Joanna Brownlee – Ward 4 Trustee
As your new trustee I look forward to working with the communities of Ward 4, advocating for our students and promoting a safe, innovative and successful learning environment for all. As a Springbank Community High School alumni this community is very close to my heart. In my first few weeks of trusteeship I have had the opportunity to get to know and work with some of you, seeing all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to make our school operations run so smoothly day to day. I am very fortunate to be working with so many who are just as passionate as I am about making our schools the best they can be.
Many of you knew Judi Hunter, the previous trustee, who did not seek re-election this term. I want to take a moment to reflect on all of her hard work and service during her two terms on the board. She worked diligently and passionately in all aspects of the role. Her contributions will continue to be appreciated by our communities for years to come.
The new Rocky View Board of Trustees was sworn in on the morning of October 30th. Following the swearing in ceremony, the board held their yearly Organizational meeting where Fiona Gilbert (Ward 5) was re-elected Chair and Melyssa Bowen (Ward 3) was elected vice-chair for the first time. Regular board meetings are held on Thursdays and are open to the public. Dates vary so please check the RVS calendar for specific dates.
It has been an eventful first few months of school so I want to touch on some updates Rocky View has released following the recent labour actions.
Following the labour action, students and staff returned to school on Wednesday October 29th. Throughout all Rocky View Schools, I am pleased to report that we have seen strong attendance of all our ATA members and I would like to commend all of our staff for their hard work in resuming activities with such short notice and such huge success.
RVS will be reimbursing parents for funds that went unused during the labour action such as bus, sports, class and field trip fees.
Refunds for transportation fees are underway, as service was suspended during the labour action. Families will receive direct communication from the transportation department. School based fee’s will take longer to process as impacts vary by school. RVS administration is working with schools to determine appropriate refunds.
Diplomas and PAT’S have officially been cancelled for the first semester, if students want to take their diploma they will have the option to do so in April or June – grade 6’s will still be taking their PAT’S as usual.
Rocky View has changed the last day of regular instruction in January to accommodate 5 additional days of regular instruction and give students and teachers additional time to make up for the lost instructional time caused by labour action. This will impact only grades 8/9-12 students and changed the last day from January 16th to January 23rd.
For Middle and Elementary schools; no changes were made to term dates, The decision was made not to formally change dates, allowing schools to adjust within their own needs.
The Alberta government has created a Class Size and Complexity Cabinet Committee consisting of 14 members who will spend the coming months collecting data, consulting school authorities, academic experts and community partners with 3 goals in mind.
- Establishing criteria for funding and resource allocation based on class size and composition data.
- Implementing recommendations from the Aggression and Complexity in Schools Action Team report.
- Developing a new Inclusive Education Policy Framework to replace the 2004 Standards for Special Education.
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