10-24-2017 GPPSD Board Highlights

Grande Prairie Public School District

October 24, 2017

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 Oullette Lesley Craig Lynn Driedger Paulette Kurylo Rob Martin SUPERINTENDENT Alexander McDonald ASSOCIATE SUPERINTENDENT, SECRETARY-TREASURER Jeff Olson ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT, HUMAN RESOURCES Nick Radujko ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF PROGRAMS & PLANNING James Robinson ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT, STUDENT SERVICES Christina Farquharson

UPCOMING DISTRICT DATES REGULAR BOARD MEETING Monday, November 13, 2017 06:00 p.m., Central Office

A photo of GPPSD’s newly elected Board of Trustees during a group photo shooting session. From left to right: Rob Martin, Trustee, Andre Oullette, Trustee, Joan Nellis, Board Vice-Chair, Lynn Driedger, Trustee, John Lehners, Board Chair, Lesley Craig, Trustee, Paulette Kurylo, Trustee.

REVIEW OF ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING

GPPSD Chair and Vice-Chair for 2017-2018

The Board of Trustees of GPPSD met prior to the regular meeting to select a Chair and Vice-Chair and to populate the various committees and divide responsibilities amongst the Trustees. The Board elected John Lehners as the Chair and Joan Nellis as the Vice-Chair for the 2017-2018 year. Congratulations to both of the successful candidates for these positions.

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BOARD CHAIR REPORT

New Trustee orientation process

Board Chair Lehners reviewed the new Trustee orientation process, planned to help introduce information about the District, District structures and practices, and the ongoing work of the Board of Trustees. Components of upcoming meetings will include additional presentations that will continue to provide foundational information to support the work of the new Board.

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SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

GPPSD-Alberta Health Services (AHS) partnership

Superintendent McDonald reported that GPPSD has signed an agreement with AHS to share anonymous student attendance information to support public health decision-making by the Chief Medical Officer of Health. The sharing of real-time attendance information will provide AHS with trend data re: absence due to illness that can be compared to other local data to make decisions the spread of influenza and other communicable diseases.

October 24, 2017

results from the 2016-2017 school year. Significant improvement for the district was noted in 9 areas of the report.

Supports for combined classes in GPPSD Superintendent McDonald added to the previous meeting’s report on Combined Classes that Kim Frykas and Angela DesBarres, Directors of Instruction, facilitated a professional learning session for the teachers with combined grade classes within the District. This session, which used resources created by the curriculum team and resources borrowed from the Edmonton Public School District, focused on preparing for the year, working together to solve concerns they have identified in their classrooms and building structures and processes that have been proven to contribute to student (and teacher) success in combined grade classrooms.

District leadership standards implementation Superintendent McDonald provided an overview of the ongoing Leadership Standards research project that the District is undertaking with the assistance of the University of Lethbridge. The second session for our principals, vice-principals and central administration team to work on the new First Nations, Métis and Inuit (FNMI) standard was held on October 18, 2017.

The focus of administrative work plans will be on implementation of the new standards over the next three years, with a plan to use similar strategies to support the implementation of the updated Teaching Quality Standard when it comes into effect.

GPPSD CHRISTMAS CARD ART CONTEST! Deadline: Before 4:00 p.m. on Monday, November 13, 2017.

Superintendent McDonald provided the Board information on an upcoming Christmas Card Contest directed at grades 4-6 students in GPPSD.

BUSINESS SERVICES

GPCHS replacement school design Secretary-Treasurer Olson and Superintendent McDonald provided Trustees an update on the early stages of the design process for the replacement of the Grande Prairie Composite High School. District staff, including Principal Dennis Vobeyda, are touring high schools that have opened recently in Calgary and Edmonton for the purpose of observing trends in new high school construction and looking for design elements that may transfer to our project and benefit our students.

October Accountability Pillar Online Reporting Initiative (APORI)

CONTACT INFORMATION PHONE 780-532-4491 EMAIL communications@gppsd.ab.ca

Superintendent McDonald provided an overview of the relative strengths and growth areas of focus in the October 2017 APORI report which reports on district

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REMEMBRANCE DAY! Ceremonies at GPPSD schools on November 10, 2017.

GPPSD Christmas Card Contest

District planning process Superintendent McDonald provided the Board with an overview of the district planning process which explains the levels of planning from Alberta Education to the classroom. The connection between Provincial Goals, District Goals and School Goals are discussed in this document. The relationship to individual planning is also discussed in the document. The document concludes with a summary of the various accountability and assurance tools that are available for us to address our progress towards our goals.

NEWS & EVENTS

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