Nicholas Donaldson
The Rainy River District School Board will hold its last regular meeting of the 2016-17 school year tonight at 7 p.m. in the Education Centre here.
Trustees will vote to approve the Strategic Plans Goals for 2017-22, a required plan that is reviewed annually and provides direction to the board in the coming years.
Trustees and senior administration met with Marilyn Gouthro, an Ontario Public School Boards’ Association facilitator, back in February to review the plan.
As well, 40 students from Grades 7-12, representing students across the district, were asked to provide their thoughts on a series of questions.
These questions were about success, confidence, engagement, community, and what schools need to do to support these ideas.
“The students provided a powerful voice and insight into the next steps that the Rainy River District School Board must take to support and enhance student well-being and achievement, now and into the future,” noted a report from the board.
Some of the messages from students outlined in the report focused on personalized, customized learning, small group/one-on-one learning opportunities, support for all education pathways, technology improvements, and social media use to reach parents.
“As a result of the feedback, the board narrowed its focuses to two critical areas: a rich learning agenda and a focus on relationships,” the report stated.
The two strategic priorities-over-arching, high-level focuses-were identified as “A Culture of Lifelong Learning” and “A Culture of Caring.”
Since then, the feedback has been shared with stakeholders and small group sessions were held to discuss the ideas.
The 2017-18 online budget survey also was restructured around the focuses to further gauge stakeholder response.
The inclusion of student voices reportedly has garnered a lot of positive feedback from stakeholders, and trustees are set to approve the plan to further develop the board’s goals and vision.
Also at tonight’s meeting, trustees will:
•recognize employees retiring this spring and the winner of the Volunteer of the Year Award;
•review a letter to the minister of education supporting the Thames Valley District School Board’s letter requesting a reduction in class size requirements for indigenous learning courses;
•hear the winning speech from the district speech contest held May 24 (“The Hill” by Crossroads student Erica Lemelin);
•read five correspondence letters covering EQAO, second language learning, special education funding, and the establishment of a Standards Development Committee for Education; and
•approve the procurement of Chromebooks up to $470,000 (increased from $300,000) to meet an initiative that has been expanded to include Grade 12 students and additional staff (ESP/EAs).
