Year in Review

1. Year in Review • Getting to Excellence • It is important that we take time to celebrate all that we have accomplished as we come to the end of another year. • Although there have been many distractions from our main focus (students first), there have also been countless accomplishments that have assisted us in moving along the path to excellence for the students in our care.

2. What are the big rocks? • We have grouped our accomplishments into several areas, some more directly linked to student learning than others. • It is important to note however that each and every one of our accomplishments in some way contributes to student learning be it overtly or behind the scenes building positive culture.

3. Areas of Focus • Board Work • Leadership Capacity • Educational Programs • 21st Century Learning • Budget • Closing Schools • Public Relations • Facilities • Human Resources • Community

4. Board Work • Set goals that are the direct result of this Board’s areas of passion, focus and priorities • Redoing Policy and Procedures to clearly define roles and responsibilities of the Board and the CEO • Created systems to determine what belongs in closed meetings (personnel, property and litigation) and moved all other discussions to public board meetings • Closed 2 schools

5. Board Work cont’d... • Hired new Superintendent of Schools • Hired a new Secretary Treasurer • Hired a new executive assistant to ST • Began the evaluation of the superintendent of schools • Policies codified and the creation of a framework for the development and review of current policies with relevancy and currency in mind.

6. Leadership Capacity • Created a Superintendent’s Vision so that all staff understood who the superintendent was and what the superintendent stood for • Created a system for Leadership Excellence through intensive staff development at pro d and superintendent’s meetings

7. Leadership Capacity cont’d.. • Got into every school to build relationships and instil confidence in the field. • Reduced and Restructured Senior Team • Restructured and revamped the role of Communications Officer and developed a strategic plan for long term Communication and Public Relations goal (renaming this position – Manager of Communications and Community Relations) (Aug 2010)

8. Leadership Capacity cont’d.. • Developed a Leadership Vision with Administrators • Created a framework and a focus for all administrator professional development (aligned this with all presentations made by superintendent at monthly meetings) focus for 2009/10 was Leadership Excellence and focus for 2010/11 is 21st century learning

9. Leadership Capacity cont'd. • Provided in-service to all vice-principals in management competencies • Monthly meetings with all partner groups to assist with relationship/trust building. (2X per month with MRTA as they represent the largest employee group) • Created a superintendent’s blog to honor and recognize the amazing things happening around the district

10. Leadership Capacity cont'd... • Worked with a student focus group to try to determine how we might improve our education system to better meet the needs of the learner • Created the framework and rationale for a move towards Growth Plans for all in our district. Presented with the MRTA to admin and pro d reps from every school. Implementation plans still to be developed

11. Leadership Capacity cont'd... • Restructured administrator meetings to principal only and vice-principal only in order to reduce costs as well as focus on specific skills • Restructured Superintendent’s meetings to be 80%Pro D and 20% Information Items

12. Leadership Capacity cont’d... • Formed and participated in the Fraser Leadership Network which allowed some administrators to work with others from 3 surrounding districts. This was also developed to use money more effectively when bringing in facilitators to assist in Leadership Growth.

13. Leadership Capacity cont’d... • Developed a two year Teacher Leadership Series to be facilitated by District Staff and the MRTA. Have 35 teachers already signed up for the program which will begin in the fall of 2010 • Re-aligned yearly assessments of Principal/Vice-Principal Leadership Capacity Focus

14. Educational Programs • Had a complete enrolment audit on all 6 Secondary schools and presented an appeal focusing on “changes in education and fairness of process”.(recouped $35,000) • Prepared for and planned implementation of Full Day Kindergarten over the next 2 years in our district

15. Educational Programs cont’d… • Reviewed catchment areas and adjusted a few in order to manage enrolment across the district and set the stage for several more years of declining enrolment impact adjustments • Began 3 additional strong start centres at HP, HH and FV. Continued to develop strategies and structures to include strong start programs as part of the school culture and to increase contact between Strong Start facilitators and teachers.

16. Educational Programs cont’d… • Hosted 32 Ready Set Learn events for young children and their families. • Have almost completed the Learning Disabilities review and developed recommendations for action for the 2010/11 school year. • Reviewed and simplified SSS paperwork, and changing to multiple languages

17. Educational Programs cont’d… • Built capacity in positive behaviour support for students through working with specific schools on school wide training, providing behaviour support training, and general behaviour workshops • Children in Care project ( developed a tracking and intervention system for every student in care in our district)

18. 21st Century Learning • Created a rubric for measuring 21st century skills monitoring and practiced using it with the laptop program teachers • Revamped summer school in order to refocus the purpose and vision of summer school education

19. 21st Century Learning cont’d... • Completed a Secondary Schools Inquiry project that allowed all secondary schools to share what they learned as they begin to think about a 21st century change in education • Hired new IT Manager that is moving the district forward on the IT front

20. 21st Century Learning cont’d... • Moved all district users to Outlook Express off of Lotus (saved money and improved communication and allowed people access from anywhere) • Planned and upgraded secondary school wireless to allow students to have a robust network for educational use.

21. 21st Century Learning cont’d... • Implemented a digital document management system that uses our current photocopy assets to digitize current SD42 paper records. • Created a SharePoint District Learning Centre to replace the Matrix and provide SD42 staff with an online training environment.

22. 21st Century Learning cont’d... • Created the anticipatory set for a focus on 21st century skills and engaging our learners for next year

23. Budget • Create the setting of realistic budgets and eliminate the misuse of “roll-overs” • Develop a balanced budget with our partner groups • Designed more simplified budget systems and established projections and plans for the future

24. Budget cont’d... • Revamped the budget process to be more efficient and user friendly • Designed a more simplified budget system with projections/forecasts • My Budget file set up (work in progress) • On-line payroll initiative completed

25. Closing Schools • Closed two Elementary Schools • Developed transitions teams to ensure that the schools that were closed had a team approach to “next steps” • Transitioned all students from closed schools successfully (through the transition team) into their new schools for 2010

26. Closing Schools cont’d… • Created Riverside Center in an attempt to bring together service programs that link together in order to improve efficiencies and provide seamless opportunities for people in our community to gain access to education outside of our regular K-12 system

27. Public Relations • Launched a District magazine designed to honor and celebrate Public Education • Became a Lighthouse district for managing Bill 33 issues • Continued to improve the District Website in terms of additions, look, feel and ease of use

28. Facilities • Did a complete facilities review in order to make a plan for the future use of our buildings • Working on reducing the use of portables (31 portables to be sold) • Garibaldi New School/Reno • Review of all User Group Contracts for consistency and good fit with larger picture. • Catchment Review

29. Human Resources • Revamp Health and Safety to include more pro-active “wellness” opportunities plus brought H&S into the HR department • H1N1 strategic plan for management and communication • Greybrook Academy (took 40 students into our system (smoothly) post Sept 30th

30. Human Resources cont’d... • New Principal and VP contracts • Roll out of Employee recognition program (Hire to Retire) and training of all supervisors in Employee recognition strategies • Embarked upon the Exempt Contract review to ensure we are at Market Value for all Exempt staff

31. Human Resources cont’d... • Removed 3% gratuity from Exempt contracts(new to district) to allow for a more consistent review of Labor Market analysis. • Conducted a full 15 district complete compensation review on all exempt staff

32. Human Resources cont’d... • Increased and enhanced training opportunities for SEA’s including the first SD42 instructional support staff conference which was attended by over 300 sea’s, CCW’s and Aboriginal support workers. • Applied for an received a grant for SEA in-service and implemented training opportunities

33. Community • Worked in both communities to ensure the Olympic Torch run was a great success. • Worked with both communities to plan both in and out of school activities for the Olympics

34. Community cont’d… • Completed the planning portion of the Community Hive at Eric Langton including the signing of the memo of understanding with 13 community partner groups. Officially opened the Hive on December 7th, 2010.

35. Community cont’d… • Reviewed and revised the Master Agreement on Cooperation for the Joint Use of Public Facilities and Coordination of Services between the District of Maple Ridge, the District of Pitt Meadows and School District 42. • Created a Joint Use Agreement for the Pitt Meadows Artificial Turf Field

36. The year in Review Although this is not a complete list of things that were accomplished this year, it clearly shows that we have great people working towards providing the best services for the kids in our district. We have reason to be proud!