School District 51 (SD51) discussed school report cards and playground equipment during its last school board meeting on May 8.
Spring Report Cards
Spring report cards were sent out to students on April 26.
For students attending secondary school, the report cards had Semester 1 final grades and grades for the first half of Semester 2.
Elementary school report cards provided cumulative grades or indicators from September to March, but did not contain anecdotal comments. Due to that parent, teacher and student conferences were held on May 1 and 2 for parents to meet with teachers to receive more information about their child’s progress.
“The LRB (Labour Relations Board) ruling on April 22 had a provision in it that said if a school already had a plan in place for report cards and had already been circulated to staff, then those plans can carry on. That was the situation for SD51,” explained SD51 Superintendent of Schools Michael Strukoff. “We had already circulated our plans which included timelines, expectations of what needed to be in the report card and we had scheduled early dismissal for May 1 and 2 so teachers had time to meet with parents.”
Norm Sabourin, president of the Boundary District Teachers’ Association, noted that the report cards were a point of dissension for the teachers’ federation and he.
“The LRB ruling came out and it stated that teachers had until April 27 to hand in report cards to the office. Based on the original letter by the district, teachers were forced to hand in the report cards by the April 24,” said Sabourin. “This is the only district in the province that forced teachers to have it done early, which is a real problem.”
The LRB ruling said report cards had to be in by April 27, but SD51 is a four-day week, and April 27 was a Friday.
Playground Equipment
SD51 hopes to receive funding from the Ministry of Education to update elementary school playgrounds.
According to secretary-treasurer Jeanette Hanlon, the playgrounds were to be categorized as minimal equipment, (and) equipment needing upgrading.
“We have three schools that have not had playground equipment upgrades – Greenwood, West Boundary and Beaverdell,” said Hanlon. “The ministry will be letting the district know shortly if (it) will be funded for upgrades or replacements.”
Circle of Courage
SD51 Director of Instruction Maxine Ruzicka reported that there were training sessions on Circle of Courage, Medicine Wheel, Developmental Audit on April 20 to 23 as a part of Aboriginal Education.
Based on Circle of Courage- Developmental Audit “the sessions enlists young people in exploring challenging life events to develop strengths and resilient coping strategies.”
In her report, Ruzicka noted, “Research on resilience and brain science shows that children have universal needs for belonging, mastery, independence and generosity.”
She added, “The audit prescribes specific restorative practices to build these strengths and foster growth and responsibility.”
The final school board meeting is on June 12 at 6 p.m. at the School Board Office in Grand Forks.
