Facilities crowded
The Sea to Sky School District is getting full faster than staff had hoped.
The restored language in the teachers agreement that went into effect this school year has likely played a role in speeding up the rate at which classrooms are filled up, because class sizes are smaller.
Furthermore, kindergarten registrations appear to be up.
McCullough said during last week’s regular school board meeting that the kindergarten registration roster is just 45 students shy of the expected Sept. 30 numbers.
“That is way closer to our actuals than we usually are at this point in time,” she said.
McCullough also noted that Garibaldi Highlands Elementary kindergarten registrations are 16 students over the amount of children it had this past Sept. 30.
“That’s very worrisome for our space,” she said.
Money from the province
In order to accommodate a growing school population, Garibaldi Highlands Elementary will be expecting a new portable on
Feb. 26.
Secretary-treasurer Shehzad Somji said the province has given $40,000 to help cover the costs for the portable’s sprinkler systems and ramps for wheelchair-accessibility.
Fentanyl community forum in the works
The Sea to Sky School District is considering partnering with other local associations for a fentanyl community forum.
Parents, police, paramedics and healthcare workers are some possible examples of who could be attending the event.
At the moment, the idea is in its preliminary stages, said director Phillip Clarke.
Clarke said he’s still trying to determine who will be participating and where.
Numeracy Assessment update
About 120 Grade 11 students from Howe Sound Secondary took part in the new numeracy assessment, which is a pilot project being administered by the province.
McCullough said the test is not a provincial exam and is intended to be a program assessment for those past Grade 9.
Howe Sound Secondary principal Nick Pascuzzi said some teachers and students believe the assessment places too much emphasis on language skills for a numeracy assessment.
This would especially be a problem for international students or English Language Learners.
On the other hand, he said others believed that it made math problems more relevant to real-life situations and therefore more practical.
Some also said it was a good test for critical thinking.
He said a couple of students were also concerned about whether universities would view the test results.
Pascuzzi said the program was a pilot, but the school district hasn’t received confirmation from the province about whether the results would show up on a student’s transcript.
Learning modules proposal gain momentum
A push to create standardized provincial learning modules for teachers has gained a little more momentum.
The idea, proposed by former Sea to Sky School District Asst. Supt. Jody Langlois, would create online learning tools that would hopefully make the training given to teachers more standardized.
The B.C. School Trustees Association has agreed to ask the province if it could put the idea into practice. It’s expected the association will make the request in the near future.
