– by Bruce Beairsto, Metro Chapter Director
Superintendent of Schools, SD 38 (Richmond)
Last year the Ministry of Education announced an interim funding policy for summer school. Districts now await information about the long-term policy to be implemented in 2009.
Commissioned by the Ministry, Sheila Rooney, retired superintendent of SD 41 (Burnaby), submitted a report on November 15 regarding the issue. Funding details are required before the end of the calendar year by some districts and are urgently anticipated by all. It is hoped that the new policy will bring clarity to the confusion that led to widely varied practices last year and that it will answer the questions raised in this BCSSA discussion paper on this topic.
The Metro Chapter has called a meeting of interested districts for 9:00 am on Thursday, December 18th, at the Vancouver Board of Education offices. The purpose is to seek a common interpretation of the interim policy in the event that it should continue without major changes and to formulate advice to the Ministry on preferred approaches to the permanent policy.
Consistent with the BCSSA discussion paper, it has been proposed to interpret a course “leading to graduation” to mean that it is a provincially prescribed course or that it is a remedial program leading to credit for a provincial course previously failed. All other summer programs would then be interpreted as “camps,” with the consequence that funding would not be provided and they would be offered to the public for a fee.
Support for this proposal comes from those who see it as fair and logical and as limiting the escalation of summer school costs, which depletes the overall provincial budget at the expense of programs in the regular school year. Concern is expressed by those who value the courses that were offered free of charge last summer, often to needy students. Loss of this ability is regretted and there is concern that public, and perhaps Board, expectations may have been set by the funding last year and any change may be resisted.
If you wish to attend the summer school discussions on December 18th please have the superintendent contact Bruce Beairsto at bbeairsto@sd38.bc.ca
Fall Conference – Pictures and Notes
Below are a few pictures taken of the 2008 Fall Conference presentations. We have also included the notes from Bruce Beairsto's presentation, Enabling Global Citizens: the system changes that are required.
Download Links:
Enabling Global Citizens: the system changes that are required (Bruce Beairsto)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Michael Fullan, Professor Emeritus of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto.
Steve Cardwell (Superintendent of SD 37- Delta) and fellow colleagues discuss educational practices in a group setting.
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Wade Davis, Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, captivates the audience with vivid pictures of his adventures and research.
