03-27-2018 GPPSD Board Highlights

Grande Prairie Public School District

March 27, 2018

BOARD HIGHLIGHTS Central Office, 10127 120 Avenue, Grande Prairie, AB, T8V 8H8

The Grande Prairie Public School District is a learning community in which every student succeeds BOARD OF TRUSTEES BOARD CHAIR John Lehners BOARD VICE-CHAIR Joan Nellis TRUSTEES Andre Ouellette Lesley Craig Lynn Driedger Paulette Kurylo Rob Martin SUPERINTENDENT Alexander (Sandy) McDonald ASSOCIATE SUPERINTENDENT, SECRETARY-TREASURER Norm Guindon ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT, HUMAN RESOURCES Nick Radujko ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF PROGRAMS & PLANNING James Robinson ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT, STUDENT SERVICES Christina Farquharson

REGULAR

BOARD MEETING

TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2018 06:00 P.M., CENTRAL OFFICE FUTURE BOARD MEETINGS: May 8, 2018 May 22, 2018 June 12, 2018

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GPPSD Board of Trustees

GPPSD PRESENTATION

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

Grande Prairie Music Parents Association

International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme Updates

Marshall Radke from the Grande Prairie Music Parents Association presented to the Board on the organization, their support role for our District Music program, and shared their belief in the significant value of music instruction for students. He was joined by Tim Burnham and Ken Shinn, parents, and Lyndsay Mitchell, Music Teacher and Craig McLauchlan, District Music Coordinator. Board Chair John Lehners expressed appreciation to the parents for their work and affirmed the Board’s pride in, and support for, our staff and school administration who schedule and provide our students the opportunities to learn and perform at the highest levels.

Trustees were presented an update on the content, structure and current enrolments of the International Baccalaureate Programme, housed at Grande Prairie Composite High School (GPCHS). Superintendent McDonald highlighted Principal Vobeyda’s statistics that show significant growth in registration in the IB Program over the past three years. Mr. Vobeyda’s report also celebrated the academic success of Grade 12 IB students and their teachers, as demonstrated by two measures: (a) GPCHS students regularly outperform students across the world on several of the international exams, and (b) IB students from GPCHS have secured several large national and international scholarships in recent years.

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Page 2 | GPPSD BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

Avondale North Neighbourhood Association Request Superintendent McDonald updated the Board on a meeting held with the principal of Avondale School and representatives from the Avondale North Neighbourhood Association. The Neighbourhood Association and Avondale School work closely together, and invited Mr. McDonald to discuss for improvements to the Avondale site to support the school and the neighbourhood community. Superintendent McDonald will follow up with the Maintenance and Operations department and the city to discuss the potential of supporting the requests.

Destination Imagination The Destination Imagination tournament was held on March 17th and was organized by Susan Picard, District Gifted Education teacher and a volunteer Board of District and Community supporters. This year 20 teams competed in the tournament and 16 students from GPPSD also participated in a coding challenge that was assessed by staff from the Grande Prairie Regional College. Student participation from GPPSD remains high and Superintendent McDonald expressed appreciation to Mrs. Picard and the many staff and volunteers who supported our students. A team from GPPSD was selected to represent the area at the Global Finals in Knoxville, Tennessee and the District will once again provide support for the flights.

March 27, 2018

BUSINESS SERVICES

NEWS & EVENTS

Update for the 2nd quarter

MARCH 30 Good Friday

Norm Guindon, Associate Superintendent/SecretaryTreasurer of Business Services presented an update for the 2nd quarter. He highlighted that GPPSD is currently running about 50.5% of the budget at the half-way point and is on track as per the District budget finalized in the fall.

APRIL 1-8 Easter break 9 First day back from Easter break 20 Full day off for students as it is a Professional Learning Day for staff

2018 Provincial Budget Summary

MAY 13 18

Secretary-Treasurer Guindon also provided the Board a summary of the impact of the March 22, 2018 budget on GPPSD. The government continues to fund enrolment growth and increased funding was announced by the Province to be targeted to support nutrition programs.

Unfortunately, no increases to base grant rates were announced this year to offset the cumulative cost of inflation, which does provide some challenges to the District expenses. Budget development meetings have been scheduled and will take place over the next month in order to allow the Board to submit a budget to the Minister of Education by the end of May.

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Mother’s Day Full day off for students as it is a Professional Learning Day for staff Victoria day

JUNE 1 Full day off for students as it is a Professional Learning Day for staff 17 Father’s Day 21 National Indigenous Peoples Day 28 Last day for students 29 Last day for staff JULY 1 Canada Day AUGUST 6 Heritage Day

CONTACT INFORMATION MOHAMMAD HAIDAR Communications & Design Specialist 780-532-4491 Ext. 1013 mohammad.haidar@gppsd.ab.ca

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