From the Boardroom
Welcome to the first issue of From the Boardroom for the 2022-23 school year. From the Boardroom shares information from Board of Trustee meetings as well as staff reports. Keep informed of new and future initiatives, highlights, and success stories of BHNCDSB!
We are pleased to highlight many activities that support the Board’s 2022-23 Spiritual Theme WE ARE MANY, WE ARE ONE.
September’s Committee of the Whole and Board meetings were a great start to the 2022-23 school year. They were also the first meetings attended by the Board’s new Student Trustee, Halaena Buenviaje.
Highlights of the two meetings include:
MECAC
Trustees approved the recommendation of individuals appointed to the Municipal Election Compliance Audit Committee (MECAC).
What is MECAC?
The Municipal Elections Act requires all municipalities and local school boards to establish Municipal Election Compliance Audit Committees (MECAC). The MECAC enables an elector, who believes that a candidate or third-party advertiser has contravened a provision of the Act relating to election campaign finances, to apply for a compliance audit of the candidate’s or third-party advertiser’s election campaign finances. The term of office for the MECAC is four years beginning on December 1, 2022. The Committee will deal with applications related to the regular election and any by-elections during their term.
REGIONAL CATHOLIC PARENT INVOLVEMENT COMMITTEE (RCPIC)
Trustees received the minutes of the last Regional Catholic Parent Involvement Committee Meeting of the 2021-22 school year that included details of a presentation that took place: Social Networking Session for Parents – Social Media, Cyberbullying, Smart Phones, Image Sharing, Privacy and Digital Trails, by Paul Davis.
MENTAL HEALTH STEERING COMMITTEE
Trustees received the minutes of the last Mental Health Steering Committee of the 2021-22 school year that included the introduction of April Taylor as the Board’s new Senior Social Worker and Thanh-Thanh Tieu as the Board’s new Research Associate.
BHNCDSB SUMMER PROGRAMS
To help students remain engaged academically and socially during a sustained school closure period, several summer school programming opportunities were made available during the summer of 2022. This summer was remarkable in respect to participation and results. The Board is grateful to all individuals who provided learning experiences for our students. 2022 Summer programs included:
Camp Blast
The Camp Blast program supports students in Grades 1 to 2 with a focus on their literacy skills. The camp ran five days a week from July 11- to July 29, from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm. There was a total of four hours of instruction each day, with a focus on building literacy skills as well as providing opportunities for Daily Physical Activity (DPA), visual arts, and cooperative games.
Child and Youth Care Workers met with classes twice a week to support building community, friendship, and self-regulation. Family sessions were also held to discuss the instruction and supports available to families in the area of mental health.
We had four sites with 160 students in total.
Emergent Readers
The Emergent Readers program focused on literacy instruction for emergent readers and targeted phonemic awareness, phonics, and letter/sound identification. Components of the Balanced Literacy model were used to target and practice skills (Guided Reading, Work Word). The FlyLeaf Emergent Reader Series was used as a component of the guided reading sessions.
Literacy Instruction Program
Literacy Instruction for LLI readers was focused on improving decoding accuracy, reading fluency and high-frequency word recognition. Fountas & Pinnell’s Levelled Literacy Intervention (Green) was used for guided reading instruction.
Teacher Professional Development
Due to the large number of camp teachers who had not experienced in-person Camp BLAST, there was a need to build teacher capacity through PD. Camp teachers participated in a full day of professional development at MDL. Topics included: Heggerty, Six Shifts Phonics Lessons, Leveled Literacy Intervention program, and FlyLeaf Guided Reading program. The participants also created a “Community of Learning” document for each camper (child) and shared with parents outlining the gains in literacy; strengths and needs, as well as next steps.
Summer School 2022 Update
The BHNCDSB offered a robust secondary summer school program in 2022. Approximately 1,383 students between Grades 7 to 12, enrolled in 19 Grade 9 to 12 secondary credit courses. Credit recovery opportunities were also offered at each grade level with 107 students enrolled in this program and approximately 147 students participated in Reach Ahead programming. Thirty students enrolled in a two-credit face to face co-operative education course. In all, 1,033.5 student credits were attempted with a 94.77% student achievement rate (979.5 credits earned).
STUDENT CLIMATE SURVEY
Director McDonald presented the Student Climate Survey which all school boards are required by the Ministry of Education to administer at least every two years. The purpose of the survey is to assess perceptions of safety, students’ school experiences, and effectiveness of programming. The survey was administered from May 19 to June 24, 2022, to students in Grades 4-12 with a total of 4,620 students completing the survey. Schools have individualized data reports which will inform their School Improvement Plan and assist in making their schools more welcoming and safer.
STUDENT TRUSTEE REPORT
Student Trustee, Halaena Buenviaje provided a report that included information provided by members of the Student Senate. The group reported that the first few weeks of school were successful and productive. Student Councils at all three secondary schools organized their game plan for the year and kickstarted major activities including sports and clubs where Grade 9 students had the chance to get to know their fellow students and see what their school has to offer.
School News
St. Johns College had a successful Here We Go Day that helped Grade 9 students ease into high school. St. Johns also had a very successful Colour Night for Grade 9 students where they played games, held Grade 9 representative elections, and hosted a dance. St. John’s Student Council is also having their first Liturgy of the Word on September 29, 2022, and is planning their first Pep Rally since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Holy Trinity had a successful Colour Night with over 300 Grade 9 students in attendance. During Colour Night, their student council welcomed Grade 9s, hosted fun games, and hosted competitions. Holy Trinity also hosted their Homecoming dance on September 23, 2022, selling over 400 tickets to the event. There is a Liturgy of the Word on September 29, 2022, as well as a Pep Rally on October 3, 2022.
Assumption College School had a successful Here We Go Day and had many Grade 9s in attendance. The school hosted a successful Colour Night and a Club Fest for Grade 9 students to explore clubs offered within their school. There is a Liturgy of the Word scheduled for September 29, 2022.
On September 22, 2022, Student Trustee Halaena Buenviaje
carried our Board banner at the 2022-23 Diocesan Mass.
SPIRITUAL THEME 2022-23
OCTOBER
Oct 4 – all day - Faith Day NORFOLK ONLY
Oct 7 – all day - Faith Day ALL SCHOOLS and ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENTS, EXCEPT NORFOLK
Oct 10 – all day - Thanksgiving Statutory Holiday
Oct 12 – 1:00 p.m. - Executive Council Meeting
Oct 18 – 3:00 p.m. - Mental Health Steering Committee Meeting
Oct 18 – 1:00 p.m. - Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC) Meeting
Oct 18 – 7:00 p.m. - Committee of the Whole Meeting
Oct 25 – 1:00 p.m. - Accessibility Steering Committee Meeting
Oct 25 – 7:00 p.m. - Board Meeting
