Farewells to departing Trustees, update on enrolment among notes from October 18th SD52 Board meeting

The last session for the departing Board members of School District 52 took place in mid--October, the School District office releasing a short synopsis of their work on Thursday through the District Website.

Of note from the SD52 briefing note was the change ahead for the composition of the Board of Education for the next four years. 

With two members Trusttees Tina Last and Bart Kuntz having now participated in their final Board meeting.

Photo from Rupert Schools FB 

Taking their place this month have been Michael Pucci and Danielle Dalton, they join all of the other incumbents who were successfully re-elected in the October 15th election.

The trustees also heard of the success of the Lax Kxeen Elementary School Outdoor Classroom, with Tania Murray the Principal at Lax Kxeen and Susan Kobza the newly installed District Vice-Principal of Early Learning and Childcare taking the Board members through the elements of the project.

From the Board's notes, the focus of their presentation and the project was to outline how taking students outdoors is inclusive and engaging and ties in with the First Peoples Principles of Learning.

The project which was assisted by the Prince Rupert Port Authority through financial contribution  towards construction of the outdoor classroom, the initiative was hailed by School District Chair Kate Toye at the October 18th Board session.

“The Board is excited to see the development of this outdoor learning space with the input of students. We can’t wait to see the addition of the music wall. The Board expressed their thanks to the Prince Rupert Port Authority for their financial contribution to the construction of the outdoor classroom.”

The Lax Kxeen outdoor classroom was assisted by
a financial contribution from the Prince Rupert Port authority
(photo from Rupert Schools FB)

The Grand Opening for the project took place at the end of the month and coincided with the school's Halloween events.

There was some positive news for the Trustees when it comes to enrolment in the public school system, with the enrolment numbers for 2022 showing an increase from one year ago.

Student enrolment at September 30, 2022 was 1,810 students, compared to a budget forecast of 1,775 students and enrolment at September 30, 2021 of 1,830 students. 

As the enrolment is higher than budgeted number of students, there should be no reduction in Ministry funding when the final funding is announced in December.

The Board of Education also received an update on some one tie funding that has been received and how SD51 plans to put it to use.

The Board is also set to seek out input from partner groups on plans to revise two of the SD52 policies, those include:

3410 Security and Protection of Buildings Policy 

3420 Video Surveillance Policy

There is no recording available for the October 18th session.

The information statement from SD52 can be reviewed here.

More notes on Education can be explored from our archive page.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.