Board News: Tuesday May 28, 2019
May 28, 2019
The Regular Meeting of the Langley Board of Education is streamed live beginning at 7:00pm. A link to the video is posted here in Board News.
Secretary-Treasurer Reports
Annual Facility Grant
Secretary-Treasurer Brian Iseli gave an update on the Annual Facilities Grant (AFG), which is a fund received annually from the province to do maintenance and upkeep of our buildings. The District submits a plan to the Board for approval in order to receive the funding from the Ministry. The total AFG funding granted to the Langley School District for the 2019/2020 school year is $3,285,605. The Board of Education approved the Annual Facilities Grant 2019/2020 spending plan as presented. The video above will begin on this agenda item.
Annual Budget Bylaw
Secretary-Treasurer Brian Iseli presented an update on the Annual Budget. Revenue for the 2019-2020 fiscal year is $247,009,219. Expenses for the 2019-2020 fiscal year is $251,352,582. He explained the District has increased the number of students by about 230 but there is an increase in expenses, mainly in part due to the opening of a new secondary school. He summarized the bulk of the increases in spending District-wide have gone into classrooms.
The District’s operating budget is $210,171,241 and the deficit $2,184,978. To balance the budget the District will be using roughly $2,184,978 million in accumulated surplus. The Annual Budget Bylaw, which is the expenditure for all funds, is a total of $251,934,582. The Board gave first and second reading. The Board will host a budget open house next week for the public to attend. Thereafter, the Board will give third reading and consider approval at the Board meeting on June 18th, 2019. The video above will begin on this agenda item.
Superintendent’s Reports
Summer Session 2019
Langley Education Centre Principal Ron Stare and Coghlan Fundamental Elementary School Principal Cathy Gracie, who are both responsible for the District’s summer session, gave an update on the program. There are currently 13 different locations which offer diverse opportunities. There are roughly 3,700 students, more than 200 teachers, nearly 80 SEAs, and other staff involved to run the program. Stare mentioned the programs are growing with an increasing interest from students in and out of the District. For example, there are 12% higher registrations in 2019 than 2018. About 2/3 of the secondary school classes are in Walnut Grove and 1/3 of classes at Brookswood Secondary School. New elements in 2019 include the addition of Douglas Park Community School and middle school courses such as Computational Thinking and Maker Explorations. The video above will begin on this agenda item.
Action Plans for Learning
James Hill Elementary Principal Kendra Simonetto and James Kennedy Principal Lisa Lainchburyn presented action plans for their schools. Every school develops an action plan. The plans outline a framework to help schools meet their own goals and they are also aligned with the District’s Strategic Plan. There are eight elements of the action plan including the following categories: vision, team, community, student learning, professional learning, environmental design, measurement, financial sustainability. The purpose of the action plan is to help maintain goals, engage staff, students, parents and the community. Literacy and social-emotional learning are examples of the main goals for James Hill Elementary as part of its action plan. An example of Professional Learning includes Learning Walks, which is an activity for principals to walk through their school to observe and take lessons from the classes in their school. An example of Student Learning includes Brain Gym, which is an activity where all students in the school can do 15 minutes of physical activity and cool down before they start their day. The principals outlined examples of measurement and financial sustainability strategies. The video above will begin on this agenda item.