Meetings

Committee of the Whole Board Meeting

Monday, January 14, 2019 – Meeting Agenda Package

Public Board Meeting

Monday, January 28, 2019 — Meeting Agenda Package

Highlights

New Multi-Year Strategic Plan

The Multi-Year Strategic Plan provides the roadmap for the staff of Waterloo Catholic District School Board and proclaims to the broader community our goals and aspirations

The current three-year Multi-Year Strategic Plan (MYSP), approved in December of 2015, concluded at the end of December 2018. In the spring of 2018 a system survey took place to both inform the report card on the current plan and to inform direction for the next iteration of the MYSP.

The new MYSP – presented to the Board of Trustees on January 14, 2019 — continues to be anchored by the role our faith plays in all our experiences in our Catholic schools, our vision for equity and inclusion, the focus areas of graduation rates, numeracy achievement in grade 6 and 9 and secondary literacy achievement, as well as fostering and celebrating our strong culture of innovation.

The new plan is available by clicking here: MYSP

Renewed Math Strategy Update

A comprehensive update was presented to the Board of Trustees on January 14, 2019. The update reported on:

• Elementary and Secondary Math Lead Teacher
• Numeracy PD Day (Nov. 16, 2018)
• Professional learning opportunities for Mathematics Teaching and Learning
• Instructional Coaches’ collaborative inquiries
• Gap Closing Teacher

The full report – with detailed descriptions of the work being undertake in these key areas – is available on pages 11-17 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Professional learning for all educators will continue to be provided in a responsive manner through after school sessions, addressing a variety of concepts. Math Lead Teachers will have further opportunities to engage in distributed leadership as the year unfolds through job-embedded collaboration focused on co-planning, co-teaching and co-debriefing. Collaboration between coaches and educators at schools will benefit from targeted focus on precise coaching moves, capitalizing on relationships that have been built and on refinement of the inquiry process. Gap Closing Teachers, in partnership with classroom teachers, will continue to deepen their understanding of how students learn math and how to best engage students in the applied pathway. Lastly, administrators will receive guidance in supporting educators to comprehend and implement targeted BIPSA goals.

Auditor General’s Report

In the spring of 2018, WCDSB staff were informed by the Ministry of Education that the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario would be conducting an audit of information technology practices employed and supported by the Ministry of Education. As part of the audit, four school boards were selected for field visits by the OAGO:

• Waterloo Catholic District School Board
• Algoma District School Board
• Toronto District School Board
• Peel District School Board

In the months that followed, each board was visited by a team of OAGO staff who sought to learn about boards’ practices in various areas. Overall, WCDSB did well on the audit. Many of the recommendations made by the OAGO were things that WCDSB was already doing. Some of the recommendations rely on the Ministry to take action, and there were good recommendations on ways to increase awareness around cyber-security and privacy. The OAGO’s staff will be following up in the future to ensure the commitments made were completed within the timeframes specified.

For a full list of the recommendations and the proposed WCDSB responses, please see pages 18-22 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Well Being – Healthy Active Living Update

Across the province much research and work has been completed regarding the goal of promoting well-being. Furthermore, the Ministry of Education recognises the importance of well-being and its role as a key factor in overall student success. As a result, the Ministry has created a “Well-Being Strategy for Education”. The four key components of the strategy are:

1) Positive Mental Health

2) Safe and Accepting Schools

3) Healthy Schools

4) Equity and Inclusive Education.

WCDSB’s 2017-18 school year was a banner year from a Healthy Active Living perspective. The Healthy Kids Community Challenge (HKCC) came to a conclusion, our footprint with Healthy Schools programming expanded, two Physical Activity in Secondary School (PASS) Grants worth $15,000 each were awarded, we ran the “Raise the Bar” conference in which 39 of our schools investigated ways to develop Intramural programming and there was a re-investment in the Playground Activity Leaders (P.A.L.S) program.

Next Steps:

Healthy Schools programming and support continues to increase. The St. David Family and Monsignor Doyle Family of schools are the most recent schools to be partnered with the Region of Waterloo Public Health Nurses. The St. Mary’s Family of schools will join the Public Health caseload in late spring/early fall, 2019. OPHEA Healthy Schools Certification will also be a priority within the WCDSB. In 2016-17, WCDSB had four schools certified and nine in 2017-18.

Additionally, the Healthy School goals outlined in the WCDSB Well-Being Strategy have been created in collaboration with the Well-Being Committee and align to form common goals across all four pillars (Safe Schools, Mental Health and Wellness, Healthy Schools, Equity and Inclusion). As a result, Healthy Schools will continue to be a key focus for both staff and students.

The complete update is available on pages 7-10 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

French as a Second Language Update

English-language school boards in Ontario are required to provide students with a minimum of 600 hours of French instructional hours by the end of elementary school. In Secondary, one FSL credit (110 hours) is compulsory for the Ontario Secondary School Diploma. A second FSL course can be counted towards the compulsory credits required for the OSSD.

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board currently offers four program options for French as a Second Language:

• Core French (offered in grades 4-12 at all sites)
• Intensive French (offered in grade 5 at 4 sites and grade 9-10 at 1 site)
• Advanced Placement (AP) and pre-AP French (offered in grades 9-12 at 2 sites and grades 9-10 at 1 site)
• French Immersion (offered in grades 1-3 at 3 sites and in grade 4 at 2 sites)

A detailed report on these four pillars of the FSL program was presented on January 28, 2018. To view the full report, please see pages 30-35 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Leadership Strategy 2018-19

The Ontario Leadership Strategy (OLS) was developed in 2008-2009 to foster leadership of the highest possible quality in schools and school boards. School and system leaders play a critical role in creating the conditions of success, increasing student achievement, reducing gaps in student achievement and increasing public confidence in publicly funded education. As part of the Ontario Leadership Strategy, each district in the province is provided with funding and support to develop and implement a Board Leadership Development Strategy (BLDS). The overall goal of the program is to develop leadership capacity to support the achievement of goals outlined in the Multi-Year Strategic Plan and the Board Improvement Plan for Student Achievement.

Growing from the initial class of 19 aspiring leaders in 2012-2013, the program has now served 527 staff members. A detailed report on the program is available on pages 24-29 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Board Chair’s Update

Each month, Board Chair Bill Conway reports on the activities of the Board of Trustees. The report for January 2019 is available on page 36 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Report on Property Matters and Major Construction

An annual report is provided to Trustees as information on the status of vacant properties and those that are being considered for purchase, as well as information on major construction. The status of a number of significant projects is summarized on pages 16-19 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Upcoming Board Meetings

Committee of the Whole Board Meeting

Monday, February 11, 2018

Regular Public Board Meeting

Monday, February 25, 2018

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board, representing more than 96,000 Catholic school supporters, operates 49 schools and four adult education facilities, serving more than 40,000 elementary, secondary and continuing education students in Waterloo Region – continuing a 183-year tradition of quality, inclusive, faith-based education. Follow us on Twitter: @WCDSBNewswire – #WCDSBAwesome.

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For more information, please contact:

John Shewchuk – Chief Managing Officer | (519) 578-3660 | john.shewchuk@wcdsb.ca