Supporting Students with Diabetes:  We support all students with diabetes in Kindergarten to grade four or five.  By this time, students are usually very independent with their medical needs.  At this time, we are supporting four students in the district.  All students, regardless of grade in elementary schools have an EA to go on field trips to ensure safety.

Six-Year Completion Rates:  These results have recently been released by the Ministry.  The six-year completion rate shows the percentage of students who graduate with a Dogwood diploma within six years of starting Grade 8 for the first time.  Completion rates should not be confused with graduation rates.  Graduation rates are determined by tracking the number of students enrolled in Grade 12 who graduate at the end of the school year.  For School District No. 53, our 2010/2011 six-year completion rate is 73% which is up almost 3% from 2009/2010.  Bev will present more information on these results at the meeting.  We are working with schools to develop a further contextual analysis to account for every student and help identify which programs, strategies and interventions are most effective in contributing to student success.

BC Education Plan:  The Ministry of Education has released a plan for education excellence.  The plan consists of five key elements:  personalized learning for every student, quality teaching and learning, flexibility and choice, high standards, and learning empowered by technology.  The plan can be viewed at www.bcedplan.ca

Innovation / Initiatives

DISTRICT-BASED INITIATIVES

Secondary School Apprenticeship:  the BC Industry Training Authority (ITA) has placed the Agricultural Equipment Technician program on the “inactive” list.  According to the ITA, Agricultural Equipment Technician is a designated Red Seal program and the expectation is that BC will maintain the current program standards as described on the program profile. However, due to low numbers of apprentices registered in this trade over the past five years, ITA, in consultation with the Transportation Career Development Association (transCDA), has concluded that there is insufficient support from industry to maintain Agricultural Equipment Technician as an active program.  Once a program is designated "inactive," ITA will not register new apprentices in the program.

This is a concern to the district as we place between one and four SSA students in this program on a yearly basis.  Our Career Prep teacher Rod Kitt, the ITA, and our two main sponsors have come up with a possible solution where an apprentice student would go into the Heavy Duty Mechanic program with the ITA creating an "endorsement" to be added to that ticket.  We will continue to monitor progress on this.

Dual Credit and ACE IT:  We are really excited about the number of dual credit and ACE IT students in the district this year:

5 students from around the district have applied for the Okanagan College mobile welding program beginning in January in Oliver using the Munckhof Manufacturing facility.

1 student from SESS has applied to the Residential Construction program at Okanagan College  in Penticton;

1 student from OSS is set to enter the Electrical Foundation program at BCIT; and

1 student from SOSS will be starting an Esthetics program at Okanagan Cosmetology Institute in Penticton.

These are great situations for students as the district pays the fees for the programs using tuition funding and the students receive credits toward graduation as well as post-secondary credit.  For the ACE IT programs, the district receives another grant of up to $2,750 if the student successfully completes the program.

Day Care Expansion at TeN:   Daycare services at Tuc-el-Nuit Elementary, provided by Penticton and District Community Resources Society, will be expanding to include a toddler care program. This has been initiated by the fire at SOSS, which was to have a day care program as part of the Neighbourhoods of Learning.

Board/Authority Authorized Courses:  The list of BAA courses approved for our district can be accessed from our district website at www.sd53.bc.ca under Programs & Services. Information about courses can be accessed by clicking on the course name.

SCHOOL-BASED INITIATIVES

Remembrance Day Ceremonies:  As in the past, our schools did outstanding jobs in observing Remembrance Day on November 10.  Our thanks to administrators, staff and students for their fine work.  District staff and trustees attended programs in each of our communities.

Field Trips:  Board approval is recommended for the following field trip request:

Mr. Johnny Bridgeman (SESS) and Lisa Ante (OSS, SOSS) are requesting approval to take their Band students to the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow, Idaho, USA.  This is a collaborative effort between the three schools and all paperwork and safeguards are in place.

Operations

October 2011 Enrolment Report:  Attached is the October 2011 enrolment report. As indicated in the report, student enrolment is 2,384.375 FTE which is an overall decrease from September 2011 of 9.125 FTE.  Elementary schools have decreased by 2 FTE, secondary schools decreased by 15.375 FTE and YouLearn has increased by 6.25 FTE since September 2011.

SOSS Update: A draft Project Identification Report (PIR) was sent to the Ministry on November 15.  The report contains four plans and budget options and confirms that Option 5A, as preferred by the Board, staff and consultants, is the least expensive option.  This option has a total project budget of $22,673,750.  Ministry staff have recommended a few changes to the report prior to submission to Treasury and also requested information on costs to date on the original project and costs incurred on the temporary school facilities.  The district is waiting for confirmation on timelines and process for project approval.

Telus Contract: There may be an opportunity for districts to take advantage of a new provincial contract signed with Telus for telecommunication services.  In order to access the contract, districts with 60% of the total provincial student FTE must enroll in the plan.  If those numbers are attained, the district could save approximately $25,000 per year.  Districts outside the Lower Mainland pay a higher rate for voice services so our savings are similar to much larger districts in the Vancouver area.  The contract allows for a 'postage stamp' rate meaning no matter where you are, the rate is the same.  Annual savings throughout the province could total $1.1 million.