Waterloo Region, ON – The Board of Trustees of the Waterloo Catholic District School Board has elected Waterloo / Woolwich / Wellesley Trustee Melanie Van Alphen as Chair of the Board, and Waterloo / Woolwich / Wellesley Trustee Jeanne Gravelle as Vice-Chair of the Board. The meeting was held Monday, December 7, 2020.

The Board of Trustees is comprised of the following representatives:

Bill Conway (Cambridge / North Dumfries) – Past Chair

Manuel da Silva (Cambridge / North Dumfries)

Kevin Dupuis (Kitchener / Wilmot)

Jeanne Gravelle (Waterloo / Wellesley / Woolwich) — Vice-Chair

Wendy Price (Cambridge / North Dumfries)

Greg Reitzel (Kitchener / Wilmot)

Brian Schmalz (Kitchener / Wilmot)

Melanie Van Alphen (Waterloo / Wellesley / Woolwich) – Chair

Tracey Weiler (Kitchener / Wilmot)

Abby Barbosa  and Kate Morrison are the Student Trustees.

Detailed information about the Board of Trustees – including contact information, board agendas and minutes and board policies is available by clicking —–> HERE … Then click the “Our Governance” link.

On November 30, the Ontario government launched the Support for Learners program.

Through this program, the government is providing financial support to help parents and guardians with additional costs during the 2020-2021 school year, during the second wave of COVID-19.

Eligible parents or guardians will receive a one-time payment of:

• $200 for each child up to age 12
• $250 for each child or youth up to age 21 years with special needs

This is a new program, and all parents or guardians who are residents of Ontario with eligible children will need to submit a new application for each child.

As of today, eligible parents or guardians can go to Ontario.ca/SupportforLearners for more information and to apply for the one-time financial support. The deadline to apply is January 15, 2021.

Support for Learners funding is intended to directly support parents to provide children and youth with key educational resources like workbooks, school supplies, technology and developmental resources during these unprecedented times.

Meetings

Committee of the Whole Board Meeting

Monday, November 9, 2020 – Meeting Agenda Package

Public Board Meeting

Monday, November 23, 2020 — Meeting Agenda Package

Highlights

2020 Community Planning and Partnership Report

It is the role of school board management to determine which facilities are suitable for partnerships and which entities are suitable as partners. These decisions are made in a way that is well-informed, well-coordinated, transparent, and consistent with the goals and priorities of the Waterloo Catholic District School Board’s  Multi-Year Strategic Plan, WCDSB’s Catholic values and social teachings, as well as student achievement, well-being and safety.

Suitable space for sharing with a partner, is defined by APF012 as:

• 200 surplus pupil places or a school utilization at or below 70% and this trend is expected to continue
• No accommodation review within the next 3 years
• Space not required for school resources or other board programming
• Size and configuration of the available space
• Ability to separate the partnership space from student areas
• Availability of separate exterior entrance
• Adequate parking for both the school and partner needs
• Site use restrictions
• Facility condition including the adequacy of utilities
• Municipal zoning bylaw restrictions
• Other criteria as appropriate

Currently, no WCDSB schools are suitable candidates for community partnership opportunities.

The report begins on page 7 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Pastoral Plan Update

Catholic schools exist to support the evangelizing mission of the Church. Catholic parents send their children to Catholic schools with certain expectations. The overriding expectation is that their daughter/son will experience education permeated with religious values, religious instruction and be invited to participate in the sacramental life of the church. To this end, we endeavor to provide opportunities to live out and inform our faith through implementation of our Pastoral Plan, which is informed by the Ontario Bishops’ pastoral letter, Renewing the Promise.

Due to ongoing labour action — and then school closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic — our Year 2 Pastoral Plan launch was delayed.

While we continue to be unable to gather for larger events due to public health protocols, we used a video launch in early October to transition from Called to Belong to Gathered to Become.

Highlights of Gathered to Become activities include:

• Pastoral Plan banners placed in the entranceways of all WCDSB schools
• Commissioning of Gathered to Become song by Jan Bentham, a retired Ottawa Catholic DSB teacher, to be used throughout the pastoral year and included in our launch video
• Gathered to Become Video launch: https://youtu.be/PBQFPsoeE9Q
• Becoming Butterfly (& chrysalis) will visit each school site for one week throughout the 2020-2021 school year with accompanying support activities
• Gathered to Become Divisional Videos (Prepared by our Elementary Chaplains, Heejung Cho and Sarah Kwiecinski)
• Video Read Alouds of The Marvelous Mustard Seed and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by our Learning Commons staff for primary students
• Partnership with the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory who will provide activities and content to discover what it means to be a species at risk in Canada. This aligns with celebrating Laudato Si’ (5^th year anniversary) and the call to care for our Common Home by Pope Francis
• Google meet experience with Saint John’s Bible to explore Becoming Transformed through the Word of God. Included in this experience is a session on Bugs in the Bible
• Virtual Gr. 8 Retreats developing theme of Gathered to Become / Transformation until Mount Mary and Camp Brebeuf are accessible
• Virtual tours of Parish Churches continue, and recent invite went out to priests at the Waterloo Deanery Meeting
• Adult faith formation activities: Margaret Silf book club to reflect on Hidden Wings (2017) and Born to Fly (2017), two books on the theme of transformation in the Ignatius spiritual tradition
• Family of School Pastoral Team workshop/meetings to support the ongoing work of animating our pastoral year led by Religion and Family Life Consultant

Videos highlighting the pastoral theme and Tweets celebrating #Gathered to Become can be found at:

https://www.wcdsb.ca/gathered-to-become/

The report begins on page 10 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

ESL and ELD

For many decades, the Waterloo Catholic District School Board has celebrated the contributions of its English Language Learners (ELLs) and worked to meet their needs in a variety of settings. English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers continue to work in all our schools to support staff, students, and families in developing language skills necessary for success in a changing society.

Support for ELLs is articulated in the WCDSB’s Board Improvement Plan for Student Achievement (BIPSA) as educators are called upon to clearly know the needs of these students and respond to them in a collaborative and effective manner. As well, the Board’s Multi-Year Strategic Plan (MYSP) identifies and promotes the use of culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy as a strategy to meet the goals of achievement and well-being.

English as a Second Language (ESL) programs are for students whose first language is other than English or is a variety of English significantly different from that used for instruction in Ontario schools. Students in these programs have had educational opportunities to develop age-appropriate first-language literacy skills.

English Literacy Development (ELD) programs are for students whose first language is other than English or is a variety of English significantly different from that used for instruction in Ontario schools. Students in these programs are most often from countries in which their access to education has been limited, and they have had limited opportunities to develop language and literacy skills in any language. Schooling in their countries of origin has been inconsistent, disrupted, or even completely unavailable throughout the years that these children would otherwise have been in school. As a result, they arrive in Ontario schools with significant gaps in their education. We refer to these students as SLIFE, Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education.

Data indicate a steady increase in the number of students registering at the WCDSB (JK-Grade 12) from various countries all over the world. A large majority of these students have English as an Additional Language Learning needs, at the earliest steps to proficiency. Many students are arriving to us as SLIFE, requiring foundational literacy and language development and orientation to school life in Ontario.

Despite travel/immigration restrictions due to COVID-19, the Newcomer Reception Centre (NRC) has welcomed over 50 students to the WCDSB, some being new immigrants (parent study/work permit, or Permanent Resident), and many as secondary migrants from other provinces such as Alberta and Manitoba

The report begins on page 64 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Special Education Update

Ensuring the well being and safety of students and staff is the central, overall goal for WCDSB during the 2020-2021 school year within the global COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Education and Public Health directed an adapted return to learn for our secondary students and a conventional return to learn for our elementary students in September of 2020. The Ministry of Education also mandated the option for students to attend a virtual school setting (e.g., St. Isidore at WCDSB) if not opting for the adaptive or conventional return.

The Ministry of Education advised that students with high needs attend school full time if the adaptive model was deemed the mode of delivery at a board level. This was a thoughtful decision on the part of the Ministry as the virtual learning environment is very challenging for many students with Special Education needs. Staff in Student Services have completed departmental goals in the form of logic models to frame the work of our staff in ensuring academic achievement and well being for our students.

The November 23 report provides details on the following:

• COVID-19 Infographics & Tip Sheets
• Developmental Skills for COVID-19 Protocols
• Assistive Technology – Reaching Students and Staff Through Remote/Virtual Training
  • Education and Community Partnership Program (Section 23)
  • The Young Adult Program (YAP)
  • Lutherwood Day Treatment Program – U12
  • Hope Harbour House
  • Child and Adolescent Inpatient Psychiatry (CAIP)

The report begins on page 70 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Mental Health Update

In the unique situation with the global pandemic, we have adapted our practices to place a very strong emphasis on preparing our system to promote a mentally healthy return-to-school. Our annual plan provides the broader objectives of what we hope to achieve over the course of the year, while remaining flexible and adaptive as the needs of our students and system evolve.

A new Board Scan – adapted to focus the work that needs to unfold in the context of COVID-19 – will be released by School Mental Health Ontario later this fall and will continue to inform the work we will do to achieve these overarching goals for the 2020-2021 school year:

1. To strengthen system-wide commitment to WCDSB’s vision for mental health and wellbeing through initiatives which engage students, parents, and staff in working towards mentally healthy school communities.
2. To continue to support strengths-based, trauma-informed practice in the education setting
3. To build staff capacity to support students and ourselves in mental health and wellbeing.
4. To continue to expand and strengthen our community partnerships, creating a coordinated and integrated pathway of care for students
5. To continue to promote and educate regarding our Suicide, Self-harm, and Depression protocol, while continuing to review prevention programming, interventions and postvention unique to the needs of students within WCDSB.
6. To promote evidence-informed practice across all three Tiers with clear and measurable objectives.

Over the course of 2019-20 we continued to prioritize equipping staff, students, and families with the knowledge they need to promote positive mental health in their students. This included PD opportunities that reached more than 2,664 staff, students, and/or families with tailored training to targeted groups including the Secondary School Improvement Heads, the Student Success Team, the Vision Itinerants, Guidance Teachers, EAs, CYCWs, and Parent Councils. We also made substantial investment in co-facilitating the Mo Willems Emotional Literacy lessons in multiple classrooms at two targeted schools.

The WCDSB Mental Health and Well Being Action Plan for 2020-21 is provided as part of the report, which begins on page 78 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Update on WCDSB COVID Education Delivery

At the current time, Waterloo Region’s Catholic schools are engaged in learning under our new COVID-19 reality. Our staff, students and parents have been introduced to a new way of experiencing learning and their schools, be that in our face to face learning environment or in the newly conceived virtual environment. COVID-19 has changed the landscape of a traditional school experience and the staff of our board have planned, prepared, and have now implemented this new reality.

As we end November 2020, we have approximately 4,187 students learning virtually and 19,900 students learning face to face. Thus, at this point approximately 17% of our total student population has opted for the virtual learning environment. We are averaging 7 positive COVID-19 cases a week in our schools, but in virtually all cases, the positive case runs its course, with very few instances of any transmission. We have had since re-opening just two limited outbreaks which again were quickly resolved. This is a strong indication that all our protocols are working. All cases begin with an origin in community and we are seeing WCDSB as a reflection of the broader community.

The transition of additional students at the Thanksgiving benchmark resulted in an additional 29 teachers transitioning to St. Isidore, resulting in a total of 119 virtual classes, K-8.

Our start up thus far has gone smoothly. The fact that our schools are open and thriving is a huge accomplishment. As our parents said in our recent ThoughtExchange – Great Job! It is a reflection of our stellar staff. We believe our schools and workplaces remain safe, but the desire for choice has been presented to parents and we realize people are in different places with their comfort level with COVID-19.

We have had parents share success stories of their children’s joy in being back in a face to face learning environment, and we hear success stories of the work happening by our St. Isidore team. Health and safety must remain our primary concern and motivator. Things do continue to evolve despite the best of planning. What continues to remain constant is the dedication and resilience of our staff, students and WCDSB community.

Finally, the month of November has also provided an opportunity to celebrate Anti-Bullying Cyber-Awareness Month. A multi-media virtual campaign inviting students to answer a series of challenge questions helped to raise the profile of many activities that were shared for the classroom. It is important to find new ways to continue to celebrate the milestone events and focus themes that characterize a school year. Further, we do hope that wellbeing and mental health will be nourished on the solid foundation of our Spiritual Development Day. Our spiritual wellbeing and the strength we receive through this important day in our calendar cannot be understated. With keynote speakers David Wells and Kike Ojo-Thompson we were able to dig deep into the emotions people are feeling, the challenges that we are experiencing and a constructive, hope-filled path forward.

The report begins on page 87 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 November 2020 is available on page 94 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Student Trustees Update

Student Trustees Abby Barbosa and Kate Morrison presented their monthly update – covering activities in WCDSB’s secondary schools. It is available beginning on page 91 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Upcoming Board Meetings

Inaugural Meeting

Monday, December 7, 2020

Waterloo Region Catholic Education Centre

Regular Public Board Meeting

Monday, December 14, 2020

Waterloo Region Catholic Education Centre

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board, representing more than 96,000 Catholic school supporters, operates 48 schools and four adult education facilities, serving more than 40,000 elementary, secondary and continuing education students in Waterloo Region – continuing a 184-year tradition of quality, inclusive, faith-based education. Follow us on Twitter: @WCDSBNewswire – #WCDSBAwesome.

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The next meeting of the Board of Trustees is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. — Monday, November 23, 2020 — at the Waterloo Region Catholic Education Centre.

Meeting Agenda

General Information About WCDSB Board Meetings

Information About the Board of Trustees

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board, representing more than 96,000 Catholic school supporters, operates 48 schools and five adult education facilities serving more than 40,000 elementary, secondary and continuing education students in Waterloo Region – continuing a 184-year tradition of quality, inclusive, faith-based education. Follow us on Twitter: @WCDSBNewswire – #WCDSBAwesome.

The next meeting of the Board of Trustees is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. — Monday, November 9, 2020 — at the Waterloo Region Catholic Education Centre.

Meeting Agenda

General Information About WCDSB Board Meetings

Information About the Board of Trustees

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board, representing more than 96,000 Catholic school supporters, operates 48 schools and five adult education facilities serving more than 40,000 elementary, secondary and continuing education students in Waterloo Region – continuing a 184-year tradition of quality, inclusive, faith-based education. Follow us on Twitter: @WCDSBNewswire – #WCDSBAwesome.

Meetings

Committee of the Whole Board Meeting

Monday, October 5, 2020 – Meeting Agenda Package

Public Board Meeting

Monday, October 26, 2020 — Meeting Agenda Package

Highlights

Math Update

On Monday, October 5, board staff presented a detailed update on the status of the board’s mathematics programs. The report covered the following key topics:

• Highlights of New 2020 Math Curriculum, Grades 1-8 2.
• Math Coaching Support Plan (Elementary)
• Report on Pre/post Learning – September 2nd Math PD Day
• Math Professional Learning Opportunities
• Secondary School Priorities
• Looking Forward/Next Steps

The Ontario Math Strategy is dedicated to strengthening math teaching and fostering learning environments that will lead to improved student performance for all students, including students with special education needs.

The primary goals of this strategy are to:

• Support the effective implementation of the NEW 2020 Elementary Math Curriculum (grades 1 to 8)
• Increase the performance of all students in targeted schools, including students with special education needs and students facing systemic barriers in their math learning (for example, Indigenous students, Black students and students in poverty)
• Continue to strengthen educator math content knowledge and pedagogy on the fundamentals of math
• Build awareness for parents about what their children are learning in school, and
• Ensure that students, parents, teachers, and leaders have the support, tools and resources they need to advance student learning and confidence in math.

To assist in achieving the goals of the math strategy, targeted elementary schools have been selected based primarily on EQAO numeracy results over the past five years. In some cases, average daily enrolment, school size, and socio-economic factors were also considered.

These schools were identified in 2019-20 and remain the same for 2020-21, due to the absence of EQAO data from 2020:

• Peter
• Anne Cambridge
• Michael
• Gregory (795445)

The report begins on page 13 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Initiation of 2020/21 French Immersion (FI) Review

The recommendations of the 2017/18 French Immersion Program review concluded that a further update of the board’s plans for French Immersion (FI) be completed by 2023, including a plan related to secondary FI. In May 2020, the Long-Term Accommodation Plan identified undertaking this update in 2020/21.

The following factors are to be re-confirmed or addressed in this review:

• Elementary school organization (i.e. grade structure, single track, dual track)
• Grade 1 entry point
• Approach to Grade 1 application for FI
• Attendance of siblings in FI school
• Impact of transportation, as it relates to school organization
• Establish strategy for delivery of FI courses for grades 9 to 12 to meet secondary FI certificate requirements
• Review and confirm criteria for selecting new elementary FI location(s)
• Identify areas of future consideration for new elementary FI location(s)
• Establish criteria for selecting new secondary FI location(s)

The expectation is that the review committee’s work would be initiated in November 2020 and conclude in the Spring of 2021, with a final report to the Board by June 2021.

The report begins on page 21 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Learning Commons Update

In 2017-18 WCDSB staff embarked upon a 5-year plan to refresh all the learning commons spaces in the school system.

During the summer of 2019-20, renovations at the following schools were completed:

• Blessed Sacrament
• Holy Spirit
• John Sweeney
• Our Lady of Grace
• Anne, Kitchener
• John Paul II
• Kateri
• Matthew
• Teresa, Kitchener

In the current school year (year 4), the following schools will be updated:

• Holy Rosary
• Our Lady of Lourdes
• Resurrection
• Augustine
• Clement
• Mark
• Teresa, Elmira

The report begins on page 23 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Well Being Plan Update

In planning our three-year Well Being Strategy, we looked to align a Catholic vision of the human person with our current Pastoral Plan – which in turn was influenced by the Ontario Bishops’ Pastoral Letter, Renewing the Promise.

With the collaboration of several working committees — Safe Schools, Mental Health and Wellness, Heathy Schools, and Equity/Inclusion — we have developed a three-year Well Being Strategy for all schools and staff within the Waterloo Catholic District School Board.

Each stated goal includes strategies identified across our four domains of wellbeing – Safe Schools, Mental Health and Wellness, Heathy Schools, Equity, and Inclusion. Attention to the prayer and spiritual life of staff and students are embedded in the strategies. Each goal also identifies key performance indicators that will be used to monitor and evaluate the success of each school community in meeting the goals of overall wellbeing.

The Well-Being Strategy goals are aligned with our Pastoral Plan:

1. Students and staff feel a sense of belonging and inclusion in their learning community. Pastoral Plan (Belonging)
2. Students have equitable access to learning opportunities. Pastoral Plan (Becoming)
3. Building a culture of well-being that supports success for all in the WCDSB community. Pastoral Plan (Building)

Next Steps:

• Research confirms that students who feel welcome and accepted in their schools are more likely to succeed academically. At WCDSB, our core Catholic values are strongly congruent with the goals of the well-being strategy. We value the dignity of all learners and employees and work to ensure that everyone feels welcomed, included, and has opportunity to experience academic or work success.
• Within mental health the goal is to expand the scope of the webpage, redesign the wellness resources that are supportive of the distance learning format, and launch the new “Faith and Wellness” classroom activity resource.
• Looking ahead in 2020-21, the Healthy Schools direction will remain focused on supporting teachers in the elementary and secondary systems as they navigate safe ways to deliver physical education programming given the restrictions COVID-19 places on us.
• Intentional expansion of St. Don Bosco Kitchener to enhance well-being programming for SAL and safe school students.
• Executive Council is investigating the hiring of an Equity Officer to guide and animate the WCDSB Equity Action Plan as we move through revised estimates board budget process in late October.
• Our Year 2 pastoral plan theme, Gathered to Become, will also contribute to overall staff and student wellbeing as we begin a year-long prayerful meditation on how we are each transformed by God’s word in our lives and how we are sustained in each moment by the grace of God’s abundant love discovered in our daily encounters with the person of Jesus.

The report begins on page 25 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Update on WCDSB Education Models

As we began the new school year, 13% of our student population — approximately 3,149 students — had opted for virtual learning and began attending our virtual school, St. Isidore.

We had approximately 2,401 elementary students and 740 secondary students who had selected virtual learning. We have since completed two additional surveys – one for elementary and one for secondary students — to determine their preference for learning face to face or virtual. That has resulted in an additional 766 elementary students learning virtually in elementary and an additional 337 students learning virtually in secondary. With the additional secondary students and finetuning of student preferences, we have approximately 4,187 students learning virtually and 19,900 students learning face to face. Thus, at this point approximately 17% of our total student population has opted for the virtual learning environment.

We have appointed a principal for St. Isidore, as well as 3 elementary Vice Principals and currently, a secondary Vice Principal, as well as an administrative assistant and a guidance counsellor to assist with the many tasks associated with setting up and supporting this number of students in a virtual environment. The transition of additional students at the Thanksgiving benchmark resulted in an additional 29 teachers transitioning to St. Isidore, resulting in a total of 119 virtual classes, K-8.

Our start up thus far has gone smoothly. The number of positive cases in our schools are relatively low and we have had no cases of in-school or workplace transmission. We believe our schools and workplaces remain safe, but the desire for choice has been presented to parents and we realize people are in different places with their comfort level with COVID.

We have parents share success stories of their children’s joy in being back in a face to face learning environment, and we hear success stories of the work happening by our St. Isidore team. We have sincerely enjoyed the process of welcoming back our staff and students as we know everyone is happy to return to a dynamic learning experience, but we are also aware that there are a number of persisting questions and considerations given the ever-changing landscape.

Things do continue to evolve despite the best of planning. What has remained constant throughout is the dedication and resilience of our staff, students and WCDSB community.

To that end – and based on stakeholder feedback — the school board is eliminating the November transition window and will continue to operate in two modalities (virtual and face to face) in secondary schools for Quadmester 2. That said, options are still being explored for Quadmester 3 and 4.

The report begins on page 33 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 October 2020 is available on page 38 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Student Trustees Update

Student Trustees Abby Barbosa and Kate Morrison presented their monthly update – covering activities in WCDSB’s secondary schools. It is available beginning on page 36 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Upcoming Board Meetings

Committee of the Whole Board Meeting

Monday, November 9, 2020: Waterloo Region Catholic Education Centre

Regular Public Board Meeting

Monday, November 30, 2020: Waterloo Region Catholic Education Centre

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board, representing more than 96,000 Catholic school supporters, operates 48 schools and four adult education facilities, serving more than 40,000 elementary, secondary and continuing education students in Waterloo Region – continuing a 184-year tradition of quality, inclusive, faith-based education. Follow us on Twitter: @WCDSBNewswire – #WCDSBAwesome.

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