INNISFAIL - Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools (RDCRS) trustees have made two additions to the divisions strategic plan in response to recent stakeholder engagement sessions.
Engagement sessions were held to provide an opportunity for parents, staff and community members to offer input on classroom expectations, budget considerations, strategic planning and other issues.
Approved during the recent, regularly-scheduled board meeting, the two new strategic imperatives are "Optimize Financial Oversight” and "Empower Staff to Thrive Personally and Professionally." The plan sets out the strategic priorities of the division over the next year.
The 10,400-student RDCRS division includes schools in Olds and Innisfail.
At a recent board meeting trustees were given an update report on the engagement sessions. Under the topic establishing budget priorities, five key themes emerged as the most pressing areas for attention.
• Mental health support and classroom complexity: growing mental health needs in society, reduction of full-time equivalent (FTE) for counselling; reduction of FTE in family support counsellors.
• Support for students with special needs: reduction in FTE for educational assistants; increase in class sizes; reduction in students receiving one-on-one or small group support.
• Staffing: concern over larger class sizes; hearing about pressure on staff; increase need for teacher and EA support.
• Transportation costs and viability: is transportation cost-effective; can parents pay more for busing.
• Holistic support for learning and well-being: the importance of addressing academic needs alongside emotional and mental health; funding varies across schools depending on individual needs.
Under the topic developing a culture of well-being, five themes were identified.
• Mental health and counselling support: increased counselling support and family support counsellors; support for all diverse groups.
• Inclusivity and support for diverse student populations: ongoing support for diversity and inclusion; cultural diversity, social-emotional diversity, cognitive diversity, Indigenous and LGBTQ2S+ diversity.
• Stakeholder engagement and feedback loops: keeping stakeholders involved regularly through all means of communication; update stakeholders on action taken based on their feedback from sessions.
• Support for educators and staff well-being: increase support in classrooms, particularly for teachers and EAs; review workload and identify areas for improvement.
• Communication and transparency: provide proactive and transparent communication; use multiple communication channels to ensure stakeholders feel prioritized.
The strategic plan now includes five imperatives: Safety and mental health; Purposefully, tangibly and visibly demonstrate our faith; Build a workplace culture of engagement, empowerment and innovation; Optimize financial oversight; and Empower staff to thrive personally and professionally.
The ‘Empower staff to thrive personally and professionally’ imperative calls on the division to “conduct an internal environmental scan of division attendance to identify and address inefficiencies and better meet the needs of students.”
It all calls for the division to “address chronic absenteeism with personalized strategies, including mentoring, counselling, or adjusting roles or schedules.”
The complete strategic plan is available for viewing on the division’s website.
Trustees will be meeting with schools councils this month, followed by further engagement sessions (both in-person and online) in April.
