Last week's School District 52 Board meeting covered a fair bit of territory on a range of issues both on administrative issues and in areas of learning and other initiatives currently underway in the Prince Rupert area.

As we noted on the blog yesterday, the January 12th meeting outlined concerns over the delay in a required By-election for a vacant seat on the Board, as well as the desire of the School District to see some progress by the City of Prince Rupert on rezoning plans for the Kanata School lands, the proceeds from which the School District plans to put to use towards capital projects.

Also yesterday, we highlighted some of the background on the Community Forum to explore the new education curriculum which was held last night at Charles Hays Secondary.

Those however, were not the only points of discussion at last weeks first meeting for 2016.

Also reviewed were some of the findings from pilot project that the School District participated in back in 2012 and 2013. That program focused on After School Sports and Arts to support vulnerable youth. The pilot project was deemed a success and provided with funding for an ongoing program run under the Director Agencies for School Health in BC.

As a form of recognition for the local work on the project it was Awarded the Premier's Award for Innovation presented to the Interior/Northern region of BC, Chair Tina Last presented a plaque to District Principal Linda Hikida, who spearheaded the program in the Prince Rupert District.

The Board also received a presentation from two Grade three students Malachi Vera and Hope Hardy, highlighting their research, public Speaking and Power Point skills for a recent class project.

The School District also noted that the First of this year's Annual Budget Consultations is set for Tuesday, January 26th at 7 PM at Charles Hays Secondary School in the Multipurpose Room. With the world cafe form of discussion to be used to allow participants to share their thoughts.

It was noted at the January 12th Board meeting that the District is facing a significant budget shortfall for 2016/17, which will require the Board of Education to look at many areas for potential spending reductions.

One area that the School District plans to be examine is that of transportation costs in the District.

One final note from last week outlined the Registration process for the upcoming Kindergarten year, with registration to take place in the first two weeks of February, with cross boundary applications also being taken in during the month of February.  Students who will turn 5 by December 31, 2016 are eligible to register for kindergarten at their elementary school.

The registration runs from February 1 to 12, from 9 AM to Noon and 1-3 PM, 9 to 11:30 in Port Edward. For those looking to register in the District's French Immersion program, that will take place at Roosevelt School.

More background on last week's School District meeting can be found here.

For more items related to education on the North Coast see our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review