Trustee Report – April 9, 2014

Financial Reserves Allocation – Principals and teachers had a chance for input into where to use a $1 million reserve allocation put forward by the Board a month ago. Proposals came forward from each school for classroom needs, technology improvements, professional development (as per additional support identified in the division’s C2 internal workload study), etc. The proposal works out to $202/student for school-based budgets, plus other division-wide initiatives to improve student achievement, including an extra $100,000 towards technology network improvements. An additional $500,000 for school infrastructure improvements was also proposed from Operations and Maintenance reserves. The Board approved a total of $1.65 million in reserve funding to go back into our schools and to be spent by the end of the 2014/15 school year.

Transportation Committee report – bus drivers expressed concern about rising fuel costs, especially since the Province eliminated the fuel subsidy grant.  The Board approved a total of $72,000 in increases to the transportation budget, retroactive Sept. 1, 2013. An additional inclement weather day was approved bringing the total number of inclement weather days to four, effective the 2013/14 school year. The Board also approved the committee’s recommendation to extend the age policy of regular rural buses to 16 years from the current 15 years.

Policy Review - Policy 14 Hearings of Teacher Transfers and Policy 15 Program Reduction and School Closures were reviewed with no changes.

Student registrations fees – the Board reviewed and passed a motion for new fees being proposed at each school for the 2014/15 school year. By policy, the new fees must first be approved at the school council level. Many of the fee increases were due to increase in transportation costs for school field trips and phys. ed. trips.

ASCA conference – The Board passed a motion for two parents to attend the annual Alberta School Council Association conference April 25-27.

Superintendent Report:

• Staffing – plans underway for next year’s staffing projections.
• Math Olympics, March 26 – FG Miller School hosted this year’s junior high event which showcased student learning in math.
• CTS skills contest in Lac La Biche, March 28 – eight students from Regional School attended and all medaled in various CTS competitions. Seven students received either gold or silver and will head to the provincial competition.
• FOIPP for Facebook photos – schools developing a new consent form for registration. If the school event is public (ie. school concerts), the blanket consent is adequate, but if it is a classroom activity, a special consent is needed.
• Ag Safety Day – 275 Grade 4 and 5 students from around the division will take part in the event in St. Paul, May 15.

Financial Report

• Schools trained on the new financial and HR software. Still working out a few bugs on the HR side in moving away from the old sub list software. 
• Schools have submitted their preliminary budget lists for next year.
• Possible extension of funding for success coaches for another three years – still waiting on full details.

Capital Projects – TH Mennonite School – still no confirmation on a go-forward plan due to unforeseen site conditions. Have been dealing with this issue now for 6 months, so the Board passed a motion to send a letter to the Ministers of Education and Infrastructure to check the status of the project.

ASBA Zone 2/3 report – Trustee Pederson compiled a detailed report on the March meeting including information on the Province’s curriculum redesign, the MLA advocacy event on April 23, and plans for the upcoming ASBA spring general meeting.

C2 study update – Chair Starosielski, Superintendent Brodziak, and two local teachers attended the C2 Committee Session in Edmonton on April 8, 2014.  Updates were received on the progress of the C1, C2, and C3 workload studies that were part of the Framework Agreement with the Province.  Our division was selected to be one of five to present at this session regarding the process and findings of our C2 study.

• C1 Internal Alberta Education Review - almost complete and in final stages.
• C2 Internal School Jurisdiction Review – All 62 board reports have been filed and many common themes were noted.  SPERD has identified some key items to be addressed at a division level and each school will address appropriate school-based concerns as necessary.
• C3 Provincial Third Party Study – Contract has been awarded by the Province.  The study will reflect a complete cycle in the school year.  Approximately 1,800 teachers will be surveyed out of 35,000.  It was noted that this is the first study of its kind in Canada.