Sir Ken Robinson on creativity in Schools

Meet the Candidates: North Vancouver School Board By-Election

The by-election to replace Jane Thornthwaite (now the M.L.A. for North Vancouver-Seymour) will be held September 19, 2009.  Today the North Shore Outlook newspaper provides readers with an introduction to the seven candidates vying to replace Thornthwaite on the North Vancouver Board of Education.  The cover of the Outlook also featured a photograph of the six remaining trustees bearing the somewhat misleading caption:  “Meet the Candidates”.  Inside the publication the seven wannabe trustee candidates are profiled.   Definitely worth a read if you are a resident of the District of North Vancouver and contemplating voting in the by-election September 19th.

Click here to read the full North Shore Outlook article.

The seven candidates are:

Sheila Bouman – www.sheilabouman.blogspot.com

Cyndi Gerlach – www.cyndigerlach.com

John Harvey – n/a

Mark Heieis – www.mark4trustee.ca

Doreen MacKay-Dunn – www.macdunn.ca

Mike Sexsmith – www.mikesexsmith.ca

Cindy Silver – www.silverlaw.ca

This is the photo that appeared on the Cover of the Outlook:

AND THEN THERE WERE SIX – North Van school board trustees will have another colleague after Saturday’s election to replace former board chair Jane Thornthwaite who stepped down this June. Thornthwaite’s new role as MLA for North Vancouver-Seymour necessitated the decision, she said. Clockwise from top left: Mary Tasi, Linda Buchanan, Holly Back, Susan Skinner, Franci Stratton and Barry Forward.  Rebecca Aldous photo, North Shore Outlook

All-Day Kindergarten: Good Investment for BC?

In the preamble leading up to the unveiling of the Provincial Government’s “Budget Update” on September 1st, Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid hinted that the government was once again contemplating the introduction of all-day kindergarten in BC public schools.  According to the minister in a speech to educators in Penticton on August 24th, the government was going to follow through on its commitment to All-Day K and fund the program.

Sure enough in the throne speech a few days later MacDiarmid’s hint was introduced officially but with few details except again to say that full-time kindergarten for five-year-olds will begin in fall 2010.  Education Minister  MacDiarmid explained later that it will be introduced in stages, although she wasn’t able to say how many schools would be ready to offer it by next year.

The Vancouver Sun provided some background on the move saying:

The Liberals first promised expanded kindergarten in the 2008 throne speech, when they floated the idea of all-day kindergarten for five-year-olds in 2009 followed by a program for four- and three-year-olds by 2012.

An Early Childhood Learning Agency, created by government to study the costs, found strong support for the five-year-olds program but said annual costs would be about $600 million. As well, schools would have to hire 1,000 additional teachers and renovate space to accommodate younger kids.

Needless to say funding aside, the debate on the merits of All-Day Kindergarten has heightened.  Dave Park, the former chief economist of the Vancouver Board of Trade, weighed in writing an opinion piece for the Vancouver Sun stating that “in recent years there has been a recognition of the need for a more coordinated and structured approach that would provide optimum social and intellectual development of children, before they enter the grade school system.”  Park ended his column with the following: “The sooner steps such as extension of kindergarten can be undertaken, the sooner the longer-term future of our children will be significantly improved.”

Today, in a letter responding to Park’s assertions, Clyde Hertzman, President of the Council for Early Child Development at UBC offered this comment on the notion spending money on early childhood learning during an economic downturn is the right thing to do:

James Heckman, a Nobel Prize-winning U.S. economist, has demonstrated that the economic benefits from investment in early child development far outstrip dollars spent on infrastructure. And Canada’s own Dan Trefler has shown that the productivity gains from investment in early child development are substantially higher than other potential public investments.

Are BC Students Engaged or Tuning Out?

The Metro newspaper in Vancouver  re-printed a Toronto Star story this morning once again focusing on the question whether our schools across the country are engaging our students.  The study, which is backed up by a survey of more than 32,000 children and teens from Grades 5 to 12, claims only about one-third of Canadian students say they are interested in class.

If this isn’t the wake up call for our education system what is?  Again, another report supporting the need to invest in our teachers and supporting them as we move through this sea of change in  our classrooms.

“Across Canada, many students say that classrooms and learning as they are currently organized are not working,” says the report conducted by the Canadian Education Association (CEA), a non-profit research and policy group. “They are not working for students who can keep up with the pace set by the lectures, textbooks and tests, and they are not working for those who cannot … the message has been clear: students do not want learning made easy, they want it to mean something.”

More than 90 schools across the country took part in the survey, “What did you do in school today,” part of a multi-year project looking at how students feel about their education and how schools and teachers can improve.

It measured student engagement in three ways: socially (participation in extracurricular clubs/sports, a sense of belonging), academic (arriving on time, attending class regularly) and intellectual (interest and motivation to do well, feel education is relevant).

What the report found is that, as students progress through the grades, their engagement drops on all levels, especially intellectually.

“It’s not clear that intellectual engagement is happening,” says Penny Milton, chief executive officer of CEA. “That’s the kind of learning that requires you to think, and think deeply, and it may not be happening for many kids.

“They’ve learned that if they memorize the facts, and if they can answer questions, that’s what school requires. What we could argue is that to become good learners, they need to become thinkers.”

The full Toronto Star story can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/education/backtoschool/article/679709

The full report from the CEA can be downloaded at:

http://cea-ace.ca/media/en/WDYDIST_National_Report_EN.pdf

BC School Trustees on BC Budget

News from the BC School Trustees Association:

Budget update – operating grants to districts unchanged

This afternoon, the government released its September update to its budget and fiscal plan. For K-12 education, the operating grants to boards remain unchanged to the amounts announced last February. However, other segments of the budget that cover facility grants and other discretionary grants have been cut.

Funding for the gradual implementation of full-day Kindergarten will appear in future budgets, with an additional $44 million expected for 2010 and $107 million for 2011. Although no exemptions from the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) were announced for boards of education, Finance Minister Colin Hansen said that governments will look at any incremental costs incurred by boards due to the HST when planning for next year’s budget.

President Connie Denesiuk stated that, “while it is good news that board allocations have not been reduced, we know that costs continue to rise, increasing financial pressure on boards. The loss of AFG funding and other discretionary grants will have a significant impact on boards and will affect staffing and programs.”

For complete budget coverage: http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2009_Sept_Update/default.htm

Cut to Annual Facilities Grant Top of Agenda for School Boards

This week’s announcement from Provincial Government that the Annual Facilities Grant has been cancelled for the 2009-2010 school year is now the main topic of discussion among most, if not all, school districts in B.C.

The grant, worth about $110 million province-wide, covers such facilities maintenance work such as mechanical and electrical upgrades, roof replacements, site improvements, and building modifications to provide disabled access.

Vancouver Sun education reporter Janet Steffenhagen ran a story in Saturday’s paper (August 29, 2009) with the headline:  School districts scramble to deal with cancelled maintenance grant

“We’ve had to make some really difficult choices,” Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid said in an interview for the story. “I would have much preferred to [provide] all the grant money as last year, but it wasn’t possible.”

The Province carried a similar story on August 30, 2009, penned by reporter Elaine O’Connor bearing the headline: Schools lose funding for repairs, upgrades

In the Province story B.C. School Trustees Association president Connie Denesiuk says:

“Districts make plans to maintain facilities, and when they are unable to do so, then there is a significant risk that damage is going to occur”

“Just like a car or a house, when you keep it up you can save significant dollars down the line.”

Barrie Street: North Vancouver Active Hero

My friend Barrie Street never seems to slow down. Recently, in addition to being one of the North Vancouver Recreation Commission’s marketing poster boys, he was named the Active Hero for the month of August.Check out www.NorthVanRec.com for the full story:

Barrie Street

“Learning to swim was a dream come true”

Barrie is 73 years old, but you’d never know it. With a youthful smile, he proudly tells how he has finished four Ironman competitions, even though at age 48, he didn’t know how to swim.

”I had been running marathons and I saw clips of the Ironman” with its trademark grueling triathlon legs of running, biking and swimming. With the support and encouragement of Tom and others at the William Griffin pool, Barrie faced his greatest challenge of all.

“It took me months to swim a length. I had no confidence. Without the skill and dedication of the North Vancouver Recreation Commission staff, I would not have realized my dream.”

Barrie’s message to others? “Be disciplined. You are going to do it! I’ve been to 50 countries and have never seen the kind of programs we have here. It’s just amazing.”

Margaret MacDiarmid Appointed BC Education Minister

Honourable Margaret MacDiarmid

Dr. Margaret MacDiarmid was elected MLA for Vancouver-Fairview on May 12, 2009.

Minister MacDiarmid has been a family physician for 23 years. She served on the board of the BC Medical Association for 12 years and was president in 2006-2007.

The BCMA is a voluntary association of 11,000 members comprised of British Columbia’s physicians, medical residents, and medical students. During her time with the BCMA, Minister MacDiarmid met with key leaders from government and other organizations.

Originally from Saskatchewan, Minister MacDiarmid moved to Rossland, B.C. in 1989. Since the mid-1990s, her work brought her more frequently to Vancouver where she decided to settle.

NV School Board Approves 2009/2010 Operating Budget of $136 million

At its May 26th public meeting, the North Vancouver Board of Education moved to adopt the annual operating budget for the 2009/10 fiscal year.

Highlights of the 2009/10 budget

*  Class sizes for Kindergarten through grade 12 have been maintained at current levels. Teacher lay-offs and reductions are mainly the result of declining enrolment.

*  North Vancouver remains an extremely attractive destination for international students.  While projecting a slight enrolment decline as a result of the global economy, the 2009/10 operating budget provides for $7,245,000 in revenues from our international student program.

*  The School District is experiencing considerable growth in its Distributed Learning Program, with nearly 850 active students.  The revenue forecast for 2009/10 has been increased by $234,000 beyond the preliminary budget estimates.

*  The School District has been able to include expenditures in the amount of $200,000 to meet the need of bandwidth upgrades to schools.  In order to continue to expand the applications of technology for instructional purposes, the School District has been able to invest in a required upgrade to the existing technological infrastructure.

*  Supply accounts have been reduced by $1,170,589 with most accounts being preserved at the school level while district accounts have been considerably reduced.

*  Contracted services at the School District level amounting to $629,033 have been identified for reduction in the 2009/10 operating budget.

*   Through the replacement of schools in combination with the implementation of energy efficiency measures, utilities costs have been reduced by $61,000 for the 2009/10 fiscal year.

More details can be found at www.NVSD44.bc.ca

More on Potential Closure of Balmoral Junior Secondary

Much of this week’s North Shore Outlook coverage of Tuesday’s Public Board Meeting (North Vancouver Board of Education) focused on the possible closure of Balmoral.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/greater_vancouver/northshoreoutlook/news/46265467.html

“According to the school district, the new Carson Graham, slated for a rebuild to begin this fall, will be rated at a smaller capacity – 800 kids versus 1,100 kids – if the now half-empty Balmoral remains open. Those 300 kids at Balmoral joining Carson Graham could represent the difference between a $38-million or a $43-million school.”