Catholic school Board briefs
Board bringing concerns to education minister
Erin Steele
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, April 30, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
School board chairpersons across the territory are set to meet with the education minister next month following a conference call which resulted in a number of collective points of concern, according to Simon Taylor, chair of the Yellowknife Catholic Schools board.
During the Feb. 6 budget address, Finance Minister Micheal Miltenberger revealed that personal and corporate income tax revenue estimates for the 2013-14 budget year were lower than what was forecast in the budget.
"Beyond 2014-15, both personal and corporate income tax revenue forecasts have been reduced by a combined $30 million," he stated in his address.
Because the board sustained cuts as a result of junior kindergarten, this discrepancy heightens Taylor's concern that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment - from which school board funding comes - could further be impacted.
"There are 10 items we will be pushing the minister to address," said Simon, during the April 16 board meeting, which includes the junior kindergarten roll-out process and concerns that inclusive schooling funding is not enough to meet the growing need of special needs students.
"The concern is $30 million. The government is short $30 million from what it projected, so its budgets for this year was developed assuming it actually owned $30 million more than it did and so they're proceeding with that budget with the understanding that they're going to make up that shortfall probably next year," Taylor told Yellowknifer following the meeting.
"What the concern is that, given that we've been cut, there's more cuts coming and if we can't stop those, certainly we can't stop even more cuts. So what we're saying is find it somewhere else."
The minister meets with board chairs across the territory on an annual basis.
This year's meeting is set for May 12.
Trustees hold off on setting their role
Discussions that will entrench an updated role of the trustee in school board policy will not take place until next month, although it was set for the April 16 board meeting.
At the onset of the meeting, Erin Currie read a detailed statement justifying her motion to hold discussion on the policy until a May board meeting to give trustees time to do their "due diligence."
After some rumblings among trustees about when the discussions should take place and why the previous discussion may not be adequate, Currie's motion passed.
"The question about when we actually discuss it, what we want to make sure and what we've committed to as a board is to be transparent," Simon Taylor told Yellowknifer after the meeting.
"The role of the trustee, because it impacts us and what we do, has a lot of interest," he said.
Lack of fundamental skills in math addressed
Math is getting a pick-me-up within the Catholic school division.
Trustee Frances Chang presented a Globe and Mail article for discussion at Yellowknife Catholic Schools' April 16 board meeting, which noted students were struggling to solve real-world problems because they lacked math fundamentals, which is spurring Alberta and Ontario to change math instruction.
But changes are already taking place in the division.
"We're breaking down the curriculum for each of the grade levels and we're adding a component to it that's called mental math strategies and we're saying to teachers, 'You need to teach mental math strategies,'" said superintendent Claudia Parker in response.
"But we're going further than that ... (implementing) mental math strategies that must be taught at each grade level, so yes we are on board with what that article speaks to," said Parker.
Trustee Amy Simpson says she has seen first-hand the problems with the curriculum as-is.
"I would completely agree with that article (presented by Chang). As a mother of three children under Grade 8, (fundamentals of math) is sorely lacking," said Simpson.
John Bowden, superintendent of learning, says teachers are "excited" about the changes.
"It's not like they haven't noticed. They've just been trying to deal with the curriculum that's coming at them," said Bowden. "All along, they've expressed their concern about the fact that these foundational skills appear to be missing."
