Board News: Tuesday, November 21, 2017
November 23, 2017
Secretary Treasurer’s Reports
Action Item: Policy No. 3850 – Conveyance of Students
The Board of Education passed a motion to adjust the wording of Policy No. 3850 – Conveyance of Students to reflect current practice. Specifically, reference to payment of fees for busing of students was removed as this is no longer applicable.
Action Item: Budget Process and Timeline
The draft budget process timeline was approved by the Board of Education. The budget process was initiated earlier this year to allow for more in-depth analysis and increased engagement from the public in the budget process.
Information Item: Final Enrolment Report
A motion was passed for the Board of Education to receive the Final Enrolment Report for information as presented. The 1701 data collection process at the end of September provides significant information about the student enrolment in the District, both in terms of headcount and full time equivalents (FTEs). The district has experienced growth this year in full time equivalents with the number of school-aged students increasing by almost 439 FTEs over 2016.
Information Item: Enrolment Report – Funding Update
Ministry of Education funding the District expects to receive is $173.50 million which is $3.26 million higher than the projected $170.24 million in the budget. There are several components and implications of this $3.26 million positive variance from budget including increased enrolment in the regular student category and increased enrolment in Special Needs students.
Superintendent’s Reports
Framework for Enhanced Student Learning and Quality Learning
Superintendent Gord Stewart introduced Assistant Superintendent Woody Bradford and Director of Instruction Dawne Tomlinson to discuss the district’s Balanced Literacy Plan. Along with District Teacher Shelley Hegedus, the goals and strategies implemented to improve literacy results for young learners was outlined.
Last year, the District embarked on a three-year plan to address primary literacy instruction in Langley schools. The 3-tiered approach involved working alongside teachers to support classroom practice in reading and writing, presenting in-service to staff around literacy instruction/performance-based assessment, hosting Faye Brownlie as a guest presenter, and hiring Instructional Coaches to support practice in Tier One schools. In addition, the District worked with the Langley Rotary Club to purchase books for students in grades 1 and 4 who would likely not have opportunities to read at home over the summer. This project was based on Dr. Richard Allington’s research around summer reading loss and how that reading loss compounds over time if learners do not have access to books over the summer.
Hiring for Diversity
A new initiative to establish more diverse employee opportunities that began in the winter of 2016 has resulted in the creation of a new position for the Langley School Board Office.
The process began when a partnership between the Langley Association of Community Living (LACL) and the Langley School District was established that allowed the district to participate in the LACL Partners in Employment program. The ultimate goal of the partnership was establishing employee positions within the district that would be available to persons with developmental disabilities, many of whom are graduates of the Langley School District.