Chinook’s Edge school board trustees have approved the division’s education plan for 2018-2021. The approval came by way of motion at the board’s December meeting.
The plan includes a list of trends, issues and challenges facing the Innisfail-headquartered division.
“The following trends and issues continue to create challenges for Chinook’s Edge School Division,” the plan states. “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 plan outlines four specific trends, issues and challenges (quoted from the report):
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION – Over the past number of years, 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 of these additional supports require school divisions to have adequate access to resources and funding from the province.
While we appreciate the funding we receive for inclusive education, we want to be sure the province is aware the expenditures to ensure appropriate and reasonable supports are in place do not match the funding allocation provided.
We trust the funding allocation model will be reviewed and revised so the funding adequately supports the costs for providing high quality inclusive education in Alberta.
TRANSPORTATION – The transportation needs and expectations of our students and parents continue to exceed the resources made available to Chinook’s Edge School Division No 73.
Increases to the cost of fuel have not been funded 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. Implementation of the carbon levy may bring a fiscal challenge in the near future.
Finally, there has been a substantial increase to the demand for urban busing without government funding. Overall, transportation services faces major shortages in budget areas such as staffing, capital, and other operational costs.
FACILITIES - 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.
STAFF WELLNESS - As we have worked to respond to the ever growing social emotional needs of our students, 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 has 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 complete three-year education plans, as well as the annual education results report, are available for viewing on the division’s website at cesd73.ca under reports and plans.
