INNISFAIL – Chinook’s Edge School Division trustees have accepted a three-year education plan, which outlines some of the challenges, issues and trends facing the jurisdiction.
Karyn Barber, associate superintendent of system services, presented the division’s annual education results report for 2018-2019 and the three-year education plan for 2019-2022 at the Dec. 11 board meeting.
The three-year plan outlines four trends and issues that are creating challenges for the division: inclusive education, transportation, facilities and staff wellness.
“The board and superintendency team have made Alberta Education aware of these challenges and will continue to work collaboratively with the province to discuss solutions and strategies in the upcoming years,” the report states.
The transportation section of the plan states, in part, that, “The transportation needs and expectations of our students and parents continue to exceed the resources made available to Chinook’s Edge School Division. Increase to the cost of fuel have been funding accordingly for the last five years.
“In addition, the lack of adequate funding along with the increased demand for our limited resources has made it difficult to evergreen our bus fleet. As such, the foreseeable future looks bleak for capital replacement. Overall, transportation services faces major shortages in budget areas such as staffing, capital and other operational costs.”
During the Dec. 11 board meeting, trustees held further discussion on the transportation issue, with trustees instructing administration to map out a plan to deal with the challenges and report back to the board in January.
Meanwhile, the facilities section of the three-year plan states, in part, that, “As community populations continue to increase, we face challenges with enrolments over school capacity. While we have been able to manipulate our school grade configurations, it is becoming increasingly evident that our facilities must be a priority.”
The staff wellness section of the plan states, in part: “We have seen a growing need to support those who give care. Our educational assistants, teaching staff, and administrators are looking for tools at the school level to help staff members find the balance and energy to keep up with growing student needs.
“To this end, student services (department) have formed a staff wellness steering committee. This group is gathering data about type of support needed in our schools, aspects of our profession that are causing most challenge, and will work to determine high leverage strategies to support our educators at all levels.”
The inclusive education section of the plan states, in part, that, “It has become very apparent that the complexity and needs of our students have been increasing. These increased needs require professional development for staff, access to specialized consultants from the division/region, trained support staff, collaborative partnerships, and time for teachers to plan, develop and meet about individualized student support plans.
“All these additional support require school divisions to have adequate access to resources and funding from the province. We trust the funding allocation model will be reviewed and revised to the funding that adequately supports the costs for providing high quality inclusive education in Alberta.”
The complete three-year education plan and the annual results report are available on the division’s website.
Trustees instructed the three-year education plan be filed with Alberta Education.
There are 40 schools in the Innisfail-headquartered Chinook's Edge School Division.
