The New Westminster school board is having its monthly public board meeting this week – and yes, you’re right, it’s a few weeks early thanks to the winter break.
Here are some of the highlights to be discussed at the meeting on Tuesday:
Lots of correspondence
Typically, there’s not much going on in the correspondence part of the board meetings, but the board’s been busy lately writing letters to a number of people.
Among the recipients are Tl’etinqox First Nation Chief Joe Alphonse (he’s also tribal chairman for the Tŝilhqot’in National Government). The school board sent a letter on Nov. 27 responding to a letter from Alphonse asking that New Westminster Secondary School be renamed when the new school opens in 2020.
The letter, sent by chair Mark Gifford on behalf of the board, acknowledges Alphonse’s letter and notes it was discussed at a meeting on Nov. 13.
Gifford also sent two letters last week.
The first was to New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Cote asking for the city’s help solving traffic safety problems on Salter Street, directly in front of Queen Elizabeth Elementary and Queensborough Middle.
The second letter was sent to the Queensborough Residents Association thanking president Laurie Moore and director Lara Ranalletta for attending the board’s Dec. 4 committee meeting and for proposing a temporary solution to some of the problems.
“The Association’s suggestion to partner with the Roma Hall for use of its parking lot, as well as the suggestion to install gate access at adjacent Queen Elizabeth Elementary School, has been taken under advisement and will be included in on-going considerations for addressing the traffic and parking concerns at the two Queensborough schools,” Gifford writes.
Needs approval
Trustees will vote on a few items forwarded from the combined education and operations policy and planning committee meeting held last week.
This includes approving the creation of two neighbourhood learning centre advisory committees – one for the Richard McBride Elementary School replacement project and the other for the New Westminster Secondary School replacement project.
These advisory committees will help decide what the neighbourhood learning centre spaces included in both new schools will be used for once they’re complete. The advisory committees come with their own unique set of guidelines, which can be read here: McBride and NWSS.
Trustees will also be asked to approve a motion directing staff to develop questions for Thought Exchange, a digital consultation forum that will be part of the 2019-20 budget process.
Reports, reports, reports
Last time we checked in with superintendent Karim Hachlaf, he was touring all the schools and alternate programs in the school district. You can expect an update on this tour as well as the other work he’s been doing in the district since November.
Robert Weston, the district’s director of human resources, meanwhile, will present his second report on teacher absences and coverage. This time the report will also include numbers on education assistant absences and coverage.
This is a new initiative passed by the previous school board to track the number of teacher absences covered by non-enrolling staff or administration as well as education assistant absences that result in lost learning time for students with special needs.
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For more on these items and other school board news, follow me on Twitter @cayleydobie. I’ll be tweeting live from the meeting, too.
The board meeting (as well as all committee meetings) are open to the public. The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 11, at the board office, 811 Ontario St.
