From the Boardroom - January 24, 2017

From the Boardroom - January 24, 2017
Posted on 01/25/2017
From the Boardroom

Presentations

St. Louis School

Trudy Cederwall, school principal along with Stephanie Williams, Core French Teacher and Megan Derouard, Active Living Lead provided a report on the innovative programs happening at St. Louis School.

Dog-Trick Club/Friends of Havoc

Trudy shared information on the school's Dog-Trick Club. The club happens Friday afternoons when Mrs. Angela Holmstrom brings her dog, Fergie, to school. Students learn how to teach Fergie new tricks and then they can go home and work with their own dogs on tricks. Over 40 students have been attending the Dog-Trick Club.

The Friends of Havoc program was initiated after St. Louis School's beloved Therapy Dog, Havoc, passed away. Two dogs named Zip and Elise visit the school and spend time with students as reading buddies. The dogs help to provide students with confidence and friendship.

Learning Festival

Stephanie Williams shared information about St. Louis School's Learning Festival Program. The program is entering its 3rd year and occurs over two-days the last week of the school year. The program came about as an opportunity to allow staff members to share their gifts, passions and talents with students. The intention is to provide students with learning opportunities that are not typically taught in the curriculum. Some examples of Learning Festival workshops include wilderness survival, mountain biking, coding and robotics, mindfulness, fitness fun, cheerleading, geocaching and jewelry making. Students can choose the workshops they are interested in.

Hockey Skills Development Program

Trudy Cederwall and Megan Derouard provided a report on St. Louis School's Hockey Skills Development Program. The program runs one day per week over the course of eight weeks and focuses on introducing students to the sport of hockey and developing skills. The program is being offered to students in grades 3 - 6 and is available to all skill levels. There are 11 boys in the program on Tuesdays and 12 girls on Thursdays. The program runs during the student's lunch break, so students do not miss large blocks of instructional time.

Idea Lab

Jamey Robertson, Innovation and Creativity Coordinator and Tammy Bush, Early Years Lead and Learning Coordinator teamed up to provide a presentation on the board's Idea Lab. The Idea Lab is a process within the board that supports innovative learning projects throughout the board. A teacher or a staff member can approach the Idea Lab with an application for a project, and the Idea Lab will work to support the project with resources, support and networking to help the idea become a reality.

A key part of the process is documenting projects and capturing stories. The team recently launched two Innovative Learning project videos 'Innovative Learning @ Pope John Paul II School - Story Workshop' and 'Innovative Learning @ École Ste-Marguerite Bourgeoys - 3D Printing and Design Project'.

The Idea Lab has eight stewards that work in the Idea Lab who support innovative projects. The goal of the stewards is to provide outstanding support and service that is consistent regardless of which steward is assigned to a project. The team wants to provide 'white glove service' to each project that is supported through the Idea Lab. Learn more about the Idea Lab here.

Before and After-school Programs

Tammy Bush, Early Years Lead and Learning Coordinator provided a report on the board's Before and After-school Programs. Bush explained that there are many opportunities for students to access free programs, sports and clubs after school as well as for parents to access pay for service childcare programs within the system.

Bush explained that the board has third party service arrangements with childcare operators. The board is working with the Kenora Association for Community Living at École Ste-Marguerite Bourgeoys for a full day program as well as an after school program for École Ste-Marguerite Bourgeoys and Pope John Paul II School. FireFly operates an after school program at St. Louis School and the Municipality of Red Lake runs a full day program at St. John School as well as an after school program. The providers also offer programming during school breaks such as March break and summer break.

Bush explained that in 2010 childcare moved under the mandate of the Ministry of Education to create an alignment of services. School boards now have responsibility for children from 0 to adulthood which helps provide an integrated and seamless services as families move through the system.

Information Technology Services Plan

Craig Debbo, Manager of Information Technology Services provided a report on the activities within his department. Debbo explained that in November 2016 the board rolled out a new one-to-one Chromebook initiative for all students in grade 4. Each child was provided with their own Chromebook. Students in Grade 7 also have the one-to-one Chromebook program. Students in earlier grades have class iPads.

Debbo also presented that the librarians from Pope John Paul II School, École Ste-Marguerite Bourgeoys, St. Louis School and St. Thomas Aquinas High School have banned together to form 1 system library to share resources and books. Through their school library, students can reserve books from other schools.

The board has identified a Maplewood Lead to support the board's efforts with the student management system. Carrie Koch, Secretary from École Ste-Marguerite Bourgeoys is the Maplewood Lead for the elementary schools. Koch will be leading secretarial training and implementing processes to help the board be more efficient and effective.

Debbo also shared that the Kenora Catholic District School Board is part of wave 1 of the Ministry of Education's Broadband Modernization Initiative. The Ministry of Education is funding the redesign of networks across Ontario to bring faster internet access to students.

Reports

Superintendent of Business Services

The trustees passed a motion to approve the appointment of Alison Smith as Superintendent of Business Services effective January 17, 2017. To read more about this appointment please click here.

2017 / 2018 School Year Calendar

Phyllis Eikre, Director of Education provided the trustees with a review of the draft 2017 /2018 School Year Calendar. To review the calendar please click here.

Report on the Ontario Catholic School Trustees' Association Trustee Professional Development Session

Phyllis Eikre provided a report on the OCSTA Trustee Professional Development Session that was hosted on January 13th and 14th in Toronto. The program session was entitled 'Reaching Out, Engaging Communities'. Frank Bastone, Paul Landry, Vaughn Blab, Mike Favreau, Anne Sweeney and Phyllis Eikre attended this session.

2017 Trustee Twinning Report and Board Committees

Phyllis Eikre provided the trustees with an updated report on the 2017 Trustee Twinning and the Board Committees. Trustees are twinned with the following schools:

Frank Bastone, Chair is twinned with all schools

Teresa Gallik, Vice Chair is twinned École Ste-Marguerite Bourgeoys

Paul Landry is twinned with St. Thomas Aquinas High School

Mike Favreau is twinned with Pope John Paul II School

Vaughn Blab is twinned with St. John School

Anne Sweeney is twinned with St. Louis School

2016 Director's Annual Report

Phyllis Eikre provided a report on the 2016 Annual Director's Report that showcases a small snapshot of the projects and initiatives of the 2016 that alight with the board's Strategic Plan: Our Journey, Our Faith, Our Joy. Click here to read the 2016 Annual Director's Report.

Student Trustee Report

Student Trustee Jieren Bornia provided a report on the notable accomplishments, humanitarian activities and events happening at St. Thomas Aquinas High School for December.

You can watch Jieren's video presentation here.

Next Board Meeting

The next Board Meeting of the Kenora Catholic District School Board is scheduled for Thursday, February 21st at 7:00 p.m. at the Catholic Education Center. Video Conferencing is available from the annex of St. John School in Red Lake. Everyone is welcome to attend. For a full listing of Board meetings please click here.

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