Board News - Meeting of September 16, 2008
Please Note: These are not official minutes of the Langley Board of Education. Please contact the office of the Secretary Treasurer at 604-534-7891 for official minutes of Board proceedings.
LFA Performers delight Board
Performers from Langley Fine Arts School provided a musical introduction to the first Board meeting of the school year, performing a series of violin, choral works and dances.
District Foundation plans presented
Langley School District Foundation Director Steve Malish brought the Board up to date on activities of the Foundation, which raises funds to support programs and services in the district which are not funded through the Ministry of Education. Mr. Malish noted that the Foundation has drawn revenues from six events in 2008: the Third Annual Heart to Heart Gala; the Park Lane Make Natural History event; Kin's Market and Walnut Gate Summer Event; the Third Annual Foundation Golf Tournament; the Langley Rotary & Langley Times Walk/Run 5k/10k event and the Willowbrook Shopping Centre Literacy Festival. "Thanks to our supporters the Foundation has been able to provide over $300,000 in grants for school project," he noted.
LEC & APEX moves successful
The Langley Education Centre Secondary School and APEX Secondary School communities are very happy with the new facilities they have moved into, and thanked the Board for deciding to relocate their campuses. LEC moved into its new space on a shared campus with Langley Secondary School in February; APEX moved into the former Otter Elementary School site at 244th Street and Fraser Highway.
"Staff and students alike have been delighted with their new environment," LEC Principal Magdy Ghobrial told trustees. He quoted remarks by an LEC student who attended classes at both campuses: "While I found the old facility adequate, the new one is so far superior as to be almost incomparable," she said.
The APEX community is equally pleased with its new home. "It's just been an amazing thing," said School Coordinator Mitch Quinn. "The kids really embrace it." He noted that the school is "really proud" to be a part of the supportive Otter community.
Strategic Plan update
Lots has been done; lots remains to be done Superintendent of Schools Cheryle Beaumont reported to the Board in her Strategic Plan Update. Priorities for 2008-09 include: Technology, Special Education, Alternatives to Suspension, a new Culinary Program at Langley Secondary School, expanding the International Baccalaureate program, and continued expansion of Reading Recovery.
Ms. Beaumont noted that initiatives already undertaken by the Board are beginning to show results in terms of indicators like class size, class composition, and Special Education funding per pupil.
Strategic Plan Update
Preliminary Enrolment Report
Preliminary figures for 2008-09 enrolments show continued growth in student numbers in the Willoughby Slope area and in some choice programs; offset by continuing declines in other areas of the district. The official enrolment count will be conducted September 30, Secretary Treasurer Peter Greenwood reported to trustees. But the initial count shows a clear pattern. The enrolment count is important because the Ministry of Education will use the Sept. 30 numbers to determine Langley School District's per pupil funding grant.
Other items noted in the preliminary report included: a shift of elementary students in Aldergrove area schools in anticipation of the opening of a middle school at Betty Gilbert; data from the H.D. Stafford Middle School and Langley Secondary School reconfiguration; continued strong International Student enrolments; high demand for the U-Connect Distributed Learning option at Lochiel; and continued growth in refugee enrolments.
Preliminary Enrolment Report
Financial Statements approved
Langley School District has been given a clean bill of health by its auditor Grant Thornton. The Board received the financial audit, which was presented by Assistant Secretary Treasurer Brian Sommerfeldt. Mr. Sommerfeldt noted that the Ministry of Education provides 92% of the district's funding through its annual operating grant, a figure that did not change from the previous year. The next most important source of funding is fees from International Student enrolments, which amounted to 5% of total revenues. Salaries accounted for 89% of expenditures; services and supplies 11%. More than 85% of salaries went to personnel who provide direct services to students, Mr. Sommerfeldt noted.
Presentation on Financial Statements
Financial Statements
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