The Prince Rupert School District (SD52) board of education will be looking for a new member after it was announced that school board trustee Judy Carlick-Pearson has resigned for personal reasons.
A by-election in the new year has been called to fill her absence on the board of education.
School Board Notes
Final start-of-year enrolment numbers were tallied by SD52 director of human resources Kathy Gomez for Oct. 31, 2015 and the district is currently sitting at 2,089 students. That’s 16 more students than Oct. 10 of last year, when 2,073 students were enrolled.
SD52 trustees were happy to hear at the Nov. 10 school board meeting that the district’s application for routine capital funding was confirmed in the amount of $458,000 for the Direct Digital Control Upgrade project at Charles Hays Secondary School (CHSS). The project is meant to contribute to extending the life of the school’s facilities and school-based assets. A BC Hydro PowerSmart grant is also expected to contribute to the project.
SD52 director of operations Dave Garcia was credited with his efforts in enabling the district to receive the additional capital funding.
As well, thanks to an influx of new teachers starting their careers within the district, feedback on the collaboration time that teachers have been receiving was received by school board trustees.
CHSS’ Anna Ashley told the board of education that CHSS collaboration time has taken place outside of instruction time and numerous teachers have chosen to participate on their own time due to the benefits that they’re receiving while working together.
Roosevelt Park Community School’s Melissa Voth and Kim Nielsen appreciated school administrators for taking students for stretches of daily physical activity time while teachers hold collaboration time.
“It is exciting to see the enthusiasm of our teachers to work together. Students clearly benefit as this enthusiasm finds its way into the classroom,” said board chair Tina Last.
Two additional non-instructional days were added to the 2015-16 school year. Friday, Jan. 16 and Wednesday, March 30, 2016 were approved by the board of education to be added. The 2016-17 and 2017-18 school calendars will also receive two additional non-instructional days.