Meetings

Inaugural Meeting of the Board of Trustees

Highlights

New Board of Trustees, Chair & Vice-Chair

On December 3, 2018 the Board of Trustees of the Waterloo Catholic District School Board elected Cambridge / North Dumfries Trustee Bill Conway as Chair of the Board, and Waterloo / Woolwich / Wellesley Trustee Melanie Van Alphen as Vice-Chair of the Board.

Most recently Vice-Chair of the Board, Trustee Conway succeeds Cambridge / North Dumfries Trustee Wendy Price, who remains as a Trustee.

The Inaugural Board Meeting was preceded by a special Mass, celebrated by the Most Rev. Douglas Crosby, O.M.I, Bishop of Hamilton. The Mass featured a special Commissioning Ceremony of members of the Board of Trustees, who were elected in the October 2018 municipal elections.

As part of the ceremony, the Board warmly welcomed first-time Trustees Kevin Dupuis and Tracey Weiler, both of whom represent Kitchener / Wilmot.

The new Board of Trustees is comprised of the following representatives:

Bill Conway (Cambridge / North Dumfries)

Manuel da Silva (Cambridge / North Dumfries)

Kevin Dupuis (Kitchener / Wilmot) **

Jeanne Gravelle (Waterloo / Wellesley / Woolwich)

Wendy Price (Cambridge / North Dumfries)

Greg Reitzel (Kitchener / Wilmot)

Brian Schmalz (Kitchener / Wilmot)

Melanie Van Alphen (Waterloo / Wellesley / Woolwich)

Tracey Weiler (Kitchener / Wilmot) **

Meghan Nemeth and Izabella Tyc are the Student Trustees.

**  =  first elected in 2018 election

At the December 10th Public Board Meeting, newly-elected Board Chair Bill Conway presented his first Chair’s Report. The report is available on page 33 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Director of Education’s Annual Report

The Multi-Year Strategic Plan provides the road map for the staff of Waterloo Catholic District School Board and proclaims to the broader community our goals and aspirations. Per Section 283(3) of the Education Act the Director of Education must submit an Annual Report at the first Board meeting of December of each year reporting on the progress of the Board against the stated goals. As was reflected when the June 2018 Report Card brought to board on the Multi-Year Strategic Plan 2015-2018, there has been strong progress against all nine of our strategic directions, within our three priority areas.

The report takes a primarily electronic format this year – which is to say, while there will be a limited number of hard copy versions of the report, the primary design was intended for web presentation, and the hope is that the points of celebration will be seen equally strongly in word and picture.

We are tremendously proud of the accomplishments of our staff and students, and the vibrant connection that exists between home, parish and school.

Please visit https://annual.wcdsb.ca/ to view the report.

New Multi-Year Strategic Plan

The Education Act requires school boards to develop multi-year plans that are 3 years or more in scope. The multi-year plan provides focus and direction to the board to achieve both the Ministry of Education goals but just as importantly, the vision of the board.

The province has clearly identified its aspiration that Ontario’s educators will be supported in learning continuously and will be recognized as among the best in the world.  The Waterloo Catholic District School Board’s Multi-Year Strategic Plan has endeavoured to be faithful to these articulated priorities, as well to our Catholic Graduate Expectations and the principles of our Catholic Social Teachings.

The current three-year Multi-Year Strategic Plan (MYSP), approved in December of 2015, concludes 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 plan 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.

For a summary of the 2018-2022 MYSP, please see pages 27-32 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Equity Action Plan

In Waterloo Region’s Catholic Schools our Equity, Diversity and Learning (EDL) Committee has set a goal of building educator capacity to serve all students and assist in removing identified barriers to success.  In our Catholic context, we employ a lens of liberation theology with a strong emphasis on the social teaching of preferential option for the poor.  Simply stated, this involves empowering students and their families to advocate for change so that they may not just survive but thrive in our school communities.  Additionally, we have committed to supporting our school administrators and educators in understanding and working to remove barriers that exist for students in accessing their learning.

Throughout this school year, we are following the Ontario Education Equity Action Plan’s key priorities in four areas:

• School and classroom practices
• Leadership, governance and human resource practices
• Data collection, integration and reporting
• Organizational culture change

The report is available on pages 21-24 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Upcoming Board Meetings

Committee of the Whole Board Meeting

Monday, January 14, 2018

Regular Public Board Meeting

Monday, January 21, 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 182-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