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IN THE SPOTLIGHT: School District 51 and its connections

I was reflecting on the work of SD51 and it occurred to me just how connected we all are in the task of educating our students.

As I was reflecting on the work of the board and our staff for the past few months, it occurred to me just how connected we all are in the task of educating our students.

Since just before school began in September, there have been numerous requests for feedback or support from education partners.  The Ministry of Education has asked districts to assign a staff person(s) to initiatives such as ERASE Bullying, Changing Results for Young Readers and the Grad Requirements Dialogue.  These initiatives have also involved requests for parent, public, trustee and general staff participation.

Trustees have been asked to provide feedback to the auditor general of B.C. on a governance survey and to the BC School Trustees Association (BCSTA) on questions relating to the processes and structures related to teacher collective bargaining.

None of this is especially different from past years, but it does serve to highlight the connections between the board of education and our co-governor of public education, the Ministry of Education and to our broader education partners, superintendents, principals and vice-principals, teachers, parents, support staff, and students themselves.

Together we all make up a support team working towards improving the success of kids.

Examples of our connectedness include:

  • The Graduation Requirements Dialogue, which has involved all levels from school district staff to parents, trustees and community members and in a school near you soon. Students will be asked to directly contribute to what their graduation program should or could look like.
  • ERASE Bullying is a five-year, multi-level training program for 15,000 educators and community partners to help them identify and prevent bullying.
  • The BCSTA has circulated a set of questions on processes and structures related to teacher collective bargaining to all education partner associations and to every board in the province. The responses will be complied and will form the basis for a report back to the annual general meeting of the BCSTA in April. Additionally, because government has recently launched their own inquiry into issues related to collective bargaining with teachers, it will help to inform the directors of the BCSTA when they respond to the request for feedback from government.
  • The development of the Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement (the renewal of which was signed in June of this year) was an inclusive process that sought and received participation from many sources.
  • The District Achievement contract reflects emphasis from the Ministry of Education, the board itself and the broader Boundary community and is supported through the school growth plans in each of the schools in the school district.

My point in relating all of this to you is to emphasize our connections to each other. None of us operate completely alone.

Our work is inclusive and generally collaborative. While it may be true that we each have individual responsibility for various aspects of student success, in many seen and unseen ways we support each other.

I believe this school district has done an excellent job of weaving together a network of support and connectedness that serves the needs of our students well.

Does that mean we are perfect and there is no room for improvement?  No, it doesn’t, but it does mean we are focused on a common goal of working towards improving success for all our students.

That common goal is one of the things I value most about public education.

– Teresa Rezansoff is chair for School District 51’s board of education