher learn about teaching techniques from other parts of Canada and the world. 
• For another teacher, assembling a number of different supports together enabled him to attend an extended student cultural exchange in Ottawa and bring a stronger understanding of how the Canadian government works to his social studies classes. 
• A third teacher used the support to learn the specialized techniques needed to help students develop the fine motor skills needed to use a pen properly. 

The teachers were far more interesting and inspiring in their presentations than my summaries but it was obvious to me that this sort of professional development helps broaden and inspire teachers in ways that can be brought back into the school system to the benefit of all teachers and students.

4. School Calendars

The Ministry of Education has this year enabled school districts to establish local school calendars. This could mean adjustments to the dates and hours of schooling in the District. At the board meeting Superintendent Lewis announced the plan seek stakeholder input into a new calendar for the 2013/14 school year. NorthVanPAC has been asked to participate in this process and is currently seeking parent representatives to help develop the new calendar.