Superintendent’s Report

May 28, 2019

Submitted by: Dr. Christine Perkins, Superintendent/CEO

Superintendent’s Report

LEARNING

CRESTON FAMILY OF SCHOOLS

ADAM ROBERTS ELEMENTARY

Majority of school created and performed dances, plays, song, and comedy shows during the Creston

Focus on Youth Showcase. 40 students in Grades 2-5 also performed with our Hip Hop Dance Club, and

many students performed solo’s, including dance, violin, piano, and vocals.

Entire school showcased their art work in the Focus on Youth Art Showcase. The theme this year was:

Trash to Treasure, and many of our students walked in the Trashion Fashion Show.

Grade 7 students went for a tour and hands on experience at the College of the Rockies Cranbrook

Campus. This trip allowed students to start to think about the opportunities that are available for

careers, and gave students their first chance to look at a post secondary campus.

CANYON LISTER ELEMENTARY

Aboriginal Education- Our regalia dancers and drummers have been sewing meaningful additions to their

regalia for the past couple of months, as well as practicing their dances and songs, and will be

participating in the annual SD8 Youth Pow Wow on May 17, 2019. We have been learning a Ktunaxa word

each week in our morning announcement as we lead up to this special day, and all of our students from

K-7 will attend.

Music and Art- All of our students participated in the week-long Focus on Youth showcase concert in

Creston. Performances from our students included vocals, piano, stop-motion animation, a trashion show,

a drama performance, drumming and singing a counting song in Ktunaxa, a collaborative mural made

from bottle-caps and straws to highlight the need to eliminate single-use plastic, and a group musical

performance from our Gr 2-7 Be the Change group entitled “Let’s Change the World”.

Numeracy- Staff have been working collaboratively to create a numeracy enrichment program designed

to ensure that all students master the fundamental numeracy strategies that they need in order to

experience success in mathematics. This has been inspired by the Carole Fullarton professional

development we have been embedding into daily practice.

ERICKSON ELEMENTARY

Classes have been planting gardens in our raised boxes in the wetlands area.

Students are practicing for the grade 4-7 Creston Valley Track Meet on June 6th. Trustees are welcome

to come by the Creston Rec Center to see this event happen.

The new Gym equipment and Maker Space equipment purchased this year is being used and enjoyed by

students and staff

PRINCE CHARLES SECONDARY

The HUB was acknowledged by the Interior Health Authority for a Quality Practice Award to Dr. Kleinhans

et al.

Grad Transitions Nights were a huge success attended by dozens of community members

31 students and two staff enjoyed a week-long Outdoor Ed adventure with YETI: hiking, camping, surfing

in Tofino

Olivia Kettle was recognized as junior citizen of the year at Blossom Festival last weekend.

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WILDFLOWER CRESTON

Wildflower Creston – was successful in receiving a grant for $4500 dollars from the RDCK to support the

building of a natural play space on the PCSS grounds as a long-term project toward creating a playground

for the students at Wildflower Creston.

All Wildflower classes are preparing for their annual end of year community trips to celebrate the year

and further build community between staff, students and families. Trips are departing to Kokanee, Pines

Camp, Dutch Harbor, Fort Steele, and Drumheller.

CRAWFORD BAY FAMILY OF SCHOOLS

CRAWFORD BAY ELEMENTARY-SECONDARY

YMCA Exchange students from Toronto spent a week with their twin counterparts from Crawford Bay

(May 13 – 19). Students were treated to a week of exploration. They visited Fletcher Falls, Kaslo, Sandon,

Ainsworth Hot Springs, the Glass House in Boswell, and Nelson. They also enjoyed canoeing, camping,

yoga at the Ashram, as well as ziplining and caving tours. Students also participated in a Betterment

Project in which they cleared wood as a fire preventative measure, as well as helped dig holes to plant

10 maple trees on school property

Mentorships with skilled artisans and business people began May 9th and will run for 6 weeks for secondary

students at CBESS

Parents enjoyed an evening session with David Hatfield on May 10th. David spoke about the importance

of role modelling for adolescents, and the need to recognize how essential rites of passage are in aiding

youth on their transition to adulthood.

SALMO FAMILY OF SCHOOLS

SALMO ELEMENTARY

Salmo Elementary successfully hosted four literacy nights in hopes of engaging the parents and broader

community. Several guest speakers were brought in and many families were able to take away many

different strategies, games and ideas to use with their children. As one of our school goals is literacy,

we are always looking for creative ways to help support our students and their families.

Salmo Elementary has been participating in raising Salmon fry which are to be released at the Salmon

ceremonies on June 24 at Millennium Park in Castlegar. The students are excited to come to school to

see the fish as they walk in and how big they have gotten since their arrival.

Salmo Elementary had the privilege of joining Salmo Secondary to participate in an outstanding

Indigenous presentation by Ruben Littlehead. This serves as a jumping off point as we look to indigenize

our code of conduct on Planning Day.

Salmo Elementary hosted a Climate Change Panel where several keynote speakers were invited to

participate. The intermediate students have all been working on climate change units, as well as

completing capstone projects. These were displayed in the gym where the public was able to view them

and ask questions before the panel discussions. The students were excited to ask questions of the panel

and this event was a perfect way to engage in meaningful discussions and demonstrate their knowledge

of such a powerful topic.

SALMO SECONDARY

Literacy (Hands-on application)

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The Physics 11/12 class had an incredible afternoon sharing their learning journey with a few of the 7/8 classes. In this celebration of learning, several models were drafted and crafted to fulfil a multitude of challenges including distance, design and accuracy. Some students spent upwards of 8 hours plus in seeking to crush this engaging academic task!

Grade 12 student exhibiting that even the big kids are

equally enthralled with the ‘gift’ of chicks!

Baby chicks in the Office, has been absolutely

incredible in bringing all of the school / community together!

Art continues to adorn the walls.

KASLO FAMILY OF SCHOOLS

JEWETT ELEMENTARY

One of our favorite retired teachers wrote a book set in Sandon. We are travelling to Sandon with the

author to learn a little more about the history of Sandon and see the places he talked about in his book.

We are attending the Youth Water Festival at Lakeside Park in early June. This festival is sponsored by

the Friends of Kootenay Lake and other non-profit groups and will teach us about several aspects about

water, including water safety, water conservation, aquatic species and more.

Jewett has challenged one of the JVH classes to a Community Better Participaction Challenge. Students

can chose to walk, run or bike the River Trail or Skatepark in Kaslo.

J.V. HUMPHRIES ELEMENTARY-SECONDARY

CUPE replacement shortages – we have many leaves every week for CUPE union work and very rarely

have on-call EAs or Youth & Family Workers, which affects the quality of support we can give our

students.

We have had two early learning collaboration dinners and working sessions amongst those involved in

early years programs in Kaslo and area.

Our new Youth & Family Worker position has been a pivotal addition to our school-based team. She

notes, “Working with children and youth to support their emotional, and educational needs through

collaboration with the school based team has been such an important and worthwhile experience. With

each member bringing strengths and a specific skill set, each student has access to the support they

need.”

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Our Outdoor Adventures class just returned from hiking the 75km West Coast Trail and it was a great

success!

SLOCAN VALLEY FAMILY OF SCHOOLS

BRENT KENNEDY ELEMENTARY

Thank you to the West Kootenay Beekeepers Society; their generous support and love of bees has enabled

Mrs. Koorbatoff and her Grade 1 class to host a demonstration hive in their classroom. As part of the

learning and responsibility for the hive, Mrs. K and Mrs. Christie will involve their Grade 1 classes in the

education of the entire school on the care and responsible behavior around the bees and hive. To finish

off the year, our inquiry focused learning will be on the impact bees have on human food sources and

agriculture. ~ Thank you to our Maintenance Department for making this happen so quickly!

Our spring swimming program is well underway. It is a very successful program that is an integral part

of our curricular and extracurricular learning. Our families appreciate that their children are able to take

lessons that prepare them to be safe when swimming both in pools and in our local rivers and lakes. Brent

Kennedy students feel confident about water safety and are proud to master swimming as an important

life skill.

Brent Kennedy staff appreciates the opportunity to have participated in 17 district supported learning

opportunities through Focus Learn Excel. At total of 51 teachers and EA’s engaged in professional

learning that was related to our school’s growth plan, the district strategic plan, and/or individual

personal professional learning plans.

MT. SENTINEL SECONDARY

Our Grade 10’s successfully participated in the Regional Mental Health Awareness Forum hosted at Selkirk

College

Our Grade 9 boys successfully participated with David Hatfield on the topic of being an adolescent male

in today’s complex world

Our ABED students & teacher travelled to Spokane to meet with their local indigenous group (Salish) &

to share common ideas and concerns

W.E. GRAHAM ELEMENTARY-SECONDARY

New Playground built at WEG…Amazing parent volunteers built it over the weekend!

Planning for trips in June: VWP heading out for 5 day Canoe Trip on Slocan Lake.

OELP – three day, two night Canoe Trip…

WILD – heading to Pine’s Camp

Fun Sports Day on May 30th.

WINLAW ELEMENTARY

The Multi-age activities have been a huge success. Teachers have enjoyed working and creating

relationships with different kids in the school. It really brings our school family together.

Ready Set Learn - RSL is a program for many of our upcoming Winlaw Students. Patti, our Strongstart

facilitator, has been running Ready set Learn programming on Fridays, integrating many of our future

Kindie students with the school.

The morning Run has been great. We have had many parents coming out to join their kids in the morning

exercise routine. We have found kids have been more settled and ready to learn after the run.

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Art Starts video project – The grade 5/6’s have been working on a documentary project that studies the

history of discrimination in the Slocan Valley. Students are focusing on Sinixt, Doukhobor and Japanese

Canadian internment histories.

NELSON FAMILY OF SCHOOLS

BLEWETT ELEMENTARY

Spring Activities – two more sessions left this month – students are offered a variety of activities with

lesson components – inside and outside

Bee Hive just arrived in one of our Kindergarten rooms

We have two groups of teachers taking part in the Innovative Learning Curriculum/Inquiry Grant program.

One is based on Rebecca Bathurst/Trevor MacKenzie Inquiry Mindset Book and Teachings – the other is

based on new Tech we have received and implementation of story writing

HUME ELEMENTARY

Hume School’s Annual Ice Cream Social will be coming up on May 30 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. This is the

annual fundraiser for the Hume School PAC and is a great time for families to have fun. Cake walk, face

painting, prize room- all the fun!

Shout out to the Hume School PAC who do so much for the school! This month the buddy benches and

the water fountain should be installed. The buddy benches were created in memory of a former student

and the water fountain will offer filtered water to the top floor of the school. Both were funded by the

hard working PAC.

The grade 2-3 class will be visiting at Mountain Lakes this month to read with them. We hope this is the

beginning of further fun between seniours and our students.

L.V. ROGERS SECONDARY

LVR students Lucas Alexander and Nico Bucher are off to compete at the Fine Arts Provincials in Langley

in the next couple of weeks. Lucas auditioned for and successfully earned a seat at the National Youth

Band in Winnipeg. See attached link for more information: https://www.canadianband.org/nyb2019.

Community is invited to Tim Bullen’s last Celebration of Music on Wednesday, May 22nd at 7 pm in the

Gym. See attached flyer.

School Spirit Week took place May 13-17th at LV Rogers with successful activities such as ultimate Frisbee

challenge, noon hour activities, and Friday’s Spirit Fest in the multi-purpose room and Gym (see attached

photos). We had excellent participation from students and staff alike. Many thanks to Sheri Morrison and

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her Recreational Leadership program for making this an exceptional week at LVR!

LV Rogers Rugby program hosted a tremendously successful Kootenay Regional Rugby Tournament at

Lakeside Part on May 15th. Our Sr Boys team was undefeated, and our Girls and Jr Boys teams played

very well. The Rugby Program hosted a barbeque and bake sale and made over $900 to support the

program.

The L .V. Rogers Grad Talent Show Will be happening May 28th,

starting at 7:00 pm. All are invited to an evening of wonderful

entertainment provided by the talented LVR grads and their younger

cohorts. The students will showcase a wide range of arts including

music, dance and theatre in a 2-hour event that is sure to entertain

and impress. All proceeds go to the 2019 L.V. Rogers Grad Class.

Tickets will be available at the capitol Theatre Website or at the box

office, Adult tickets are $15 and student ones are $12.

LV Rogers Climate Action Team will be hosting a Climate Sit In starting

Thursday, May 23rd until Friday, May 24th. The evening will include

guest speakers, documentary viewing of “Change Agents” and a letter

writing campaign.

REDFISH ELEMENTARY

Our SET-BC Stories From Here project is having an open house Thursday, May 30th at 4:30PM at Redfish

School to share the videos that our grade 4/5s have made. This has been a wonderful collaboration with

Sofeya Devji, Lisa Tremblay, Danica Weager, Jen Dehnel and others, including Danica’s talented

storytelling mother Debbie Bird. Please let Victoria McAllister know if you would like to join us for this

event.

We just said goodbye to three kind, hardworking and creative WKTEP Practicum Teachers. We feel

fortunate to learn alongside these three and to have our WKTEP UBC partners in our school for various

events. This collaboration enriches us all.

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We are celebrating the work our whole teaching staff and one EA have embarked on with Shelley Moore,

deepened by access to funds through a Curriculum Grant, to free teams to co-plan whole units. This

creates bridges through the grades, lets next year’s teachers know their new students in more nuanced

ways, and spreads the expertise through our entire staff.

ROSEMONT ELEMENTARY

We have completed phase one of our outdoor classroom. We are beginning phase two by looking for

shade trees for our seating circle.

We are starting our multi-age ADST project on marble tower designs. Students will work together to

design, refine and play marble tower races.

The annual Rosemont talent show is taking place May 30 at 1 pm. Students and staff are preparing their

acts for this amazing display of talent and skill.

SOUTH NELSON ELEMENTARY

The grade 4/5 students in Arnie Hinke’s class hosted their annual Science Week May 6-10. They provided

hands-on science activities each day for the students at our school. These activities explored concepts

of Light and Sound, Ecology, Rocks and Rock Cycle, Human Body, Weather and Physics. Lots of fun was

had hypothesizing, predicting, experimenting, dissecting, observing and concluding. The Pop Bottle

Rockets Launchers wowed the entire school community!

We have had several Aboriginal Education events this month. On Wednesday, May 15th all of our classes

participated in a very engaging Metis Grass Dancing workshop. Darren Marsh’s Grade 3/4 class and our

Grade 2-5 Aboriginal Education students travelled to Creston to participate in the 9th Annual Pow Wow!

Students were amazed by the presentations and loved dancing with everyone! This group of students

will also celebrate their year by attending a day long event at Kokanee Creek Park with teachers Jesse

Halton, Darren Marsh, and Wild Voices educator Shanoon Bennett on May 31st.

South Nelson Elementary has a new website! We are very excited about the launch of our new website

this month especially having a consistent and user friendly way to communicate about all the wonderful

things happening at South Nelson Elementary School! Some highlights include having a much easier site

to navigate, information from both our school and our district located in one place, and announcements

and reminders updated regularly for parents and caregivers.

TRAFALGAR MIDDLE

Ed Cow presentation – Trafalgar cake made by students and three non public speaking students turned

into amazing public speakers

NFoS meeting at Trafalgar

Pride Week celebrations at TMS

Literacy FSA results are above provincial average

WILDFLOWER NELSON

Wildflower PAC (Nelson) has created a Spring Raffle Fundraiser with the hopes of raising money that

will support the purchase of break-out space furniture, entrance way enhancement, school lockers and

the construction of a circular gathering/study bench for the use of all students at Wildflower Nelson.

All Wildflower classes are preparing for their annual end of year community trips to celebrate the year

and further build community between staff, students and families. Trips are departing to Kokanee, Pines

Camp, Dutch Harbor, Fort Steele, and Drumheller.

An exciting collaborative project is emerging in one of the Gr. 2-6 classes at Wildflower Nelson as Jenna

Hopper (Ab Ed Teacher) and Barb Hargraeves (classroom teacher) explore authentic ways in which to

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embed the First Peoples Principals of Learning in a thematic term project they are working on with the

students.

ABORIGINAL EDUCATION

A celebration involving 3 students from Lower Kootenay Band, who currently attend Homelinks,

Creston: The girls, chaperoned by both their mother and their teacher, Colleen Mooney, attended a full

week (credited) Selkirk College course in Castlegar: Regional Perspectives 100. Each day offered

teachings and knowledge from a regional perspective, culminating with Elder Annie Jimmie and

Christopher Horsethief on Friday! The girls, as part of their graduation plan and personal dreams, will

receive dual credit through a creative and individual planning process! We will continue to try to be

creative to offer such opportunities in the future!

ABED Drum workshop: ABED staff are invited to a full day of learning the hand drum, as we embark

together on a ceremony of hand drum making. From hides, to hoops, to songs – we hope to honour the

teachings of the land with these “beings”. The drum workshop is a first step in shared district hand drum

teachings, with the hope to share songs from the nations (led by teachings of the nations) in schools,

with protocol and respect. The hand drum making ceremony is on Tuesday, May 21 and is full day of

team learning.

Wuqanqankimik Run: 5 KM Run/Walk, led by Aboriginal Education! The training across the district is well

underway, with weekly tips and teachings shared by District Indigenization Coordinator, Danica

Weager. The run is in partnership with Lower Kootenay Band, and the word: “Wuqanqankimik” is a

Ktunaxa word which translates into “to walk with long strides…to take big steps”. The run is on June

14th, from 10:30-1:00 at Salmo Secondary. Everyone is invited! Currently, we are expecting over 500

SD8, Kootenay Lake students! That’s a lot of hot dogs.

DISTRIBUTED LEARNING

N/A

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM

Our homestay contractor, Sara Stonehouse, in Creston and has recently returned from a recruitment trip

to Germany where she was profiling our district with a focus on Creston. The recruitment trip was very

successful with a few German students wanting Creston because of the opportunity to be on farms where

there are horses. Congratulations Sara - well done!

Currently in our district we welcome volunteer Intern, Johanna Sahling, from the Bogego Agency in

Hamburg Germany. Johanna has been involved in everything from student support at LVR, data collation

at the program office, student support at Trafalgar and cooking hotdogs at the park for the Sino Canada

program and time video taping her student at LVR to create a day in the life video. The video will be

used to promote our district and LVR as the agency is very happy with our program as Johanna stated,

we are similar, we are both concerned with quality and not just quantity. Johanna will be with us again

next week and then she will return home with an inside track of how to support our program.

This year we are proud to announce that two of our local teachers will travel to Chengdu to conduct our

first ever Chengdu Summer Camp for Chinese students. The successful candidates were:

Heather Vardy - Wildflower teacher who has extensive teaching abroad experience in Taiwan and speaks

fluent Chinese. She is no stranger to innovative, creative, multi-aged teaching practices and will be a

great addition to the team. We also welcome Trestan Shunter, Salmo Secondary teacher who has a

music, drama, and outdoor education background and will be able to deliver that active, outdoor program

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that the Chinese are hoping will highlight some of Canada's culture and beloved activities. A total of 14

teachers applied for the team experience which is wonderful!

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Creston ILS program has documented real success with the Apraxia student that was using exercise and

movement regime at school. She has progressed in all skills and will start a new set of more advanced

exercises and “VoicePro” in September.

Five SD No. 8 students with visual impairments will be attending the Children’s Low Vision Project of BC

which will be held in Cranbrook on May 23rd and 24th. The Children’s Low Vision Clinic of BC (CLVP-BC)

brings together professionals training in Ophthalmology, Optometry, Orientation and Mobility, Assistive

Technology and Education. The aim of the program is to support students with vision loss and their

families, teachers, schools and other professionals working with the child by dispensing low vision tools

and making recommendations for assistive technology, devices and strategies for access to education.

POPARD workshop on Challenging Behaviours presented in Nelson and well attended by 30

participants. As well, over 14 teachers and EA’s also attended via Zoom from various sites around the

district.

INNOVATIVE LEARNING SERVICES

Linda Kaser and Judy Halbert, 2 internationally renowned educational leaders, spent 2 days in SD8

working with PCSS, SSS and LVR school teams. They will be returning to SD8 next year to continue

working with our secondary school teams.

25 SD8 Intermediate teachers spent a day at SES working with Faye Brownlie as she co-facilitated a

learning round with Lynette Harper in her multi-aged grade 4,5,6 classroom. As a follow-up, teachers

met after school on May 21st for a collaborative sharing session about teaching tools and strategies that

they have been using in their classrooms. Faye Brownlie will continue working with our teachers over

the next 2 years as part of our SD8 Focus.Learn.Excel initiative.

Approximately 140 grade 10 students from across SD8 attended an inspirational day of learning at the

Selkirk College Youth Summit. Students from the surrounding school districts were also in attendance.

There was a variety of workshops focused on healthy living, youth mental wellness and healthy lifestyles

for young adults.

ILS sponsored 2 SD8 teachers, Laurryn Asbell from WFS and Charlotte Heddon from Rosemont School to

attend the CAFLN Conference in Vancouver. They spent 2 days visiting elementary schools with a focus

on inquiry and place-conscious learning.

On May 2-3, 6 secondary Counsellors and Career Education teachers from SD8 attended a Regional Career

Education Conference in Cranbrook. 4 of our SD8 teachers – Misty Terpstra, Melissa Marrandino, Jenn

Kidd and Claire Hewson – presented to the group about the work that they are leading across the province

in Career Education.

On May 8th Innovative Learning hosted 2 half day collaborative sessions for Core French teachers and

French Immersion teachers in SD8.

On May 15th Nikki Leeming, Monica Doyle and Victoria McAllister shared their wonder child project at

“Changing Results for Young Children”. This is a MOE project for focusing on primary-aged children and

will continue into the 2019-20 school year.

SES has been invited to participate in an MOE Early Years project for the 2019-20 school year. As a kick-

off to the event, principal Jann Schmidt, VP Jen Kooznetsoff and Kindergarten teacher Amanda

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Vanlerberg, along with Cathy Patton from the Salmo Children’s Center and Laura Munoz, a coordinator

of the “Sharing Early Years Wisdom” initiative in the West Kootenay region, attended a provincial working

session in Vancouver. This MOE funded initiative entitled “Strengthening Early Years to Kindergarten”

focuses on district and community partnerships for improving early learning transitions for 3 and 4 year

old children as they enter Kindergarten.

The grade 11 and 12 Trades Sampler students from LVR and MSSS have successfully completed their 10

week immersion in the trades at Selkirk College and will be moving on to their 4 week work placements

at various trades-based job sites throughout the west kootenays.

Students from MSSS, LVR and SSS spent a full day at Teck Metals facility in Trail. Students met with the

Teck apprenticeship coordinator, Sean Horton, and were able to ask questions as well as gain an

understanding of the apprenticeship pathway in a large-scale industrial setting.

Youth Train in Trades and Youth Work in Trades:

o Brent Firkser, ILS lead teacher, was recently interviewed by Kootenay Coop Radio where he

provided information about the Youth Work in Trades, Trades Sampler and SD8’s partnership with

Selkirk College regarding the trades programs that we run. His interview can be heard at the

following link: https://www.mixcloud.com/Kootenay_Morning/may-17-2019-kootenay-morning-

host-stephanie-anthony/

o The SD8 Trades programs have also been recently showcased in the Nelson Star and the Valley

Voice. The articles can be accessed at the following links: http://selkirk.ca/news/trades-

sampler-program-selkirk-college-helps-provide-clarity-high-school-students

https://www.nelsonstar.com/community/trades-training-sets-students-up-on-career-paths-

early/

ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE

SECRETARY-TREASURER

Presented balanced 2019-2020 budget to the F&O Committee, which received its recommendation to the

Board.

HUMAN RESOURCE SERVICES

Retirement/Long Service Celebration held on May 25th with over 110 people in attendance. This was

the largest celebration event that the District has put on to date. We recognized dozens of employees

in the District who were retiring and/or had long service to the District (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40(!!))

years’ service. Congratulations to all employees who were recognized and to those who were recognized

in absentia. Huge thanks to the HR Team for putting on this amazing event!

Ongoing Collective Agreement Bargaining with both the KLTF and with CUPE. Both tables have several

dates remaining this year and all parties hope to conclude with successful bargaining by June 30, 2019.

Staffing is ongoing with schools – the District has posted many teacher postings so far this spring, with

many more to come. CUPE postings will be sent out soon for next year’s staffing as well.

HR hosted the annual WKTEP dinner on May 8 at the Board Office. There were about 15 aspiring teachers

who attended with the WKTEP teachers (Susanne Maguire and Heather Shippitt). It was a great evening,

with lots of rich discussion and information-sharing.

HR has already hired 100 TTOCs for next year. We’ve had over 160 applicants so far. We will be

proceeding with hiring processes over the next few weeks for next year.

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OPERATIONS

Six students have been hired to support the Operations department with grounds maintenance and other

projects as required. Students will be on staff until the end of August.

Two Capitol projects, a) Hume Window/door Replacement and b) LVR Dust Collector Replacement, have

been awarded with both projects expected to be at substantial completion by Aug 30/19.

SD has commissioned an audit on DDC systems at all district sites to assist with energy management and

support mechanical systems upgrades.

Transportation review process is ongoing

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Help Desk Tickets

The SD8 IT Team is working hard on help desk tickets. The tickets have

reduced significantly this month, going from over 220 open tickets, down

to 130 open tickets.

Network Upgrade

The SD8 IT Team continues with the district wide network upgrade, with

wiring completed at Hume, J.V. Humphries, Redfish, W.E. Graham,

Central Education Centre (the new Board office!). It is projected that

L.V. Rogers, Rosemont and Blewett will be completed by the end of May.

South Nelson and Prince Charles Secondary School are in progress.

SCCM – System Centre Configuration Manager

SCCM is a technology management suite which has been implemented by

SD8 IT in 2018-2019. The SD8 IT team is using this system to deploy

software across the district faster, and more effectively. Over 44

software packages are available to deploy.

Hyper-converged Server – Super Server!

The SD8 IT Team has completed an RFP process for a Hyper-converged

server, and a contract with a vendor has been signed. The new server is

scheduled to be installed in June at the Nelson Colocation Facility. This

new server installed at the location will provide SD8 with improved

redundancy, resiliency and centralization of services.

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ENGAGEMENT and RELATIONSHIPS

AUDITS – A huge thank you to all involved in the 9th Annual PowWow and Honouring of Graduates celebration

in Creston. The Aboriginal Education Equity Audit is being rolled out across the District and School staffs will

complete them during their upcoming School Planning Day or Staff meetings

BCSSA & SD 8 – The Superintendent attended the Financial Management Working Group for the Funding

Review Model. Focus is on Recommendations #18, #19, and #20. Thank you to Ben Eaton and team for

hosting the KBSSA in May.

BCSTA – Our Trustees and Senior Management are undertaking a Board Review process with Hugh Blackman

from the BCSTA.

BCPSEA – Bargaining continues throughout the province, with KLTF and CUPE. We thank all involved for their

time and efforts.

DIRECTORS & SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM – The Senior Leadership team continues to work on Spring staffing

for Fall 2019-2020; Budget plans, Capital plans, and Facility plans.

DPAC and PACs – George Matthews Award (provincial BCCPAC Award)

Congratulations to our 2019 Winner - Ester Zdebiak – SD8 Kootenay Lake

The George Matthews Award for Excellence in Parent Leadership honours a parent whose leadership, dedication, and influence demonstrate to the entire education community the importance of the parent role in education. George Edwin Matthews (1941-2001) was a steadfast supporter of parents in education throughout his years as a manager in Field Services for the Ministry of Education and liaison with BCCPAC. His opinions and judgment were widely respected and his fair-mindedness won him the confidence of the BCCPAC membership. The Award was established in memory of George and to honour his unwavering support of BCCPAC. This award is available annually.

***A reminder that PACs and DPACs that receive Community Gaming Grants must submit a Gaming Account

Summary Report annually within 90 days after their fiscal year end.

*** A reminder that PACs and DPAC must apply for gaming funds between now and June 30.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/sports-culture/gambling-fundraising/gaming-grants/pac-dpac-

grants#one

We invite all PAC parent reps to attend DPAC at the Nelson Board Office at 570 Johnstone Road. DPAC is

trialing a new way to video in from the comfort of your home using Zoom software. You can also phone in.

Please email us to get directions sd8dpac@gmail.com We thank DPAC and the PACs were represented during

the Budget process.

FNESC (First Nations Education Steering Committee) - Learning First Peoples Summer Institute, August

19-21, 2019. http://www.fnesc.ca/

LEADERSHIP TEAM (PVPs) – Congratulations and thank you for all our Leadership Teams (our Principals and Vice-Principals) and all their students, parents, teachers, and CUPE staff for their thoughtful and well-developed presentations to the Board of Education and the Education Committee of the Whole. Your pride in your schools came through loud and clear and the Senior Team and Board of education heard your challenges. We will work hard to support you.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION – Superintendent Perkins represents our District on the Financial Management

Committee of the Funding Review Model. The process continues over the summer for a “reporting out”

which is expected to be released in the Fall. In addition, Superintendent Perkins will be at the upcoming

Career Ed Conference representing the Kootenay-Boundary region and rural schools.

OECD – Congratulations to District Principal of Aboriginal Education, Gail Higginbottom, who presented an Ignite session at the OECD conference on Aboriginal Education in British Columbia. This was the first time

Superintendent’s Report

the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) event was held in B.C. Over 200 B.C. education delegates and 200 International delegates attended. The world representatives of the OECD came to hear, and experience, first hand, B.C.’s revised curriculum, our efforts to weave Indigenous knowledge throughout K-12, and our commitment to social and emotional learning (SEL). In turn, the OECD launched their Learning Compass 2030 plan.

http://www.oecd.org/education/2030-project/

SELKIRK COLLEGE – Selkirk College is offering Indigenous 100: Regional Indigenous Perspectives on Languages and Cultures. You are invited to immerse yourself in local Indigenous history and knowledge with this one-week intensive course from August 12th - 16th, 2019. Please contact Adela if you are interested in taking the course in August. Registration: Raquel Mayorga, Continuing Education 1.888.953.1133 or 250.365.1208 castlegarce@selkirk.ca We encourage all staff, parents, and interested persons to attend.

WKTEP (West Kootenay Teacher Education Program) – We want to thank WKTEP for their terrific

partnership with our schools and students. WKTEP is offering several programs for teachers this summer.

July 5-6. SOGI Summer Institute for Educators in the Kootenays at Trafalgar Middle facilitated by Dr.

Lori MacIntosh.

July 15-19 EPSE 390K: Special Topics - Frameworks for Understanding, Teaching and Supporting Diverse

Learners. – WKTEP w/ Shelley Moore