School District 51 (SD51) discussed the recent passing of Bill 36 (School Amendment Act) at a school board meeting on May 8.
Bill 36 was passed on April 26 and includes several interesting points, such as students in Kindergarten to Grade 9 having the ability to take a mix of online and traditional school courses.
“When you look at the five pillars of the BC Education Plan, (Bill 36) talks about flexibility and personalized learning,” stated Superintendent of Schools Michael Strukoff. “We’re not sure how to take this right now because in the past, students could do distributed learning but it was all or nothing.”
The five pillars include personal learning for every student, quality learning, flexibility and choice, high standards and learning empowerment through technology.
Strukoff noted that it’s still unclear how online courses would work for students in Kindergarten to Grade 9 as of yet.
“Inside our schools it is something we can certainly do,” he said. “We heard Jennifer Turner talk about the courses that have been offered to secondary schools so now this may be a possibility.”
Turner, co-ordinator for the online learning program and vice-principal for Big White and Walker Development, previously spoke to the school board about online education with courses accessed through Moodle for secondary school students.
Another change in Bill 36 includes the legislation around school calendars.
“They are now changing the flexibility of school districts now to determine their own calendars and it’s quite a consultative procedure that needs to occur and it can’t happen out of the blue,” said Strukoff. “It does allow for different kinds of things, such as moving spring break to a different time, or seriously looking at a balanced calendar.”
Norm Sabourin, president of Boundary District Teachers’ Association, said he is concerned about the hours of education.
“I’m worried about the regular schedule being changed to either be extended to there will be longer school hours in total,” he stated. “Not necessarily here, but at school districts that are bulging at the seams.”
The issue of a balanced or changed school calendar will be discussed at the District Design meeting held in Grand Forks on Wednesday, May 23 at 6:30 p.m. at Perley Elementary School.
There are also changes to the fees for direct cost of International Baccalaureate program.
The International Baccalaureate program offers school courses to international students around the world.
“Many of the larger secondary schools have been offering the International Baccalaureate program and there are costs absorbed with it,” explained Strukoff. “The way the School Act was written is there were costs that had to be absorbed by the district. This will allow for school districts to charge for this course but there are some limitations.”
This change in Bill 36 does not affect SD51 since it is not offered at either Boundary Central or Grand Forks Secondary Schools.
“If it cost you to do English 12 X amount of money to deliver that course, International Baccalaureate is most likely more money because you have the teacher and the licensing, so it would be the difference that you’re charging for,” Strukoff added. “It’s not a long bill, but it does have interesting implications.”
Job cuts
In other SD51-related news, there will be four and a half job teacher job cuts within SD51.
SD51 secretary treasurer Jeanette Hanlon noted that this does not necessarily mean full positions are cut.
“Four and a half job cuts can mean reduced hours for teachers,” she said.