Committee of the Whole
Tackling the work to build a strong equity action plan with supporting practices and policy was the takeaway from the School District No. 83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap) Board of Education Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 9. The meeting also included a look at the updated district enrolment data .
District Principal of Indigenous Education Mishel Quaal organized a series of activities and take-home resources for trustees to “dip their toes” in this area, with the conversation sparked by a Special Advisor’s Report from School District No. 57 on governance practices particularly around racially-sensitive best practices.
After the activities and discussion, Quaal summarized the top three common threads which stood out to trustees as important directions and the beginning of the work. The first was revisiting and updating policy, including the need for a specific anti-racism policy (which the SD83 Policy Committee is working on). Another thread was working on a tracking and monitoring process that keeps expectations high for students, so they graduate with an academic Dogwood. The third was communicating openly and honestly with Indigenous communities to ensure their voices are being heard. At the end of the meeting, trustees decided they would revisit this later in the school year to see what progress has been made.
“The work is important, not because of Special Advisors report, because it shouldn’t be the flavour of the day. We have a moral imperative. We have the right people in the district to make this happen,” commented Superintendent of Schools Donna Kriger.
The final segment of the meeting was around updated enrolment data, specifically for the Armstrong and Salmon Arm areas where school reconfiguration work is being done.
Assistant Superintendent Ryan Brennan reported that COVID-19 has changed the landscape a little and some of the pressures being projected for SD83 have eased a little, which means SD83 could have a little more time for planning. “There is still growth but not quite as urgent as was projected,” he commented particularly for the Armstrong area.
In Salmon Arm, where growth and the desire to reduce one school transition for students was driving reconfiguration, he went through slides showing current and projected data for both the two high school option and the two middle school option.
Typically, a Committee of the Whole meeting is open for staff and public to observe. These types of meetings provide the Board of Education an opportunity to discuss an issue before bringing recommendations/motions to a regular Board of Education meeting. Due to COVID-19 protocols the meeting was recorded and being shared.