Near the end of August, Vice-Chair Maria Hampvent advocated for additional funding and supports for schools as part of the provincial budget consultation. View Vice-Chair Hampvent’s presentation to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services here.
September is the only month in the Board’s schedule without a theme from our strategic plan to focus our reflection and work. Naturally when I thinking about preparing for our first board meeting and the start of the school year I turn to beginnings.
Having the board focus our reflection and work this month on beginnings will allow us to re-imagine our work as a board, and a district, as if brand new. We have many opportunities to harness this idea and be open to the possibility it creates.
The end of the school year brings the ritual celebrations of graduation, retirement and the last day of school. The graduation ceremonies have been recorded and trustees have given their speeches. Families have celebrated the milestone achievement by their children together and we are coasting towards the last day of school!
Respect and responsibility are the values we focus on in May. At SD46 this means “we support a culture of mutual respect and shared responsibility through individual and shared growth”. I have taken some time to think about how we do this as a board and as a district. I am pleased to note there are many examples to share.
In April the Board and District focus in on innovation. Innovation is about finding new ways to do things, particularly by looking at current challenges and exploring different ways of tackling them. When I consider this topic, I think it can be easily argued that in the last year we have seen innovation and ingenuity like we haven’t seen in years before!
Collaboration & Equity: We create meaningful connections through our work together. This month we focus our work and attention as a board on our values of collaboration and equity. March is full of many important days that focus on equity such as, International Women’s Day, International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and International Transgender Day of Visibility.
In February our board’s focus is on inclusion. Inclusion means being and feeling accepted. It means ensuring equal access, resources and opportunities to those that might otherwise not be able to participate due to a variety of barriers.
Welcome back to all staff and students! It is wonderful that we are able to return to in person learning again. In January our focus is on ethics and as 2020 came to a close I reflected on the challenges and complications the year provided in the context of ethics.
November saw increased COVID cases and the board returning to virtual meetings only. On a positive note transmissions rates and cases in schools are low allowing us to continue to deliver face to face education to our learners. We feel privileged to continue to have our schools be safe places to learn.
At the time of writing, we still do not know 100% the results of the provincial election. It is safe to say however, that the NDP has won a majority government. It is the hope of many districts throughout the province that our co-governance relationship will remain intact, and that our agreements and funding during this pandemic will continue.
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