March 21, 2018 Board Meeting News

March 28th, 2018

Regional Office, Barrhead  – 

Board adopts Education Plan priorities for 2018-19
Following consultation at principal planning sessions, the school board voted to keep the 2018-21 Education Plan priorities:

  • Diversity of student needs
  • Student-teacher relationships
  • Numeracy
  • Literacy

The following value statement for PHPS was also developed:

We value success for every student. We can achieve success for every student when:

  • All participants in the education system are engaged in learning
  • Students, staff, parents and community commit to building an inclusive culture that is welcoming, caring, respectful and safe, in every area of the system
  • We accept all students for who they are and what they need
  • We provide all students with a sense of belonging
  • We teach the literacy and numeracy skills students need to be confident and competent in school and in life

See page 1-2 of the minutes for more information.

Board allocates $530,000 to key strategies
To support Education Plan priorities, the school board will use $530,000 from operating reserves. The funding will be used for several initiatives, including:

  • Two Coordinators to advise and support the division’s literacy and numeracy strategies, to advise and coordinate new teacher supports, and to support and coordinate counseling services for PHPS
  • Two part-time mentor program assistants to develop and sustain the capacity of support staff who work with classroom teachers and other student services staff
  • Creating a pool of release time for staff to support them in implementing the division’s priorities. For example, a teacher may be released to collaborate with other teachers and division specialists to design instruction for individual students.

The complete list of initiatives is available on page 3 of the minutes.

Barrhead area schools continue with School Resource Officer Program
The school board will continue their commitment towards the School Resource Officer Program for Barrhead ward schools for three more years.  This commitment secures an SRO program until June 30, 2021 for the following schools: Barrhead Composite High School, École Barrhead Elementary School, Fort Assiniboine School, Neerlandia Public Christian School, Dunstable School, and Barrhead Outreach School. The division’s share of funding for the SRO position comes directly from the individual school budgets – a total of $77,850 per year.

The SRO program has been part of the Barrhead area schools since 2008.

The next school board meeting is on Wednesday, April 11, 2018 at the PHPS Regional Office in Barrhead starting at 9:30 a.m. Members of the public are welcome to attend.