Schools involved: Blessed Sacrament, John Sweeney, Our Lady of Grace, St. Kateri Tekakwitha

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Virtual via Microsoft Teams Live

ThoughtExchange open now and closes April 14, 2021

Start Time: 6:00 p.m.

Brief Presentation at 6:00 p.m.
Questions & Answers period to follow

Purpose:

To present the preferred option (Option 1) and implementation recommendations, prior to finalizing the recommendations to the Board of Trustees.

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Information, including pre-recorded staff presentation, is available at:

https://wcdsb.ca/about-us/accommodations/huron-brigadoon-boundary-review/

Email: HuronBrigadoon@wcdsb.ca

Meetings

Committee of the Whole Board Meeting

Monday, March 8, 2021 – Meeting Agenda Package

Public Board Meeting

Monday, March 22, 2021 — Meeting Agenda Package

Highlights

Adult Education Update

For many adult students, the ability to balance work, school and life responsibilities is often a driving force for the outcome of their academic success. Variability of work, increased need for digital resources, sporadic childcare, mental and physical well-being, and irregular access to community supports were intensified this past year and we are especially proud of everyone’s resiliency and success.

Despite the challenges of the past year, we forged ahead with many recommendations, adjusting our priorities along the way to achieve numerous successes across all programs.

The report presented to the Board of Trustees on March 8^th describes important milestones and successes in the following key areas:

• St. Francis (Kitchener) Campus Renovations Completed in December 2020
• Kitchener Main Campus Renovations Have Begun (Year 1 of 5)
• Revisioning ‘Technology in Classroom’ to Support Student Achievement
• Nurturing our Catholic Community
• Transition of Leadership
• Professional Development to Build Capacity
• Student Achievement and a 4-week Graduation
  • PSW
  • Hairstyling / Barber and Culinary
  • Credit Courses
  • Literacy and Numeracy (Gr. 7-10)
  • ESL & LINC
  • Core Essentials (LBS)

The report is available beginning on page 9 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Assessment & Evaluation Update

All assessment should lead to hope and an understanding that education is about learning. Educators design and implement rich learning tasks which respect the uniqueness and diversity of the individual learner. This leads to authentic assessment and evaluation as well as the use of accurate reporting strategies. Educators support students in meeting the learning expectations through a variety of assessment opportunities with the appropriate level of challenge, thereby helping students to demonstrate their level of achievement.

In March 2020, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, WCDSB responded by developing an initial Framework for Remote Educator-Led Learning to support educators through three distinct phases of the initial closure and online reopening. It outlined the key goals and priorities for each phase and included subject specific resources and supports as well as the key resource Recommended Online Assessment Tools FOR/AS Learning. This was a period of rapid change and response that pushed us to communicate clearly and create many new supports for educators as they shifted their assessment and evaluation focus to new ways of collecting evidence to support the triangulation of data.

The report presented to the Board of Trustees on March 8^th provides important information in the following key areas:

• Kindergarten Highlights Related to Assessment and Evaluation
• Literacy Highlights Related to Assessment and Evaluation
• Numeracy Highlights Related to Assessment and Evaluation
• Adapted Secondary and Fully Remote Including St. Isidore and Full System (Jan/Feb)
• Standardized Testing
• Leveraging Digital to Triangulate Data

Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting practices at the WCDSB continue to rest at the core of all we do to ensure student achievement and well-being. These practices call educators to continually seek ways to learn more about their students’ needs and respond creatively and effectively. This year has provided more than a few challenges and the WCDSB has responded with resources and professional development opportunities that reflect innovation and a consistent focus on our students.

The full report is available beginning on page 15 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Student Success Update

While the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced challenges to overall student success, achievement, and wellbeing, at Waterloo Catholic District School Board we have been able to adapt, pivot, and continue to move our student success and experiential learning initiatives forward despite the following challenges:

• Reduced overall coop placements due to pandemic protocols
• Implementation of new student information system (SIS) under complex circumstances that has temporarily reduced our ability to retrieve data, therefore inhibiting responsive, evidence-based decision making
• Temporary re-assignment of student success consultants due to teacher shortage
• Re-assignment of student success sections to support Community Active Living full day programing

Student success initiatives and programs in the Waterloo Catholic District School Board broaden and deepen students’ experiential learning opportunities as supported by the Ministry of Education. Some examples include:

• Specialist High Skills Major programs that bundle 8-10 courses allowing students to focus their learning on a specific economic sector while completing their high school diploma.
• A cooperative education program that combines classroom and workplace learning. Students can earn two co-op credits towards their compulsory diploma requirements, with no limit on earning optional co-op credits.
• Dual credit programs where students have more opportunities to earn credits that count towards both their high school diploma and a college diploma or apprenticeship certification.

On March 22, 2021, the Board of Trustees received a comprehensive report on the WCDSB’s Student Success Plan. Key sections of the report include:

• Transitions (Grade 8-9)
• Pathways
• Student Success Consultants Intermediate (SSCI)
• Experiential Learning
• Literacy & Numeracy
• Graduation Rates
• Re-engagement Strategy

The full report is available beginning on page 27 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Update on WCDSB COVID Education Delivery Plan

At the current time, the schools of Waterloo Catholic continue to learn in our new pandemic reality. Our staff, students and parents have been introduced to a new way of experiencing learning and their schools, be that in our in-person learning environment or in the virtual environment of St. Isidore. COVID-19 has changed the landscape of a traditional school experience and the staff of our board have planned, prepared, and have successfully implemented this new reality. As we come through these last months of winter and start the journey into spring, we are also looking to next year and what the school year will look like next year.

Those involved in in person learning returned to their schools on February 8, 2021. As reported in November through January, our numbers remain relatively stable, with approximately 3,890 students learning virtually at St. Isidore and 20,004 students learning face to face.

Thus, at this point, approximately 17% of our total student population has opted for the virtual learning environment. We have completed the online survey of our secondary parents in terms of their desire to switch modalities. 262 students wanted to move to virtual learning and 290 to in-person learning – so there was a net gain of 28 students to in-person learning. There were some adjustments that were needed in staffing at St. Isidore (which lost a few teaching positions), as well as in a few of our bricks and mortar schools, to ensure that class sizes remained safe and manageable. The final transition of the year took place on Monday, March 8th, 2021.

Targeted COVID-19 testing has also been initiated in the Region over the course of this month. There are three types of testing that have been part of the provincial protocol. This has included pop-up community sites for symptomatic individuals, which we are helping to publicize through school-based communication in the communities where the pop-up sites are located. As well – asymptomatic testing for staff is available at local pharmacies. Finally, each week 2-4 schools, representing approximately 5% of our schools (or 2% of our student population), have been identified for targeted asymptomatic testing. We are working in collaboration with Public Health and WRDSB.

We are also in the process of making a decision regarding whether we would offer a virtual school – St. Isidore – for our students next year.

We have initiated a two-stage survey process as we begin in earnest our planning for next year. During the week of March 15th-19th we asked families for an initial expression of interest for virtual learning for next year, and then we will give all families a chance to solidify their preference by June, when perhaps there will be more clarity as to how things are evolving regionally and provincially in terms of both COVID-19 numbers and vaccine roll-out.

We believe the best place for a child is in our bricks and mortar schools. We think this is best academically, but perhaps more importantly in terms of socialization and a young person’s social-emotional needs. We would hope that is the choice most parents make, but we also know that many parents may not be at that comfort level yet. We believe this is our best effort to be fair to parents who still don’t have the comfort to send children to in-person learning as we begin to enter a post-vaccine world – if not a post-pandemic world.

The full report is available beginning on page 39 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Board Chair’s Update

Each month, the Chair of the Board reports on the activities of the Board of Trustees. Chair Melanie Van Alphen’s report for March 2021 is available on page 45 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Student Trustees Update

Student Trustees Abby Barbosa and Kate Morrison presented their monthly update – covering activities in WCDSB’s secondary schools. It is available beginning on page 42 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package

Upcoming Board Meetings

Committee of the Whole Board Meeting

Monday, April 19, 2021

Waterloo Region Catholic Education Centre

Regular Public Board Meeting

Monday, April 26, 2021

Waterloo Region Catholic Education Centre

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board, representing more than 96,000 Catholic school supporters, operates 48 schools and four adult education facilities, serving more than 40,000 elementary, secondary, and continuing education students in Waterloo Region – continuing a 185-year tradition of quality, inclusive, faith-based education. Follow us on Twitter: @WCDSBNewswire – #WCDSBAwesome.

The next meeting of the Board of Trustees is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. — Monday, March 22, 2021. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, this meeting will be streamed live on Youtube:

Agenda

General Information About WCDSB Board Meetings

Information About the Board of Trustees

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board, representing more than 96,000 Catholic school supporters, operates 48 schools and five adult education facilities serving more than 40,000 elementary, secondary and continuing education students in Waterloo Region – continuing a 185-year tradition of quality, inclusive, faith-based education. Follow us on Twitter: @WCDSBNewswire – #WCDSBAwesome.

Dear Waterloo Catholic Community –

Today we sit on the one-year anniversary of COVID-19 being declared a pandemic and tomorrow will mark one year since we were told we were going to have an extended March Break, that ultimately became our first lockdown.  A great deal has happened since then and as a community it is my sincere hope that as you look back on this past year, there are some moments of hope and joy that you can identify.   There can be absolutely no denying that the year has brought hardship and challenges to virtually everyone, but they have not been felt equally.  Some of us will have suffered more than others, will have been impacted more than others, and some will have truly struggled to find the path forward.

My hope would be that as you reflect on this past year, you are able to pray an offering of gratitude for the family and friends who have helped you through and that your faith has been a constant source of consolation.  I have prayed in gratitude for our staff who have been a rock of resilience, continually rising to the challenge to meet and serve the needs of our community and our students.  I also pray in appreciation for the many parents and students who have journeyed with us and placed their faith in us, as we did our best to find the best path forward.

As mentioned – with today being the one-year anniversary of the official start of the pandemic, I choose to hope and pray that today marks an official start to some return to normalcy.  We know vaccine roll-out has begun and that by this coming fall things should look different – while perhaps not a full return to normal.  We know for schools that our year will likely begin somewhat similar to this year but as the potential for vaccines for children also rolls out, by mid-year we may be in a reality, in our schools, that is closer to what we remember.

In education our planning for the 2021-2022 school year is underway now.  We are working on staffing and budget and need to make decisions for next year at this time.

For this reason, next week – March 15^th through March 19^th – we will have a survey on our Board website for any parent/family that wishes to choose virtual learning again for next year.

That said – it will be a one-time choice.

That is, there will not be transition periods during the year.  A choice for virtual will be a choice for September through June.

Realizing that the landscape continues to change, we will confirm your choice with you in June (through one final survey open to all), but we will be seeking your interest now, so we can determine the demand for the virtual option.

If you register for St. Isidore, our virtual school, you will no longer be affiliated with your current home school, (for the 2021-2022 school year).  You will have the option to re-register for the following school year (2022-2023).

We know that some students have found virtual to be a good way to learn.  We do, in the main, feel that for a variety of reasons not only connected to academics, but to a young person’s social emotional well-being, that attending school in person is likely the preferred option for most students, when all things are equal.  Please give this decision careful consideration.  We will confirm with you again in June as mentioned, but we do need to know now if you believe this is an option you are seriously considering.

Once again, we encourage you to visit Ontario.ca/covidresponse to learn what public health measures are in place in our community – but also please be aware that these could change depending on the most current public health advice. We also suggest checking out the WCDSB website https://wcdsb.ca/living-learning-looking-forward/   and Region of Waterloo Public Health website https://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/health-and-wellness/2019-novel-coronavirus.aspx as they contain helpful resources and supports.  If you have any questions about what your school is doing, please reach out to your local school principal.

I will continue to remind all community members that mental health resources are available to students and families through Kids Help Phone, which offers 24/7 counselling and referral services across the province. To use this free resource, children can call 1-800-668-6868, or text CONNECT to 686868.

If there are any further updates, we will certainly share them as soon as possible.  Please know that we continue to be in this together and day by day we will make it through.  It has been a year unlike any other, but I hope that for you, like me, faith has been a source of comfort and hope.  We are journeying now through Lent to the Easter Season.  How fortunate we are to know the hope, promise and new life that is awaiting us, and how that will be reflected in the spring months ahead.  Please reach out to us if you need help or guidance and remain confident that we are here to support you, as we walk together as a hope-filled community.  #InThisTogether 

Sincerely,

Loretta Notten — Director of Education