Superintendent’s Reports

COVID-19 Update

Superintendent Mal Gill provided a few education related updates which took place over the last month before presenting the District’s COVID-19 update. He discussed the semester turn around transition at the secondary level which was very effective for both students and staff. He mentioned the Pro-D Odyssey Conference on February 11 available for staff which focused on Truth and Reconciliation Learning. He closed this introduction about the celebration of Diversity and Respect Week which is taking place across the District this week.

Superintendent Mal Gill shared student absence rates data and confirmed that levels are in line with what was seen two years ago. He provided an update on health and safety guidelines including the rescinding of protocols including visitors in schools, spectators in sports games, and hot lunch programs in schools. Gill reported to the Board the distribution of rapid antigen tests for staff. He noted the District will be distributing tests for students when they arrive from the Ministry. Gill provided a meaningful tribute to Instructional Services Director, Dawne Tomlinson who is retiring form the District. He mentioned how important and valuable she was to the District and student learning.

The Board approves the report as presented. The video above will begin on this agenda item.

Amended District Calendar 2022-2023 and District Calendar 2024-2025

Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Barry Bunyan presented an amended district calendar for 2022-2023. He mentioned the Board had previously approved this calendar as it has been the District’s tradition to approve calendars three years in advance. He said the reason for the amendment is meant to align the District calendar with neighbouring districts, noting that many districts do not approve their calendars many years in advance. Bunyan highlighted the only difference with this amended calendar is the start of March break. As is the case with all District calendars, this amended calendar complies with calendar regulations and meets instructional hours. He added the more detailed school calendars will be presented to the Board later in the spring. This proposed amended calendar requires a public consultation process. The process to make comments will be shared on the District website and social media channels.

Recommendation: That the Board of Education requests staff begin the consultation process for the Amended District Calendar for 2022-2023.

Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Barry Bunyan presented the Board with the proposed District calendar for 2024-2025 which requires a public consultation process. The process to make comments will be shared on the District website and social media channels.

Recommendation: That the Board of Education requests staff begin the consultation process for the District Calendar for 2024-2025.

The Board approved the above motions. The video above will begin on this agenda item.

The Board invites members of the public to provide feedback on these District Calendars by March 25. Please send comments to feedback@sd35.bc.ca

Revised District Calendar 2022-23

Revised District Calendar 2024-25

District Early Literacy Results

Deputy Superintendent Woody Bradford opened the presentation with reflections on the First People’s Principle, which guides the District’s work, and noted how “learning takes patience and time.” He showed a graph indicating the District’s literacy results in 2018 and 2019. Although COVID-19 impacted learning, he said the District is seeing some growth in some groups of students but recognizes more work needs to done. He outlined data for Aboriginal students and students with Diverse Abilities which are seeing growth. Staff are continuing to review the impact of COVID-19 and looking at how the District can make improvements. He talked about the importance of ensuring students feel safe, which is key to their success. He shared a graphic of the SD35 Continuous Improvement Plan and explained the components of it. He said the Ensouling our Schools framework is another key piece for supporting students and providing what they need to be successful. He also shared a graphic of the District’s focus on professional learning communities.

Assistant Superintendent Lisa Lainchbury said oral language, phonological and phonemic awareness is the foundation for developing literacy. She talked about the tiers of intervention currently being used by educators in the District: Tier 1 (whole class), Tier 2 (targeted small group instruction for all of the students), Tier 3 (individualized intensive interventions). She described the District’s development of a sound wall, which is a tool used by educators to show students what sounds look like. She indicated the effectiveness of speech language pathologists and their collaboration with staff. She closed her portion of the presentation with the importance of common assessments.

Director of Instruction Dawne Tomlinson talked about the importance of professional learning communities working together to determine prioritized learning standards in schools. It gives educators time to have important conversations about their students and space for collaboration. Through these experiences and shared feedback, the District is noticing that the standards at the District level are similar to what is developed at the school level. She said students are coming into Kindergarten with limited oral language skills, with technology and COVID-19 as potential impacting factors. Tomlinson provided a number of examples of strategies to help improve literacy results. The District made some investments in resources such as decodable books at different levels. The District is looking at providing more reading assessment kits to move the work forward. The District put together bookable classroom libraries for new teachers and provided a workshop to help them. The District has a full catalogue of webinars for educators touching on a variety of literacy topics. Tomlinson also added the use of the SORA app for staff to use for their own learning. The District is collaborating with teacher librarians. The District has also invested in funding to refresh furniture as well as accessing grants to purchase books to better represent students in their schools (e.g. diversity and inclusion related resources). The District is continuing with its summer book giveaway which is funded by community partners to help prevent the ‘summer slide’ in reading.

Parkside Centennial Elementary Principal Cathy Gracie shared examples of the literacy progress at her school. Gracie says the school’s two-part action plan is focused on literacy and social emotional learning. She said the school has collected student literacy results data for the last few years which is helpful to making improvements. She explained the school tracks demographic information such as Aboriginal students, English Language Learner students, and student absence rates. Gracie highlighted the school’s success in literacy as she noted after first term report cards, the school learned that 82 per cent of students in grade 5 were meeting grade level expectations. The 18 per cent not meeting expectations were Aboriginal students or ELL students and they are students receiving extra support. In the discussion of strategies, she noted one of the key pieces has been providing teachers 30 minutes once a week to collaborate with their grade group partners to talk about how to improve their instruction, as well as taking part in professional development opportunities. The school is also using a word inventory, phonological and phonemic assessments, and has been working closely with the school’s speech and language pathologist. She shared pictures of students reading to show how students are immersed in literacy for most of the day. Director of Instruction Dawne Tomlinson closed the presentation with a video of a student from James Hill which outlines the power of resources that speak to students.

The Board approves the report as presented. The video above will begin on this agenda item.

Secretary Treasurer’s Reports

Amended Budget Bylaw 2022/2023

Secretary-Treasurer Brian Iseli provided an overview of the amended budget for 2022/2023. He reminded trustees the budget has to be finalized to the Ministry at the end of the month. He shared tables outlining District expenses, revenue, budget bylaw amounts, operating revenues, operating expenses, and included a detailed breakdowns of different categories of the budget such as salaries, benefits, services, and supplies as examples.

Recommendation: That the Board of Education approves staff to appropriate (unrestrict) the following restricted surplus amounts to balance the 2021/2022 Amended Budget:

• $582,200 Internally restricted for Aldergrove region improvements
• $200,000 Internally restricted for electric buses
• $412,882 school surpluses
• $135,026 Internally restricted for Indigenous Education
• $641,977 Internally restricted for Holdback Funding (Learning Loss)
• $1,305,421 Internally restricted for commitments 2020/2021
• $500,000 Internally restricted for classroom furniture
• $395,286 Internally restricted for COVID-19 contingency

Recommendation: That the Board of Education unrestrict $320,919 from the Internally Restricted to balance 2021/2022 budget and then internally restrict $320,919 for future District capital contributions.

Recommendation: That the Board of Education unrestrict the $4,000,000 Internally restricted (appropriated) by the Board as per Policy 17.

Recommendation: That the School District No. 35 (Langley) Amended Annual Budget Bylaw 2021/2022 in the amount of $297,684,936 be given first reading.

Recommendation: That the School District No. 35 (Langley) Amended Annual Budget Bylaw 2021/2022 in the amount of $297,684,936 be given second reading.

Recommendation: That the Board of Education of School District No. 35 (Langley) approves having all three readings of the Amended Annual Budget Bylaw 2021/2022 in the amount of $297,684,936 at tonight’s meeting.

Recommendation: That the School District No. 35 (Langley) Amended Annual Budget Bylaw 2021/2022 in the amount of $297,684,936 be given third reading, passed and adopted on this 22nd day of February 2022.

The Board approved the above motions. The video above will begin on this agenda item.

Smith, Willoughby Area Land Purchase Bylaw 2022

Recommendation: That The Board of Education of School District No. 35 (Langley) (the “Board”) approves the Smith, Willoughby Area Land Purchase Bylaw 2022 to approve the purchase of the lands as described below, for a Middle/Secondary site in the Smith neighbourhood of the Willoughby Area from the Corporation of the Township of Langley (the “Township”), and for the Secretary-Treasurer to execute the documents required to complete the transaction.

Recommendation: That the School District No. 35 (Langley) Smith, Willoughby Area Land Purchase Bylaw 2022 be given first reading. Recommendation: That the School District No. 35 (Langley) Smith, Willoughby Area Land Purchase Bylaw 2022 be given second reading.

Recommendation: That the Board unanimously approves having all three readings of the School District No. 35 (Langley) Smith, Willoughby Area Land Purchase Bylaw 2022 at tonight’s meeting.

Recommendation: That the School District No. 35 (Langley Smith, Willoughby Area Land Purchase Bylaw 2022 be given third reading, passed and adopted on this 22nd day of February 2022.

The Board approved the above motions. The video above will begin on this agenda item.

Education/Strategic Plan Committee

Annual Review of Specialty Academy Fees

Recommendation: That the Board of Education approves the fees for Specialty Academies for the 2022-23 school year, as presented.

The Board approved the above motion. The video above will begin on this agenda item.

Annual Review of International Bacculaureate Fees

Recommendation: That the Board of Education approves the fee structure for the International Baccalaureate Program at RE Mountain Secondary for the 2022-23 school year, as presented.

The Board approved the above motion. The video above will begin on this agenda item.

New Business

Trustee Comments

Question Period