Meetings

Committee of the Whole Board Meeting

Monday, May 13, 2019 – Meeting Agenda Package

Public Board Meeting

Monday, May 27, 2019 — Meeting Agenda Package

Highlights

School Travel Planner Update

Managing traffic flow around school sites, ensuring pedestrian safety, demonstrating respect for neighbours and their properties, and a continued interest in the mental and physical health of our students have ‘driven’ the need for centralized resources to support schools and communities.

The School Travel Planner has been in place now for three years and has been a very welcomed addition and support to all participating partners in the Region. The partners are:

  • Waterloo Catholic District School Board
  • Waterloo Region District School Board
  • City of Kitchener
  • City of Cambridge
  • City of Waterloo

School Travel Planning and the Active and Safe Routes to School initiative have blossomed across the province as a leading practice that is good for kids and their communities.

Highlights of the past year include:

  • Working with municipalities and townships to increase the availability of crossing guards when weather conditions are not ideal
  • Working with schools and families to increase active travel to school
  • Working with administrators, Board planning staff, and municipalities to improve traffic flow and safety at school sites
  • Designating six new schools at ‘Active Communities’
  • Training students as ‘Trailblazers’ – leaders in walking to school
  • Planning and organizing walk to school days – Winter Walk Day, International Walk to School Day, and Walk in their Sneakers Day
  • Data collection and development of outreach programs

On May 13, 2019 the architect of our local school travel planning, Leslie Maxwell, provided the Board of Trustees additional highlights of the team’s work in our schools over the past year. The full report is available on pages 8-25 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Numeracy Update

The WCDSB’s most recent update on numeracy initiatives across the school system was presented on May 13, 2019. The report provided updated information with respect to the following:

  • Elementary and Secondary Math Lead Teacher
  • Professional Learning Opportunities for Mathematics Teaching & Learning
  • Instructional Coaches’ Collaborative Inquiries
  • Gap Closing Teacher
  • Cross-Panel Financial Literacy Initiative

Throughout this school year, various networks in mathematics took place in an equitable manner. Each school in both panels took part in the Math Lead Teacher learning community in order to build system capacity in mathematics K-12. Additionally, numerous after-school professional learning sessions were offered to educator audiences from K-10. Our focus of deepening pedagogical content knowledge continues to drive professional learning as it relates to our Board Improvement Plan for Student Achievement (BIPSA) priorities. In moving forward, the board plans to expand financial literacy integration to more educators, continue to support the Ministry focus around fundamentals of math, and capitalize on the distributed leadership already in place.

The full report is available on pages 26-30 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Special Education Plan Update

All school boards are required every two years to prepare and approve a Special Education Plan, reporting on the special education programs and special education services they provide, and to submit it to the Ministry of Education. A key component of this process is the Special Education Staff Development Plan.

The goal of the Special Education Staff Development Plan is to build capacity, skills and knowledge for administrators, teachers (classroom and Special Education teachers), Educational Assistants and professionals to ensure that high quality programs and services are provided for our students. The aim of the review is to ensure that certain standards are maintained across the province in the development and provision of special education programs and services. Where the ministry determines that a board’s plan does not comply with the standards, the ministry will require the board to amend its plan. Amending the plan will include responding to identified omissions. Boards will make the necessary changes and submit the amendments to the ministry the following year.

The WCDSB closely monitors how students on IEP’s are achieving, particularly in the area of numeracy. The Student Services Department, in collaboration with Program Services, strive to provide timely learning opportunities across a wide range of audiences in feedback gathered through surveys, data collection and audits. We utilize technology, expertise, guest speakers and collaboration as a means to foster engagement in the learning process. Success is measured through the use of logic models.

As of January 22, 2019, approximately 13% of students in Elementary (2,352) and 19% of students in Secondary (1,648) are supported with an IEP (Figure 1). Relative to two years previous (2017), we have proportionally fewer students with an IEP, when there were 14% of students in Elementary and 24% of students in Secondary.

The accompanying graphic illustrates the Special Education Staff Training planned for 2019-20.

The full update is available on pages 16-22 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Energy Conservation Plan

Ontario school boards are required to prepare a 5-year energy conservation and demand management plans for the period 2018-19 to 2023-24. School boards must produce a document that outlines their progress against the plan that was completed in the previous reporting period (ending 2017-18). This includes:

  • the energy management measures that were implemented from fiscal year 2013-14 through fiscal year 2017-18; and
  • the actual energy conserved against the stated annual and cumulative energy conservation goals.

In addition, each plan must set out the Board’s energy management strategies for next five years. It must include:

  • the proposed measures to reduce energy consumption;
  • the annual and cumulative conservation goals; and
  • the demand management strategies.

Through our Environmental Education, Stewardship and Sustainability policy, the WCDSB is actively addressing long-term sustainability in the following key areas: Energy & Water; Purchasing & Waste; Buildings & Grounds; Food & Drink; Inclusion & Participation; and Local Well-Being. This is in keeping with the guidance of Pope Francis in his historic encyclical, Laudato Si’ – On Care for our Common Home as well as WCDSB’s own mission and vision.

To address climate change and associated negative impacts, in the fall of 2016, the WCDSB established a target to reduce its energy use by 1% (661,755 ekWh) annually from the 2013-14 level by 2023. In addition, as part of the Regional Carbon Initiative, in the fall of 2015 the WCDSB became an observing member of Sustainable Waterloo Region and in December 2016 the Board became a pledging partner to reduce 20% of its GHG emissions from 2014 levels over a 10-year period.

To meet this target, WCDSB has implemented conservation measures through design, construction, as well as operation and maintenance of facilities. Additionally, a renewed focus has been placed on behavioural measures with programs targeted to staff and students across the system. Since the 2013-2014 fiscal year, the board has invested $22,300,000 in diverse energy reduction strategies such as the upgrade of mechanical and HVAC equipment, new rooftop units, new roofs, new windows and doors, environmental programs, workshops and staff training.

To view the full plan please see pages 23-57 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 May 2019 is available on page 62 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Student Trustees Report

Student Trustees Izabella Tyc and Meghan Nemeth presented their monthly report on activities in WCDSB’s secondary schools. The report is available on page 61 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Upcoming Board Meetings

Regular Public Board Meeting

Monday, June 17, 2019

St. Benedict CSS, Cambridge

Special Public Board Meeting

Monday, June 24, 2019

St. Benedict CSS, Cambridge

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